grass dance whistles

[oldstylegrass]

i've heard alot about grass dance societies and grass dance rituals but no one has ever explained to me the meaning and teachings behind it.....i was told that grass dance whistles were to be made of deer bone any background or teachings would be greatly appreciated

[WhoMe]

______

For information on this aspect of the grass dance whistle and it's place in ceremony you had better offer tobacco to the appropriate information giver.

There is a whole lot more involved that is proprietary to a grass dance society. IT SHOULD NOT BE POSTED OVER THE INTERNET.


"There is a time and place for everything. This is not the time OR the place."

[Steve StopsOnTime]

Dude, aren't you blowing on a whistle in the gallery?? You use something and don't know what it is for?? I have never seen someone whistle while they were kneeling, that is new to me. I was wondering about that. Since you bring it up, what is that about?

[oldstylegrass]

good question steve

in case you were wondering that whistle is neither eagle or deer it is plastic i carry and eagle whistle but dont blow it the one i have is like fancy dancers have it's a dance whistle....but it's for calling in my family to join me as i dance...as far as kneeling thats just how i start out dancing...i dont use my eagle whistle cept in sweats..or on my fast

[Steve StopsOnTime]

Orgin of the Whistle

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.

[Steve StopsOnTime]

I forgot to meniton something....

You know I forgot a very important part of the story.

When Shady the Shaman brought the 4 whistles, he also brought 4 feather bustles. He gave those whistles and bustles to 4 grass dancers that were there that day. The bustles looked something like the crow belt, becuase you know they have kept the orginal grass dance style and bustle as close as any style has to the orginal. Anyway, Shady made the bustle to look like a goose's tail and if you look at a Crow Belt it looks like a goose's tail and Shady made them this way to "honor," Bruce the goose. If you watch Crow dancers, to this day, they still honor Bruce with how they dance. They dance kind of like a goose, kind of slow and waddle back and forth.

Aho, Steve has spoken again.........

[the-grass-punk]

the meanin of the wistle is to show honor to the ppl who died for us for our ansestors who died when the had to move from res to res and how they watched the white men take our land its for honor and respect for our ansestors its not something were u can buy at a styand in the powwow you have to gifted it its a huge award to recieve my moms cousin is a wistle carrier told me to figure out themeaning
of
the
wistle it so obivious i hope one day i can be a wistle carrier

[Steve StopsOnTime]

Steve is BACK!!!!

the meanin of the wistle is to show honor to the ppl who died for us for our ansestors who died when the had to move from res to res and how they watched the white men take our land its for honor and respect for our ansestors its not something were u can buy at a styand in the powwow you have to gifted it its a huge award to recieve my moms cousin is a wistle carrier told me to figure out themeaning

OMG, what boy scout troop do you belong too??

[Coyot_In_The_House]

I can Certainly see why I hardly ever read this thread....

Wongeh!