Sara Jacobsen, 19, grew up eating family dinners beneath a stunning Native American robe.
Sara Jacobsen, 19, grew up eating family dinners beneath a stunning Native American robe.
Not that she gave it much thought. Until, that is, her senior year of high school, when she saw a picture of a strikingly similar robe in an art history class.
The teacher told the class about how the robe was used in spiritual ceremonies, Sara Jacobsen said. “I started to wonder why we have it in our house when we’re not Native American.”
She said she asked her dad a few questions about this robe. Her dad, Bruce Jacobsen, called that an understatement.
“I felt like I was on the wrong side of a protest rally, with terms like ‘cultural appropriation’ and ‘sacred ceremonial robes’ and ‘completely inappropriate,’ and terms like that,” he said.
“I got defensive at first, of course,” he said. “I was like, ‘C’mon, Sara! This is more of the political stuff you all say these days.’”
But Sara didn’t back down. “I feel like in our country there are so many things that white people have taken that are not theirs, and I didn’t want to continue that pattern in our family,” she said.
The robe had been a centerpiece in the Jacobsen home. Bruce Jacobsen bought it from a gallery in Pioneer Square in 1986, when he first moved to Seattle. He had wanted to find a piece of Native art to express his appreciation of the region.
The Chilkat robe that hung over the Jacobsen dining room table for years. Credit Courtesy of the Jacobsens
“I just thought it was so beautiful, and it was like nothing I had seen before,” Jacobsen said.
The robe was a Chilkat robe, or blanket, as it’s also known. They are woven by the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples of Alaska and British Columbia and are traditionally made from mountain goat wool. The tribal or clan origin of this particular 6-foot-long piece was unclear, but it dated back to around 1900 and was beautifully preserved down to its long fringe.
“It’s a completely symmetric pattern of geometric shapes, and also shapes that come from the culture,” like birds, Jacobsen said. “And then it’s just perfectly made — you can see no seams in it at all.”
Jacobsen hung the robe on his dining room wall.
After more needling from Sara, Jacobsen decided to investigate her claims. He emailed experts at the Burke Museum, which has a huge collection of Native American art and artifacts.
“I got this eloquent email back that said, ‘We’re not gonna tell you what to go do,’ but then they confirmed what Sara said: It was an important ceremonial piece, that it was usually owned by an entire clan, that it would be passed down generation to generation, and that it had a ton of cultural significance to them.“
Jacobsen says he was a bit disappointed to learn that his daughter was right about his beloved Chilkat robe. But he and his wife Gretchen now no longer thought of the robe as theirs. Bruce Jacobsen asked the curators at the Burke Museum for suggestions of institutions that would do the Chilkat robe justice. They told him about the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau.
When Jacobsen emailed, SHI Executive Director Rosita Worl couldn’t believe the offer. “I was stunned. I was shocked. I was in awe. And I was so grateful to the Jacobsen family.”
Worl said the robe has a huge monetary value. But that’s not why it’s precious to local tribes.
“It’s what we call ‘atoow’: a sacred clan object,” she said. “Our beliefs are that it is imbued with the spirit of not only the craft itself, but also of our ancestors. We use [Chilkat robes] in our ceremonies when we are paying respect to our elders. And also it unites us as a people.”
Since the Jacobsens returned the robe to the institute, Worl said, master weavers have been examining it and marveling at the handiwork. Chilkat robes can take a year to make – and hardly anyone still weaves them.
“Our master artist, Delores Churchill, said it was absolutely a spectacular robe. The circles were absolutely perfect. So it does have that importance to us that it could also be used by our younger weavers to study the art form itself.”
Worl said private collectors hardly ever return anything to her organization. The federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires museums and other institutions that receive federal funding to repatriate significant cultural relics to Native tribes. But no such law exists for private collectors.
Bruce and Gretchen Jacobsen hold the Chilkat robe they donated to the Sealaska Heritage Institute as Joe Zuboff, Deisheetaan, sings and drums and Brian Katzeek (behind robe) dances during the robe’s homecoming ceremony Saturday, August 26, 2017. Credit NOBU KOCH / SEALASKA HERITAGE INSTITUTE
Worl says the institute is lobbying Congress to improve the chances of getting more artifacts repatriated. “We are working on a better tax credit system that would benefit collectors so that they could be compensated,” she said.
