Here is another
Hiawatha postcard. It depicts another
Hiawatha pageant.
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| Hiawatha Pageant postcard, 1961, Pipestone, Minnesota |
Written on the back of the card:
Vesta, Minn 7/29/1961
"How!"
Saw most of this pageant but had to quit because of rain. Cousin Steve has played the part of Hiawatha for 12 years. Got home late that nite to find high winds had uprooted trees - torn branches - flattened crops. Have gotten in on a number of "Clan gatherings" and visited in Mpls also saw Twins beat Washington Senators.
See you soon,
Smiths.
- I never understood the abbreviation "Nite", which only saves one letter off of "Night".
- Indians saying "How!" is something of a stereotype (along with Tonto-speak), but the word actually is part of the Sioux languages of that part of the US (Minnesota), even if not really a greeting, and I have actually heard a Native American use this word in greeting in conversation.
- I am glad it was a clan (family) gathering instead of a Klan gathering.
- Tipis as seen on the postcard are often part of stereotyped/simplified presentations of Native Americans. But unlike with "Hiawatha", Pipestone is an appropriate historical area for tipis'
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| Disney "Hiawatha" comi |
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- The situation with the Minnesota Twins and Washington Senators is confusing, because 1961 (the year the Smiths saw the ballgame) is the year that the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and were renamed as the Twins, and also a new Washington Senators team was created.
- Click here to read of the importance of Pipestone to the Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, Yankton/Nakota) of that area of Minnesota.
- Hiawatha, as mentioned before, in its well known form is actually a fake legend associated with the Ojibway of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and has nothing to do with the Sioux people of the Pipestone area.
- To the right is a "Little Hiawatha" page from "Walt Disney Comics Digest" from 1968. These comics often contained the steretypical trappings associated with all Indians, including totem poles, which were found no where near Minnesota or Michigan.
9 comments:
I never heard before that "How!" was a Sioux word. Is it a greeting? Japanese say "Hi!" but not as a greeting. How do you put all these interesting bits together, dmarks?
The link at the start of the "How" bullet item explaines the Siouan variations on it (hua, ho, etc.). The Native I heard use it is a member of the Grand Traverse Band, and I am thinking he was just having fun with the stereotype.
And yes there will be more Hiawatha posts. There are more postcards, and also the trains which BB Idaho mentioned earlier.
If nothing else, Pipestone certainly looks very pretty.
When I was a child, for some reason I thought Hiawatha was a girl! I have no idea why...maybe the name just sounded girly to me...
Like Ira and Dana
Some years back, when I mentioned
I would be stopping at Pipestone, MN on a trip east, a Nez Perce in
my department asked if I would bring him back a piece. It turned
out none was for sale, but apparently, the reddish stone has
unusual properties, as even the
tribes beyond the continental divide ended up with some through
an ancient barter system.
That's interesting. I always thought "How!" was fiction and was the result of Walt Disney finding some kind of way to use a greeting for the Indians in Peter Pan?
Well, I learned something new today.
I forgot about the Twins formerly being the Senators but now that I remember, Harmon Killebrew actually had a few decent years in D.C..
Harmon's name is one of the greatest memorable sports names of all time. Just like the chemically-inclined Al Kaline.
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