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So I thought'd be good moderatin' to start a collection of origin stories for theGrass Dance forum. To start it off right, I've collected a few off of our forums from one of our most exalted members, Steve StopsOnTime. Hoka!
On the origins of grass dancing:
The Grass Dance evolved from the early societies. These fellows were responsbile for cutting the lawns around the villages. They also were responsible for cutting the dance arena and could not do this until the day of the big dance. It generally took them until grand entry time to get the arena cut and they would be picking up their bags of grass clippings and dance them out of the arena. The people begining calling them grass dancers, obviously because they were dancing and carrying grass. Because they danced the grass out, they were giving the honor of leading the grand entry. That is how they invented the grand entry too. They had a hard time with the grand entry because they couldn't write and it was hard to keep points, well they didn't have paper either, so it was hard to keep track of points. Well they didn't have pencil's either, but thats a story for another time. I know this is true becuase I read it in a book a white guy wrote.
On grass dance antennae:
There was this old travlin' circus going through the middle of Nebraska about 1820 or so. The reason they were lost is they turned left instead of right at St. Louis.
In this circus they had a monkey who would collect money while being chained to a music box. While they were camped near the O-Mah-ho Indians, the music box accidently got smashed by wagon wheel, thus freeing the monkey.
The monkey grabbed two springs from the music box and headed toward Freedumb (that's near 'Liberty', MO). On his journey, some little O-Mah-Ho boyz saw the monkey and scared him. So he dropped the springs.
The little boyz grabbed the springs and took them back to their camp and gave them to a grass dancer that happened to be standing there doin' nothin. He asked the boyz where they got the springs. The boyz told him, from a "Strange Animal" who had a face like a little boy and a tail like a cow.
The grass dancer gave a loud war hoop and said .....
"Oh you got them from a ........... COWBOY!~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Grass dance society whistles:
You know Old Style I was thinking about what whome said and I thought what the hell that white guy know. Since when can't a brother share some info with a brother....
Well anyhoo, this is a long story, so I hope you got something to drink. This story occured when animals could talk. They can't talk anymore, but that's a story for another time.
Wapecha was walking to the doin's and on the he walks by a pond where a goose happens to be swimming. The goose introduces himself and asks Wapecha where he is going. Wapecha tells him he is going to the doin's and Brucee goosee decides to go along, since he has never been to a Pow Wow. Wapecha and Brucee walk to the pow wow and as they go Brucee asks questions about the pow wow. Well they get there and Wapecha and Brucee dance the first set and Brucee wants to know why the singers are imitating a rooster, so Wapecha tells him the story. Brucee was jealousy of the rooster and was hating on him because the singers were imitiating the rooster. Well the set finishs and the story teller comes out and does there thing. The next set starts and Brucee and Wapecha are dancing again and Brucee can't believe the singers were imitating something as lowly as a rooster and not something as magnificent as goose, because you know them goose's are vain animals. Well Brucee is hating on the rooster and scheming as to what he can do. Well the last song before the dog and pony show comes out, Wapecha and Brucee the goose are dancing by the drum and just as they are finishing the song on the last beat, Brucee runs over and stretches his big old long neck out, over the drum, and picks up the lead. Well the singers never had a goose lead before, but they pick it up and don't miss a beat. Well Brucee Goosee don't know what to do, so he starts busting out all his old school goose moves. (Yes, this is why the dancer that blows the whistle dances hard.) Well the people never seen this before but it looks WAKAN, so they get up and start dancing. (Yes, this is why everyone gets up and dances when a whistle blows.) Well the push up started coming to an end and Brucee is beside himself because the drum is singing and everyone is dancing because of him. Them Gander's are VAIN. So just as the push up is ending, he runs up and stretches his long old neck and picks the lead up and again and singers just follow him. Well Brucee goes out on the floor and gets after it. He invented the "Goose Neck," during the second push up and you still see grass dancers do it to this day. Well as the second push up comes to an end Brucee the goose, runs up and sticks his long old neck out over the drum and picks the lead up again and the singers just pick it up. Brucee goes