Lesson on origins of Thanksgiving

El Morro Elementary School celebrated both sides of the Thanksgiving story earlier this week at its annual Colonial Days.

Inside the traditional colonial village, set up in the school’s multipurpose room, students went from station to station, carrying paper bags hand-calligraphed with their names.

They learned sewing and weaving, calligraphy, leather tooling, silversmithing and candle making; had a silhouette drawn of themselves; practiced colonial dances; and made corn husk dolls. During lunch Tuesday, the Eagle Spirit Dancers mesmerized kids with traditional Native American dances.

“We’ve been dancing ever since we could walk,” said Navajo dancer Benjamin Hale.

He was joined by his daughter Tawny and brother Phillip in performing dances from several tribes.

“Even though we put on this program near Thanksgiving for entertainment, for us it’s a lot more than that,” Hale said. “For us, it’s our identity.”

Their performances included the Warrior Society Dance and the Eagle Dance.

Kids were most enthralled by the Woman’s Fancy Shawl Dance, of which Tawny is a world-class performer, and a dance created by a shy man from the Taos pueblo. Legend has it the man had a dream in which his Creator told him how to express himself.

Benjamin wove and looped wooden circles depicting the cycles of life around himself into formations as he performed while children whooped and cheered.

“What makes us Indian people is our philosophy about the world around us,” Hale told the kids. “We own nothing. We are only the stewards of our land.”