Worl hopes stories like this will encourage people to look differently at the Native art and artifacts they possess.
The Sealaska Heritage Institute welcomed home the Chilkat robe in a two-hour ceremony over the weekend. Bruce and Gretchen Jacobsen traveled to Juneau to celebrate the robe’s homecoming.
This spread is based on the seven sacred directions and is a powerful meditative opportunity for reflection during the excitement of midsummer’s magic, manifestation, and abundance. Here’s how my reading for myself went:
1. East (Air): What do I know? The Sun. I know that I am surrounded with all the goodness I need. I know I have the potential to achieve everything I could want to achieve and that good things are on the way as long as I keep working towards them.
2. South (Fire): What is my potential? 9 of Cups. I’m bursting with potential for success and abundance. My dreams are completely within reach, closer than I might think.
3. West (Water): What do I understand? 2 of Wands. I know that I must not let others distract me from my own goals or define how I should live my life for me. I am in control of my own fate, and I must not forget that.
4. North (Earth): What should I nurture? Death. Nurture the new me. Nurture new beginnings. Evaluate what in my life is important and nurture those things only and cut out the rest. I’ve been nurturing too many toxic feelings and it’s time to focus on nurturing only what benefits me.
5. Above: What divine wisdom is mine? 9 of Wands. Things will turn out as they should. I will be ready for whatever comes at me. I can relax knowing that I will be ready when I need to be.
6. Below: What do I inherit? Knight of Swords. Recklesness. My reckless and impulsive nature mirrors that of the wild world around me, but it would benefit me to learn to control my impulsiveness for my own benefit as well as those around me.
7. Within: How do I connect with what is inside me? The Emperor. I need to acknowledge my own power and ability to lead. This is the next step towards becoming whole in myself.
Litha (pronounced “LEE-THA”) is known also as the Summer Solstice, and Midsummer. It is a Sun and fire festival that marks the longest day and shortest night of the year.
Historic Litha/Summer Solstice Traditions:
✧ Traditions in ancient/pre-Christian Rome:
In the run up to and during the Summer Solstice, ancient Romans celebrated and honoured the goddess of the hearth, Vesta, during an aptly named festival - Vestalia. During this festival, alongside generic merriment (eating and drinking), women would leave offerings for Vesta in her temples hoping to bring blessings to their families.
✧ Traditions in ancient/pre-Christian Greece:
Around the Summer Solstice a festival named Kronia was held to honour and celebrate the god of agriculture, Cronus. It was a time of merriment and feasting, and during this time the social structures of Greece were flipped on their head: slaves were not required to fulfil their duties as slaves and were allowed to enjoy the festival alongside those of higher standing.
✧ Traditions in ancient/pre-Christian Europe:
In Europe, it was customary in many faiths and religious circles (including Slavic, Celtic, and Germanic) to celebrate the Summer Solstice with bonfires. Bonfires were believed to bolster the energy of the Sun and ensure a bountiful harvest come the end of the harvest season. The fires were believed to drive away and banish negative energies and evil spirits.
Used to be even 10-15 years ago there would be patches of sidewalk next to gardens that sometimes you couldn’t walk on once in a while because they were just covered in butterflies sunning themselves between trips to the flowers.
Like there were times I would walk past some spots and it’d be like a movie with this wave of small butterflies that would fly up, disturbed by my passing.
Used to see lots of fireflies, too.
Now it’s a rare treat to see multiple butterflies at once, and lightning bugs are much fewer and far between.
This will be my first Ostara so I’ve been putting together my recipes for the event. The following recipe is a dairy and egg free cake with a hint of honey; a simple recipe I’ve modified. It can even be gluten free if you substitute a gluten free all purpose flour (I personally like Bob’s Mill) Perfect desert for the sabbat! It’s simple, not overly sweet, and I’ll be putting a light lemon glaze on top, but it would be wonderful plain. A perfect finish to bring in Spring/Summer.