out into the arena and gets after it again. He is getting carried away and busting moves all over. Brucee invented the "goose step," during this push up. As the third push up comes to an end Brucee runs up to the drum, sticks his long old neck out and picks the lead up again and the singers follow. Now I forgot to mention that by this time the Veteran's were out in the arena and had formed a big circle around Brucee and one guy was counting the times Brucee is picking up the leads, just like they do today. Do you know why they held up their fingers to signify the number of times Brucee had picked up the lead?? Brucee was a goose and he got no fingers?? Com'on pay attention. Ok, back to the story, So Brucee the goose has just picked up the lead for the fourth time and he is totally out of control, he heads back out to the arena and does a double back flip and goes into a barrel roll, way up into the sky. Well Brucee miscalculates how far away he is from the drum and the push up is coming to an end so he comes diving in towards the drum. Well he is gliding in for a landing, you ever see a goose glide in for a landing?? Well the kind of hold their wings out and still and come in towards the ground. To this day those team dancing grass dancers from Rosebud do this move in honor of Brucee, ennit Mike. So Brucee is coming in fast, trying to get to the drum before the songs ends. Brucee comes in to fast, misses the landing and hits head first into the ground breaking his neck, just as the song ends. Brucee goosee is dead as a door nail on the ground, the song is done and everyone is just kinda of standing around trying to figure out what happened. As luck would have it Shady the Shaman was in the crowd. The People called him Shady because he always camped in the shade, I bet you thought something else, ennit. Well anyway, Shady tells the people he has to have a ceremony and he will come back and tell the people what he found out.
Shady comes back to the People with 4 whistles fashioned in the shape of a goose head with the mouth open. This was in honor of what they had witnessed Brucee Goosee do that day. (Yes there are only 4 true whistles.) Shady also told the people that Brucee brought something else to the cirlce that day. He brought Jealousy, Hating and Vanity to the circle and it remains to this day.
So the next time you be hating on someone, or thinking you look good or jealousy of that in shape dancer, you can thank Brucee Goosee for that. And the next time you hear a whistle, you can bet it isn't one of the 4 orginal whistles unless it is a seriously old dude blowing it.
Aho, Steve has spoken.
On the origins of grass dancing:
The Grass Dance evolved from the early societies. These fellows were responsbile for cutting the lawns around the villages. They also were responsible for cutting the dance arena and could not do this until the day of the big dance. It generally took them until grand entry time to get the arena cut and they would be picking up their bags of grass clippings and dance them out of the arena. The people begining calling them grass dancers, obviously because they were dancing and carrying grass. Because they danced the grass out, they were giving the honor of leading the grand entry. That is how they invented the grand entry too. They had a hard time with the grand entry because they couldn't write and it was hard to keep points, well they didn't have paper either, so it was hard to keep track of points. Well they didn't have pencil's either, but thats a story for another time. I know this is true becuase I read it in a book a white guy wrote.
On grass dance antennae:
There was this old travlin' circus going through the middle of Nebraska about 1820 or so. The reason they were lost is they turned left instead of right at St. Louis.
In this circus they had a monkey who would collect money while being chained to a music box. While they were camped near the O-Mah-ho Indians, the music box accidently got smashed by wagon wheel, thus freeing the monkey.
The monkey grabbed two springs from the music box and headed toward Freedumb (that's near 'Liberty', MO). On his journey, some little O-Mah-Ho boyz saw the monkey and scared him. So he dropped the springs.
The little boyz grabbed the springs and took them back to their camp and gave them to a grass dancer that happened to be standing there doin' nothin. He asked the boyz where they got the springs. The boyz told him, from a "Strange Animal" who had a face like a little boy and a tail like a cow.
The grass dancer gave a loud war hoop and said .....
"Oh you got them from a ........... COWBOY!~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Grass dance society whistles:
You know Old Style I was thinking about what whome said and I thought what the hell that white guy know. Since when can't a brother share some info with a brother....
Well anyhoo, this is a long story, so I hope you got something to drink. This story occured when animals could talk. They can't talk anymore, but that's a story for another time.
