Native American Heritage Day
The day after Thanksgiving has been designated Native American Heritage Day in the U.S. celebrating the rich cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples of the country. It offsets some of the naive ideas promoted by the Thanksgiving holiday. The overlap with "black friday" is most unfortunate, and has resulted in some Native Americans to declare the timing of this day of commemoration to be in "poor taste."
It is thought that the first humans were present in North America around 23,000 years ago, possibly even earlier. The diversity of environments in which these human cultures thrived, from the Arctic to deserts is amazing- no other species on Earth has done this. The traditions they established are indeed rich and beautiful, many of which are carried on today despite governmental attempts to quash them. There are 567 tribes recognized by the Federal government.
This petroglyph panel shown here portrays one of these rich cultures that thrived in what is now southern Utah and southwestern Colorado 2000 years ago. The large anthropomorphs are in the San Juan style (Basketmaker II period). The shamanistic figures have enigmatic head ornaments (some look like antenna), belts, and necklaces.
Native American Heritage Day
The day after Thanksgiving has been designated Native American Heritage Day in the U.S. celebrating the rich cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples of the country. It offsets some of the naive ideas promoted by the Thanksgiving holiday. The overlap with "black friday" is most unfortunate, and has resulted in some Native Americans to declare the timing of this day of commemoration to be in "poor taste."
It is thought that the first humans were present in North America around 23,000 years ago, possibly even earlier. The diversity of environments in which these human cultures thrived, from the Arctic to deserts is amazing- no other species on Earth has done this. The traditions they established are indeed rich and beautiful, many of which are carried on today despite governmental attempts to quash them. There are 567 tribes recognized by the Federal government.
This petroglyph panel shown here portrays one of these rich cultures that thrived in what is now southern Utah and southwestern Colorado 2000 years ago. The large anthropomorphs are in the San Juan style (Basketmaker II period). The shamanistic figures have enigmatic head ornaments (some look like antenna), belts, and necklaces.