Native American history is something we have a lot of right here on Delmarva, but it doesn’t always get a lot of attention.
Roy Saunders, a carded Leni-Lenape Indian joins us to tell us all about Native American history.
A carded Leni-Lenape Indian means that the state recognizes that the Indians are still around. There are also small benefits including help with college education and when they make crafts and say they are Native American made, they are.
Roy explains his regalia and how he wears his regalia when we would wear our “Sunday best.” Roy decorates himself with shells and feathers – things that you can find from the Appalachian Trail and east of that. Each piece is particular to the person.
The three stripes of red ochre on his face represents one of the four winds. The north wind is wisdom, the east wind is the child/new beginning, and the south wind is a child who is learning how to get his feet wet. Roy is the west wind because he is a teacher.
Roy says they visit many schools, the zoo, library, and pow wow’s and share their history with others. They use a “please touch table” to do that. Roy enjoys this table and way of teaching because he likes when people ask questions and become interested.
Roy pays a handmade flute that was a gift from a friend. Fun fact: Roy’s headpiece is made from nine turkeys.
These were made from pine needles
This gourd makes a rattle sound when shaken. The sound is from seeds inside the gourd. Nothing was added manually.
This was made from deer toenails. The red, yellow, black, and white beads are colors from the Native American Medicine Wheel. The colors represent the race of man: red, yellow, black, and white.
Dawn Manyfeathers is in the DelmarvaLife kitchen making fry bread and wojapi so we can get a taste of the Native American culture as well.
Fry Bread Mix for a Crowd or Village
- 9 cups flour
- 1/5 cups dry milk
- 5 tbs. baking powder
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tbs. salt
Mix all the dry ingredients together. You can bag the mix to use later or just by adding water, you can use it immediately.
To make the dough, add enough warm water to the dough to make it like pizza dough. This amount of mix will take from 3.5-4 cups of water or more. Let it rest for half an hour. Oil your hands and a plate. Pinch off pieces of dough and pat it between your hands. If need bem stretch it on the plate until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Fry in clean oil until golden brown, turning only once. Drain and serve hot with honey, powdered sugar, jams and jellies.
Blackberries and Dumplings
- 1 lb. bag of blackberries (no sugar added)
- 4 cups of water or enough to cover berries
- 3/4 cup sugar
Place all ingredients in a 3 qt. pan. Turn heat to high until berries come to a boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Bring back to a full rolling boil, drop dumplings in a tbs. at a time, let them cook for 10 mins.
