Before the Session
Before watching the "Ceremonial Artifacts" video, be sure to:
As you read, consider the following close reading questions. See the Teacher Resources section in the Appendix for instructions on effective close reading.
* Indicates a reference in the Glossary.
- In what ways does Silko's text differ from other post-World War II novels that you have read, both in terms of theme and style?
- What traditional elements of her culture does Silko weave into Ceremony? How does this shape a reader's understanding of the text?
Synopsis of Greg Sarris's
by discussing ways to use myth in literature classes. He talks about the importance
of asking questions and avoiding trying to find "one right answer" when dealing
with Native American texts. Using religious ceremonial artifacts with literature
is one way to avoid having students marginalize an unfamiliar text.
Greg delivers a lesson
on myth* that he uses with his own students. He discusses the importance of
challenging the linear ways students may approach a text; he shares how he
leads them to ask questions, rather than search for specific answers. Greg
then looks at his ceremonial artifacts, two Pomo Indian gift baskets, and
talks about how these ceremonial baskets are often seen as living, breathing
Greg and the teachers
make connections between the baskets and the text, particularly noticing the
common theme of circularity. Greg points out that neither the story nor the
basket has a concrete beginning, middle, or end. The purpose of this circular
construction is to connect the object to you; it is meant to affect you through
this connection. Greg reads another Pomo gift basket and points out the distinctions
between the two. He and the teachers then make further connections between
the baskets and Silko's text.
Greg concludes his
discussion with the assertion that we must not generalize about different
Native American tribes and their cultures. He also encourages teachers to
bring ceremonial artifacts into the classroom and apply them to a wide variety
of literature from any period or culture.
Relating the Literary Movement to the Artifacts
Activity 1: Discussion
of the Literary Movement
- Before this workshop session, you will need to download the image of the Pomo Gift Basket (serial #6303) from the American Passages archive and
print out copies for all your participants. Be sure to print and copy the
descriptive information that accompanies the image. (For further information
on how to navigate the archive, see instructions in the front matter.)
- Begin the
workshop by watching program 8: "Ceremonial Artifacts" through the American
Passages excerpted clip. Watch for approximately 11:30 minutes.
up with the discussion activity below. The discussion should take approximately
1. As a whole group, discuss what literature you have
taught or are currently teaching from this literary movement. If you don't currently teach anything from this movement, how might
you add it to your curriculum?
Other authors from American Passages' "Native
Voices" for potential discussion:
- Leslie Marmon Silko (1948- ) Poet, novelist,
and short story writer, Silko grew up on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. She
is well-known for her multi-genre novel, Ceremony.
- Louise Erdrich (1954- ) Of French-Chippewa
and German descent, Erdrich is a poet, novelist, and short story writer. She
wrote the composite novel Love Medicine.
- Chippewa Songs (1907-1909) These songs reflect
the culture of the Chippewa (also called Ojibwa) peoples. They once lived
along the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior, across Minnesota, and west
to North Dakota. Some songs were sung in a ceremonial context, but others
were not. At the most basic, the three levels of songs are old songs and singers;
old ceremonial and medicine songs; and modern songs. These include love songs.
- John Neihardt (1881-1973) and Black Elk
(18631950) Born into the Oglala Lakota, Black Elk was an important Sioux
visionary who passed on his vision of the Six Grandfathers—the powers of the
West, the North, the East, the South, the Sky, and the Earth—to poet John
Neihardt. The record of this interaction became the book Black Elk Speaks,
published in 1932.
- Ghost Dance Songs (1890) A religious movement
begun after a Paiute man, Wovoka, had a vision in 1889. God told Wovoka the
people should prepare for His coming and dance a ghost dance that would hasten
the return of the old world. This prophecy spread amongst the Plains Indians
and before long 20,000 Sioux were engaged in the dance. The fear evoked amongst
US officials eventually reached the breaking point at Wounded Knee, the tragic
massacre of 200 Native American men, women, and children.
- Roger Williams (1603-1683) A Puritan who lived
amongst the Algonquian Indians, thus alienating himself from both the Massachusetts
Bay and Plymouth colonies. His most famous text is A Key Into the Language
- Thomas Harriot (1560-1621) Author of A
Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. Harriot's account,
though optimistic, is some of the only information about the Roanoke people.
For more information on these authors, visit the American
Passages Web site at http://www.learner.org/amerpass.
2. How did the Ceremonial Artifacts Reading change or
enhance your view of Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony or other Native
American literary works you have read?