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup honey, warmed
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons oil
2 cups water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 2 – 9 inch round cake pans then dust with flour. Warm honey in 10 second intervals in microwave until it moves around bowl like a liquid (DO NOT let it boil) Add the flour, sugar, honey, baking soda, and salt to a large bowl. Add the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Mix with a whisk until well-blended. Do not over beat. It will still turn out even if there are a few small lumps. Divide the batter between the 2 greased cake pans. Bake on a middle rack of oven for 35 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before frosting, dust with powdered sugar, or dive in while warm with a fork. Mmm, tasty!🐰🐥🐏🍰
reblog if your blog is safe for trans witches, non binary witches, bisexual witches, gay witches, pansexual witches, closet witches, mental ill witches and all type of witches 🔮🌿
The BMI scale was invented by a white Belgian mathematician in the 1800s and is a crude formula which divides weight by height squared to determine a person’s “health status.” Europeans are the tallest people in the world. The BMI is a meaningless measure of health in any population, but it especially pathologizes populations which tend to be shorter, and sometimes stockier in build than tall white Europeans (e.g. many indigenous groups in Latin America, Alaska, the Pacific Islands, etc.). All populations on earth have internal diversity of shape and size, but certain phenotypic patterns are prevalent in certain regions. The BMI is an ersatz health measure based on a European standard which is imposed via colonization (an ongoing process) in regions where indigenous people have been violently murdered, displaced, forced to assimilate, stripped of autonomy, etc. by Europeans.
Aboriginal people around the world who are living in European empire have their bodies’ sizes and shapes pathologized by homogenizing standards, including the BMI. They are subject to patronizing speculation (even mine) about their bodies and health. They are forced into life rhythms and systems–including concepts of health–that don’t honor their autonomy and traditions. We call them “overweight” and “obese” when that is not the framework they use for themselves, esp after centuries of hunger and violence under colonialism.
As oppression has taken its toll on the bodies and lives of indigenous groups (there are thousands of sanctimonious studies about indigenous ill health), indigenous people–women especially–are being told that it is their “unhealthy lifestyles” (their eating and activity patterns) which are pushing them up the all-important BMI scale and causing disease. There is rarely talk of the health detriments of oppression and colonization, or of the fact that many indigenous groups have and still do experience high levels of food insecurity. There is no acknowledgement that humans are body diverse and that white European standards of health are politically motivated and inept. There is a myopic focus on food/body/activity when the devastations of colonization loom far larger.
pls be careful around what u do around scorpio risings because we literally will judge u on the way u interact with other people . if ur a bitch to someone then we’ll be a bitch to u (unless the person u were being a bitch to is already a bitch, then we’ll applaud u).
Background: We are Richmond-based burlesque performers and producers Ellie Quinn and Sally Stardust. We are currently being sued for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy by Richmond-based comedian Ray Bullock. Why we need your help: Our attorney requires...
Please help out these kickass nerdlesque babes if you can! They’re truly wonderful ladies who have been put into a very unfortunate situation, and they could really use a hand.
(Ellie and Sally ask that if you’re at all familiar with the situation, please don’t discuss it online or in the comments as it could risk further complicating matters.)
So. Let me tell you about the day I took this video. It was the 1 year anniversary of my open heart surgery. It’s about a year old, and I’d say it’s pretty safe to say I’ve improved since then. In case you don’t agree, let’s take a look at some more at my exaggerated waddling.
Waddle.
Waddle waddle.
*rolls across the floor*
Clearly I am immobilized by my own mass.
Oh wait… that’s not it, is it? It sort of seems like the opposite. Almost as though the ability to dance is based on strength, effort and passion and not on being skinny. Strange concept I know, let’s see if you can wrap your tiny little mind around it.
Clearly she is performing a saute arabesque, chasse, step-step, assemble devant with arms in fifth.
And as a teacher too, I can’t find much technically wrong with it at all.
Which means not only is she a gifted dancer, she has a wonderful technical foundation that she is executing properly and with lovely mannerism.
Being a ballerina isn’t about how much you weigh. Give me this girl ANY day for a student or dancer to work with. Clearly she has the knowledge and the passion, which means she will be a joy to work with.
Also, for those of you criticizing, you clearly have NO idea how difficult it is to execute a develope ecarte derriere the way she is at the barre in one of her later photos. This takes YEARS of dedicated training, as well as extensive natural facility, such as turnout, which she clearly demonstrates here.
So maybe before you peons thinking you’re masters of ballet judge dancers based on weight, you should actually learn about ballet and technique. Because if you had, you’d recognize that this girl clearly has technique—unlike your basic asses.
kaledo-art
jacobvanloon
baratheonpilled
turnnoffyourmind
ellievsbear
stormborns
pixelskylines
romaincrisis
