Fundraiser To Benefit Mohawk Community: Attendees Experience Traditional Culture Firsthand

April 20, 2010 - PRLog -- On Sunday May 23, 2010, a fundraiser for Kanatsiohareke, a traditional Mohawk community in Fonda, NY will be held at the Huntington Arts Centre in Huntington, NY.  

Participants will experience Mohawk ceremony, spirituality, song and dance, stories and history.  The event includes short films on Mohawk culture and a live performance by Ghosthorse, a Native American musical group that performs both traditional and contemporary music.  Tom Porter, founder, director and spiritual leader of the community will lead the event.  He will start the day with the ceremonial “Thanksgiving Address,” as well as a lecture on Mohawk spirituality and teachings.  As Robert Vetter, Long Island anthropologist explains, “This is a rare opportunity for Long Islanders to experience Mohawk teachings and cultures firsthand.  And Tom Porter is probably the most insightful and sharing spokesman for this culture alive today.”


Schedule for the Fundraiser:

9:30-10:15 am   -  Introduction and Thanksgiving Address with Tom Porter
10:15-11 am   -  Breakfast and meet and greet
11-11:30 am   - Storytelling with Mohawk storyteller, Kay Olan
11:30-12 noon   - Traditional Mohawk singing and participatory dancing
12-1 pm                        - Mohawk Spirituality with Tom Porter
1-2 pm      - Performance by Native musical group Ghosthorse
2-3:30 pm                        - Short films on Mohawk culture and traditions:  “Walking the Same Land,”  “Carriers of Culture,” and “These Are My People”

3:30-4 pm                       - Panel and Audience Discussion

Tom Porter is a nationally recognized Native American leader and lecturer since the 1960’s.  He has served numerous positions on the Mohawk Nation of Chiefs Council over the past 25 years.  In 1998, Mr. Porter launched the first Iroquois Immersion Program, a language and lifeway restoration project for the Mohawk and other Iroquois nations.  Tom Porter is the author of “And Grandma Said: Iroquois Teachings as Passed Down Through the Oral Tradition” and “Kanatsiohareke:  Traditional Mohawk Indians Return to Their Ancestral Homelands.”  Tom is also the recipient of the Rothko Chapel Award for Commitment to Truth and Freedom, The Human Rights Award from Earth Action, and the twenty-first Gamallel Chair in Peace and Justice Award.

Tickets to the fundraiser cost $25, and can be purchased at Huntington Arts Centre’s website:  www.cinemaartscentre.org, or at the door.  The Huntington Arts Centre is located at 423 Park Avenue, Huntington, NY 11743; telephone 631-423-7611.

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Kanatsiohareke is an off-reservation community located on the ancient ancestral homelands of the Mohawk nation. It was re-established in 1993 under the leadership of Tom Porter, Mohawk/Bear Clan spiritual leader. The community, a non-profit organization, must raise its own revenues in order to survive. Kanatsiohareke is a small group of traditional Mohawks who farm, cultivate and preserve their land in the Mohawk Valley with the hope that others will follow in their footsteps. Their struggle is to maintain a place where Mohawk people can revitalize their culture, language, traditions and spirituality for generations to come.