Activity 2: Reading the First Artifact
watching the video until the point where Greg Sarris finishes reading the
first artifact (Pomo Gift Basket, serial #6303). Begin at the title
First Artifact Reading and watch for approximately 9:30 minutes.
the session participants into groups of three and hand out the previously
downloaded artifact. This activity should take approximately 20 minutes.
1. In your group, analyze the image that your facilitator provides for you.
First, make some initial observations about the artifact:
- What do you initially notice about this basket? What types of patterns are in the basket?
- Considering its size (fits easily into the palm of your hand), what would this basket be used for?
2. Next, read the artifact more closely; use the CAATS acronym below,
along with the Ceremonial Artifacts Reading and synopsis of Greg Sarris's
Creator: Who created
this artifact? What do we know about the person(s) who created it? How did
it influence his/her life at the time it was created? Would the creator find
relevant connections to the literature you are pairing with this artifact?
do you know about the context of this artifact? What assumptions can you make
based on prior information that you bring to this analysis?
was the audience for this object when it was originally created? What leads
you to this assumption?
Time and Place: When
and where was this artifact created?
is this artifact important? How does it help explain the literature you are
teaching with it? Does the context of the artifact parallel the context of
- After discussing
the Pomo Gift Basket, spend five to seven minutes discussing the excerpt
from Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony. Use the close reading questions
from the Before the Session section as a starting point for discussion.
watching the video of Greg reading and making connections to the second Pomo
gift basket. Begin at the title Second Artifact Reading and watch for approximately
8:30 minutes. Stop the video after this
second artifact reading, before the title Lesson Planning.
- Then do
the activity below. This activity should take approximately 20 minutes.
Activity 3: Connecting
Literature to the Artifact
1. Whole-Group Discussion Question:
the first step that Greg Sarris takes with the onscreen teachers to discuss
the ceremonial artifacts? How does he move them from the artifact analysis
to connecting it to the excerpt from Ceremony?
2. Return to small groups. Begin to draw connections between the Pomo
Gift Basket and Silko's text. Use the following guiding questions:
- How are
the design of the text and the design of the Pomo basket similar? How do they
- In his
discussion, Greg talks about how each Pomo basket weaver deliberately breaks
the pattern at some point in the design. How does Silko use the motif of patterns
in her text?
- Watch the
Lesson Planning and In the Classroom portions of the video. Begin at the title
Lesson Planning and watch for approximately 34:30 minutes.
- Then do
the next activity. This activity should take approximately 20 minutes.
Classroom Strategies Discussion/Create Lesson Plan
1. Whole Group Discussion Questions: You just watched Marc Jolley apply
what he had learned about connecting artifacts and literature to his own classroom.
Take 10-15 minutes to discuss the following questions:
- What methods
did Marc use to help his students understand the contextual connections between
the images of Pomo baskets and the two Native American myths they read?
- How might
Marc approach this lesson differently using different ceremonial artifacts
from those Greg Sarris used? What other ceremonial artifacts would work with
the myths he is teaching?
2. In your same small groups, brainstorm different literary
movements/pieces of literature that you could use with the Pomo gift baskets.
What are some other ceremonial artifacts that would supplement the literature
you are currently teaching?
Building a Lesson Plan and Teaching With Artifacts
- Watch Marc
Jolley's reflective interview. Begin at the title Reflection and watch for
approximately three minutes.
- Ask session
participants to comment on what Marc felt worked in his classroom. Did this
parallel what they thought worked as they were watching?
For the detailed six-step process for artifact selection, see the Six Step Process section in the Appendix.
1. Create a lesson plan using a ceremonial artifact with
a piece of literature you are currently teaching.
For example: In Raymond Carver's short story Cathedral,
the protagonist in the story has to explain to a blind man what a cathedral
looks like and what it is used for. Individually or in groups, have your students
look for images of cathedrals on the Library of Congress Web site or select
a cathedral in their own city. Have each group select a different image and
research the religious and ceremonial parts of the cathedral (i.e., the altar,
the bishop's chair). Taking on the role of Carver's protagonist, have them
write up conversations where they explain the designs and religious significance
of their cathedrals to the blind man in the story.
Artifacts and Literature
Pairings: Ceremonial Artifacts
The following ceremonial
artifacts can be found in the American Passages archive at http://www.learner.org/amerpass/slideshow/archive_search.php.
