NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS HERITAGE MONTH
“So long as the culture remains unbroken, Unitas will flourish.”
SPOTLIGHT SPEAKER SERIES
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12
Spotlight Speaker Series featuring Oscar Hokeah
1-2:15 p.m., Ferdinand Room, St. Augustine Center
Hosted by the artment of History, Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest; UNITAS: Athletics; UNITAS: lnclusive Education; Villanova School of Business; UNITAS: Office of Belonging & Inclusion, Falvey Library; Writing and Rhetoric and the Program in Creative Writing; GIS.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2-MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30
Hearts of the Harvest: Seeds, Stories, and Sovereignty
Villanova Art Gallery, Connelly Center
“Hearts of the Harvest: Seeds, Stories, and Sovereignty” brings together Shinnecock artists and Indigenous Ma’s House alumni whose work grows from land, memory, community, and futurity. The exhibition takes inspiration, in part, from the Villanova University student documentary Seeds We Bury, which connects the Ati Tribe of Boracay in the Philippines and the Shinnecock Nation through generational storytelling, tracing how Indigenous island communities separated by oceans continue to protect land, people, and culture.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2-MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30
Study Break: Coloring Station
Falvey Library, Vic Maggitti Hall
Stop by all month long to take a break and learn more about Native American and Indigenous History with Falvey Library and Student Life UNITAS: Office of Belonging and Inclusion!
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9
Basket Weaving 101
4-6 p.m., The Suite, Corr Hall First Floor
Hosted by Office of Belonging & Inclusion; co-sponsored by NISA
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10
Basket Weaving 101
Noon-2 p.m., The Suite, Corr Hall First Floor
Hosted by Office of Belonging & Inclusion; co-sponsored by NISA
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10
Cultural Pop-Up
Noon-2 p.m., Bartley Hall
Hosted by VSB Unitas
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11
Basket Weaving 101
4-6 p.m., The Suite, Corr Hall First Floor
Hosted by Office of Belonging & Inclusion; co-sponsored by NISA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12
Basket Weaving 101
Noon-2 p.m., The Suite, Corr Hall First Floor
Hosted by Office of Belonging & Inclusion; co-sponsored by NISA
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13
Basket Weaving 101
4-6 p.m., The Suite, Corr Hall First Floor
Hosted by Office of Belonging & Inclusion; co-sponsored by NISA
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16
Cultural Pop-Up
Noon-2 p.m., CASA, Vic Maggitti Hall
Hosted by Office of Belonging & Inclusion, CASA, VSB Unitas and Falvey Library
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17
Cultural Pop-Up
4-6 p.m., Falvey Library, Vic Maggitti Hall
Hosted by Office of Belonging & Inclusion, CASA, VSB Unitas and Falvey Library
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Cultural Pop-Up
3-5 p.m., CASA, Vic Maggitti Hall
Hosted by Office of Belonging & Inclusion, CASA, VSB Unitas and Falvey Library
The theme of Native American and Indigenous Heritage month this year is “So long as the culture remains unbroken, Unitas will flourish.” This theme was inspired by a phrase said by Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota medicine man, describing the importance of the sacred hoop in indigenous culture: “In the old days, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished.”
In both Lakota culture and other North American tribes, the Cangleska Wakan (“sacred circle,” “sacred hoop” or “medicine wheel”) symbolizes all human knowledge: cardinal directions, the elements, aspects of humanity, animal spirits, and more. Each color— yellow, black, white, and red—changes placement within the circle depending on the tribe’s individual beliefs or the use of the circle, and also appear in multiple tribe and nation flags. What is most beautiful about the hoop’s significance is that it transcends geography and individual tribe cultures; it is recognizable as something that can bring together the multifaceted, vibrant cultures across the diaspora. We can be diverse and still united. So long as the culture remains unbroken, Unitas will flourish.
—Lee Jones, Student Life UNITAS: Office of Belonging and Inclusion Graduate Assistant and Clinical Mental Health Counseling Master's Student
Sources:
https://aktalakota.stjo.org/lakota-culture/lakota-medicine-wheel/
https://www.nps.gov/afbg/learn/historyculture/medicine-wheel.htm
https://blog.nativehope.org/the-sacred-hoop-was-the-first-medicine-wheel