Wapecha was walking to the doin's and on the he walks by a pond where a goose happens to be swimming. The goose introduces himself and asks Wapecha where he is going. Wapecha tells him he is going to the doin's and Brucee goosee decides to go along, since he has never been to a Pow Wow. Wapecha and Brucee walk to the pow wow and as they go Brucee asks questions about the pow wow. Well they get there and Wapecha and Brucee dance the first set and Brucee wants to know why the singers are imitating a rooster, so Wapecha tells him the story. Brucee was jealousy of the rooster and was hating on him because the singers were imitiating the rooster. Well the set finishs and the story teller comes out and does there thing. The next set starts and Brucee and Wapecha are dancing again and Brucee can't believe the singers were imitating something as lowly as a rooster and not something as magnificent as goose, because you know them goose's are vain animals. Well Brucee is hating on the rooster and scheming as to what he can do. Well the last song before the dog and pony show comes out, Wapecha and Brucee the goose are dancing by the drum and just as they are finishing the song on the last beat, Brucee runs over and stretches his big old long neck out, over the drum, and picks up the lead. Well the singers never had a goose lead before, but they pick it up and don't miss a beat. Well Brucee Goosee don't know what to do, so he starts busting out all his old school goose moves. (Yes, this is why the dancer that blows the whistle dances hard.) Well the people never seen this before but it looks WAKAN, so they get up and start dancing. (Yes, this is why everyone gets up and dances when a whistle blows.) Well the push up started coming to an end and Brucee is beside himself because the drum is singing and everyone is dancing because of him. Them Gander's are VAIN. So just as the push up is ending, he runs up and stretches his long old neck and picks the lead up and again and singers just follow him. Well Brucee goes out on the floor and gets after it. He invented the "Goose Neck," during the second push up and you still see grass dancers do it to this day. Well as the second push up comes to an end Brucee the goose, runs up and sticks his long old neck out over the drum and picks the lead up again and the singers just pick it up. Brucee goes out into the arena and gets after it again. He is getting carried away and busting moves all over. Brucee invented the "goose step," during this push up. As the third push up comes to an end Brucee runs up to the drum, sticks his long old neck out and picks the lead up again and the singers follow. Now I forgot to mention that by this time the Veteran's were out in the arena and had formed a big circle around Brucee and one guy was counting the times Brucee is picking up the leads, just like they do today. Do you know why they held up their fingers to signify the number of times Brucee had picked up the lead?? Brucee was a goose and he got no fingers?? Com'on pay attention. Ok, back to the story, So Brucee the goose has just picked up the lead for the fourth time and he is totally out of control, he heads back out to the arena and does a double back flip and goes into a barrel roll, way up into the sky. Well Brucee miscalculates how far away he is from the drum and the push up is coming to an end so he comes diving in towards the drum. Well he is gliding in for a landing, you ever see a goose glide in for a landing?? Well the kind of hold their wings out and still and come in towards the ground. To this day those team dancing grass dancers from Rosebud do this move in honor of Brucee, ennit Mike. So Brucee is coming in fast, trying to get to the drum before the songs ends. Brucee comes in to fast, misses the landing and hits head first into the ground breaking his neck, just as the song ends. Brucee goosee is dead as a door nail on the ground, the song is done and everyone is just kinda of standing around trying to figure out what happened. As luck would have it Shady the Shaman was in the crowd. The People called him Shady because he always camped in the shade, I bet you thought something else, ennit. Well anyway, Shady tells the people he has to have a ceremony and he will come back and tell the people what he found out.
Shady comes back to the People with 4 whistles fashioned in the shape of a goose head with the mouth open. This was in honor of what they had witnessed Brucee Goosee do that day. (Yes there are only 4 true whistles.) Shady also told the people that Brucee brought something else to the cirlce that day. He brought Jealousy, Hating and Vanity to the circle and it remains to this day.
So the next time you be hating on someone, or thinking you look good or jealousy of that in shape dancer, you can thank Brucee Goosee for that. And the next time you hear a whistle, you can bet it isn't one of the 4 orginal whistles unless it is a seriously old dude blowing it.
Aho, Steve has spoken.
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