During my short stay at Wonewoc Spiritualist Camp I had the honour to provide private readings for people who are part of the Ho-Chunk tribe (Bear Clan), Native American Indians. I have nothing but great respect for the Ho-Chunk Tribe, especially to those people who showed me warmth, kindness, friendliness and provided me with valuable knowledge about their ways and how to respect all life forms. By example they naturally displayed the meaning of spiritualism and how they look after one another through difficult times in the past and present.
The Native Americans are the lost nation of America. However, they still follow their traditions. The written history of the Ho-Chunk begins with the records made from the reports of Jean Nicolet, who was the first white man to establish contact with this people in 1634. At that time the Winnebago/Ho-Chunk occupied the area around Green Bay in Wisconsin, reaching beyond Lake Winnebago to the Wisconsin River and to the Rock River in Illinois. The tribe traditionally practiced corn agriculture in addition to hunting. They were not advanced in agriculture, but living on Green Bay they fished, collected wild rice, gathered sugar from maple trees, and hunted game.
The tribe located primarily in Wisconsin changed its official name in 1994 to the Ho-Chunk Sovereign Nation (meaning People of the Big Voice). There were 6,159 tribe members as of 2001. The tribe does not have a formal reservation; however, the tribe owns 4,602 acres (18.625 km²) scattered across parts of 12 counties in Wisconsin and one county in Minnesota. The largest concentrations are in Jackson County, Clark County, and Monroe County in Wisconsin. Smaller areas lie in Adams, Crawford, Dane, Juneau, La Crosse, Marathon, Sauk, Shawano, and Wood Counties in Wisconsin, as well as Houston County, Minnesota. The administrative center is in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, in Jackson County.
The Bear Clan assumes the foundation role for the whole nation, and when they land they find the nation's friendship tribe, the Menominee. The Bear Clan is strongly associated with the kagi, a term that denotes the raven and northern crow. It is also the name by which the Hocagara know the Menominee.
On account of his vision, a great Menominee (Kagi) chief commanded that all manner of supplies be assembled at a white sand beach on Lake Michigan. And when all this had been done and set in order, as the sun reached its zenith the vision came to life: in the pure blue sky of the eastern horizon a single dark cloud began to form and move irresistibly towards them. It was a great flock of ravens (kagi), spirit birds with rainbow plumage of iridescent colors. The instant that the first of these landed, he materialized into a naked, kneeling man. The Menominee chief said to his people, "Give this man clothing, for he is a chief." And the others landed in like fashion, and were given great hospitality. They were the Hocak nation, and that is how they came to Red Banks.
Red Banks (Wisconsin) is the traditional homeland of the Hocak Nation. It is situated on Green Bay, which the Hocagara called Te-rok, the "Within Lake". Lake Michigan as a whole was called Te-šišik, "Bad Lake", which may well have led the Algonquian peoples round about Lake Winnebago to call them "the people of the Bad Waters", or Winnibégo in Menominee.
I know our paths will cross again in this life or the next, I will leave you with a British Song Title "We will meet again, I don't know when, but I know we `ll meeta again some sunny day".
For more information about go to www.ho-chunknation.com
HAPPINESS IS ONLY A SMILE AWAY