Enter the serial number to view a picture of the item and a detailed description.
|Artifact and Serial # ||Literary Movement and Literature|
|Search for Identity:|
Our Lady Sandra Cisneros's
Guadalupe the Sex Goddess
The Dying Christian
| Gothic Undercurrents:
Young Goodman Brown
|Huron Funerary Practices
A Key Into the Language of America
- Greg Sarris
begins the session by sharing an effective teaching strategy from his own
classroom. This strategy begins when he shares a Native American creation
story orally on the first day of class. On the following day, he asks each
student to write the story from memory. He then asks the students to share
their versions of the myths with the rest of the class. This sharing usually
leads to fruitful discussions of parallels between the biblical creation story
and Native American creation stories. Many students use their own knowledge
of creation stories in conjunction with Greg's story to re-create the myth.
- Mark Jolley
makes allowances for the major obstacle to many teachers' plans—time. To ensure
that his students understand the connections between the Pomo baskets and
the Native American myths, he extends this lesson over the course of a few
days. Taking this time allows his students to spend a day focusing solely
on the stereotypes concerning Native American tribes and myths, thus dispelling
any misinformation about the important differences between diverse tribes.
Ceremonial Artifacts Reading
a reference in the Glossary.
What do we mean by ceremonial artifacts?
Religious ceremonies provide a way for
individuals and groups to affirm and transmit their religious views. By prescribing
particular physical behaviors or activities, these ceremonies tie the spiritual
world to the physical world. Ceremonial artifacts—whether they are chants,
prayers, or tangible objects such as communion wafers—are imbued with a symbolic
significance through their use in particular spiritual ceremonies.
are they useful to bring into a literature classroom?
In his famous essay Religion as a
Cultural System, anthropologist Clifford Geertz defines religion as a
system of symbols comprising a worldview that influences human moods and motivations.
Religious ceremonial artifacts can
help students understand how ceremonies reflect and manifest particular moods,
motivations and beliefs. Whether they are considering ceremonial artifacts
from their own culture or from an unfamiliar one, students can better understand
the belief systems held by characters in a literary text.
artifacts and literary texts: The case of Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony
Greg Sarris introduces the study of
Native American literature to his students by having them listen to a creation
story from the Miwok tribe, then asking the students to retell the story themselves.
The exercise underscores how ideas about narrative form and religious content
differ from one culture to another; students approach the assignment with
expectations shaped by their own cultures and religions.
While the creation story Sarris uses
is much older than Silko's 1977 novel, and the Miwok are culturally distinct
from the Laguna Pueblo people in that book, comparing the two proves useful
when readers encounter Ceremony. The text is formally different from
most American fiction: It is crafted in a style that draws on oral Native
American literary traditions* and alludes to specific sacred stories. But
this novel is also influenced by other sources, including late twentieth-century
literary postmodernism. Tayo, the novel's protagonist, must learn to adapt
traditional Laguna ceremonial practices. This adaptation is necessary to mediate
the cultural dissonance he
experiences both in his departure from the Laguna Pueblo reservation and upon
his return there. As a novel, Ceremony enacts a similar process of
mediation, drawing on multiple cultural sources to offer a literary equivalent
of Tayo's ceremonial cure.
Readers most familiar with Anglo-American
literature may at first find the idea of literature as ceremony rather alien.
Examining non-literary ceremonial artifacts, such as the Pomo baskets presented
in the video, can be a useful way to introduce the concept of ceremony as
expression of spiritual beliefs. Students may find it easier to explore the
religious values and practices associated with a non-literary artifact. The
understanding they glean from that artifact can help them look for similar
values and analogous practices in the literary text.
artifacts and literary texts: The cases of the Huron story The Sky Tree
and the Lenni Lenape story How Kishelemukong Made the People
When high school teacher Marc Jolley brings
ceremonial baskets into his classroom, he uses them to help students understand
two different creation stories. In many cultures, utilitarian objects such
as baskets are considered separate from spiritually significant ceremonial
objects. But in the Pomo culture that produced these baskets, such a distinction
does not holdbasket-making falls within the realm of spiritual practice for
the Pomo. A similar infusion of the spiritual occurs with literature as well.
Just as basket design is not merely decorative, traditional Native American
storytelling is not merely a form of entertainment. The traditional transmission
of Huron or Lenni Lenape creation stories would be a religious ceremony in
which community members participate equally as speakers and as listeners.
Although this approach emphasizes shared
concerns and styles among Native American tribes, it is important to note
the major cultural differences between the tribes whose literature the students
have read and whose baskets they have examined. Even within a single culture,
religious ceremonies evolve over time, as Silko's novel shows. Working with
ceremonial artifacts can offer an opportunity to examine such differences
over time and between cultures, thereby encouraging a more sophisticated understanding
of the literature discussed alongside the artifacts.
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