Native American Guest For Scouts - Making Headbands with Symbols

When each of my kids went to third grade, the school had a special camp where they would have an overnight at a park and have different rangers talk about various things. 

The parents would go for a dinner with the children and some of the parents would stay overnight. I was blessed having all girls, that I could go and be with the girls as they would head to camp. 

One year, we made fabric headbands for our group. It was a fun activity and made our group unique. I thought of that as we were learning a Native American Dance this week for scouts.

We had a neighbor come and share his memories of growing up and he shared several traditions of his tribe with us. He and his wife are from different tribes and it was interesting hearing the difference between the two tribes and the difference between their traditions, music, and customs. 

The scouts loved hearing about things and enjoyed making their headbands and got creative about the markings they put on their headbands. I enjoyed them performing their dance for the parents and found the entire thing fun. I learned some things about some of the markings and thought I would share them with you. 

I also wanted to share how easy it was to make the headbands. Basically cut strips of muslin or light cotton fabric and use the fine point Sharpies to make the markings. You can get ideas online or just let the kids make them up. I put some on the example I share in the video from my own memories of petroglyphs.

Our Guest shared that the above marking represents the milky way in the sky. He said that the handle represents the earth on its access. 

He said that the black swirl in the middle of the blue "earth" symbol represents migration and looks similar to a swastika. His people migrated all over North America and into South America. He shared that the outside represents the sun and that he was taught to go out just before sunrise and welcome the day and sun into the sky which I thought was a beautiful thing.  

He shared that each boy gets a bow and arrow very small as a baby and is blunt and then as he grows, it gets bigger and bigger and the points get sharper and sharper as they grow. 

He shared that the girls get a kachina doll that is a flat stick type as a little girl and it grows and gets more defined as the girl grows. 

He shared that this symbol represents God and the sun. The face / shining rays around the face etc. They are musical instruments like maracas and they shake them during some ceremonial dances. They are made out of gourds and a wooden stick goes through the center and they put small pebbles inside to make the noise or rattle. They are adorned by feathers and those had turkey feathers on them. 

I am grateful that we live in a time where people are more open to other cultures. My mother LOVED all cultures and had a costume from every country she visited and would do a show where she would wear a costume from that culture and learned a song from each country. She was amazing and taught me a love for people in general. 

Have a Learning and Blessed Day!