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BIRDS

Lesson 8 Stories and Beliefs about Birds

Objectives:

1) Students will retell at least one traditional story about a bird found around the village.

2) Students will cite one belief about a local bird.

3) Students will respect birds as an important part of their culture and of the natural world around them.

Activities:

1) Read a traditional story about a bird which is found locally. (Raven is a good one as there are raven stories in many cultures.) Discuss what is a "traditional" story as compared to a life experience story or fiction and how sometimes traditional stories were used to explain certain bird characteristics (eg. why raven is black). Point out that there may be different versions of the same story. Ask students if they have heard any local stories about birds. Read a story about a different bird.

2) Assign students to interview family members about stories and beliefs involving birds. Invite an elder to come to class to relate a bird story and tell about local beliefs and taboos involving birds. Discuss these beliefs and others which students may have heard. For example there is a bird which tells that the fish are coming; some people believe that the owl foretells death and that the raven's behavior can indicate luck.

Discuss why there were so many beliefs about the birds? List the reasons birds were highly respected. Why was it considered bad luck if unused feathers and other bird parts were not properly disposed of? (Refer to Make Prayers to the Raven)

3) Have students retell a traditional story either orally or in written form.

4) Make and illustrate a class book of local bird beliefs.

Resource Materials for Lesson 8

The most important resource for this section is the elders and other community members. They have information which cannot be found in books. In addition to their actual stories they can impart to the students a sense of the cultural importance of what they are relating.

There are many collections of traditional stories and beliefs from the various Alaskan cultures which contain stories and beliefs about birds. A few of them are listed below:

Beliefs from Nikolai, NBMDC

- "Spruce Hens", pg. 40

Athabaskan Stories by Alice Brean

- "The Loon and the Blind Man" pg. 29

- "The Raven Story", pg. 37

- "The Camprobber and the Woodpecker", pg. 59

Eagle Han Huch'in Hodok by Ruth Ridley

- "Raven", pg. 15

Nikolai Hwch'ihwzoya by Miska Deaphon

- "Raven and Mink", pg. 13

- "Raven Helped the People", pg. 13

Tales of Eskimo Alaska by O.W. Frost

- "How Crane Got His Blue Eyes". pg. 23

- "Old Crow and Mink", pg. 27

- "A Blind Man and the Loon", pg. 62

Bakk'aatugh Ts'uhuniy: Stories We Live By, by Catherine Attla

- "Eagle Man Who Carried People Far Away", pg. 85

- "Great Raven Who Killed a Water Monster", pg. 133

- "Great Raven Killed A Whale", pg. 149

- "The Woodpecker Who Starved His Wife", pg. 191

Engithidong Xugixudhoy. Their Stories of Long Ago by Belle Deacon

- "Two Girls and Crow Man", pg. 78

- "Spruce Grouse and Mink", pg. 118

Iditarod Area School District has published two traditional bird stories

Nilty: Crane by John Paul of Holy Cross, 1987

Jezra (Camprobbers), by Lena Petruska of Nikolai, 1997

from BELIEFS FROM NIKOLAI

During a snowfall, the people watched the spruce hens. If the hens flew from tree to tree, the weather would be warm.

Handbook for Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum by Sidney Stephens
Excerpt: "The information and insights contained in this document will be of interest to anyone involved in bringing local knowledge to bear in school curriculum. Drawing upon the efforts of many people over a period of several years, Sidney Stephens has managed to distill and synthesize the critical ingredients for making the teaching of science relevant and meaningful in culturally adaptable ways."