The Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe held a storytelling event Aug. 5-6 in the reservation’s Youth Center. The event included three open-mic sessions for participants to share their stories. Attendees came from all over northwestern Nevada and California to listen and share. Meals and breaks between sessions encouraged conversation among attendees and participants.
Event organizer and MC Dennis Smartt began the day’s first open mic session with a prayer in Paiute, which included momentarily burning bits of cedar in a stone smudge bowl in the shape of a turtle. He explained the importance of storytelling in Paiute culture’s past and present, as well as its importance for the future of the tribe.
Smartt also emphasized the importance of speaking the Paiute language as part of regaining and maintaining that culture. Fort McDermitt is the only Paiute reservation where the children are taught to speak the language from an early age.
According to several of the participants, past initiatives like the Indian Relocation Act, intended integrate the Native American population into mainstream American life, instead negatively impacted their sense of identity as Paiutes.
Those who left their tribes during these initiatives either never learned the old ways, or forgot them over time. Smartt said the point of the Storytelling event was to emphasize the importance of the old ways and the old stories, to bring people “back to the circle.”
One speaker, named White Buffalo, referred to the gradual loss of Native American culture as “the sleep of darkness.” He said some Indians don’t realize that they’re losing something precious, like their language and culture. Smartt echoed that sentiment. “There are all kinds of stories that a lot of us don’t know.”
“It saddens my heart what’s going on with my people,” Smartt said. He referenced not only the loss of culture, but the infighting that he sees happening on the reservation. He hoped events like the storytelling weekend would bring attention to the traditions that set the tribe apart, particularly the language that he considered “a gift from above.”
During the second and third sessions, Smartt played his drum and sang traditional songs in between stories and discussions. After each song, he would explain its purpose or meaning.
Those in attendance included individuals not of the Paiute tribe, providing an opportunity for intercultural dialogue. Breaks throughout the day for meals allowed time for attendees to discuss personal experiences related to life on and off the reservation. Ecologist Craig Downer spoke in support of wild horse and burro herds.
A dozen or more attendees came and went throughout the day. A powwow in Burns may have affected attendance for Saturday’s event, but Smartt expected more to attend the continuation of the event on Sunday.
Smartt began telling traditional Paiute stories in schools. In 1992, he began creating the eagle feather bonnet. Over time, he acquired the traditional clothing as part of his demonstration. The crowning achievement was a breast plate that children at the nearby Head Start school helped him make by contributing a bone or a bead. Telling stories at the schools led to the first weekend storytelling event in 2016.
Smartt closed the first day of the event with a prayer in English. Afterward, attendees and participants shared a meal of soup and fry bread.
