Office of Diversity

Holiday Celebrations Around The World

During the month of December the Diversity Council will be celebrating Holiday Traditions Around the World. Below is a partial list of some of the different observations and holidays that are celebrated in the Fall and Winter season.

• Ramadan — Began September 1, ended September 30
• Eid al-Fitr (Muslim) — September 30
• Saint Nicholas Day (Christian) — December 6
• Eid’ul-Adha (Muslim) — December 8
• Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexican) — December 12
• St. Lucia Day (Swedish) — December 13
• Hanukkah (Jewish) — Begins at sundown on December 21 (ends December 29)
• Christmas Day(Christian) — December 25
• Boxing Day (Australian, Canadian, English, Irish) — December 26
• Kwanzaa (African American) — December 26 to January 1
• Omisoka (Japanese) — December 31
• Epiphany (Christian) — January 6

Source: Educationworld.com

Shoshone Tribe

At the time of major white penetration of the Great Basin and the Snake River areas in the 1840s, there were seven distinct Shoshoni groups. The Eastern Shoshoni, numbering about 2,000 under their famous Chief Washakie, occupied the region from the Wind River Mountains to Fort Bridger and astride the Oregon Trail. Their descendants today live on the Wind River Reservation. Two other divisions having similar cultures were the Goshute Shoshoni and the Western Shoshoni. The former, about 900 in number, lived in the valleys and mountains west and southwest of Great Salt Lake, with the remnants of their bands located in and around the small settlement of Ibapah, Utah, today. A much more numerous people, perhaps 8,000 strong, the Western Shoshoni occupied what is today northern and western Nevada. There were as many as eleven major bands distributed from the present Utah-Nevada border to Winnemucca on the west. Their descendants today live on the Duck Valley Reservation or scattered around the towns of northern Nevada from Wells to Winnemucca.

Paiute Tribe

The Southern Paiutes of Utah live in the southwestern corner of the state where the Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau meet. The Southern Paiute language is one of the northern Numic branches of the large Uto-Aztecan language family. Most scholars agree that the Paiutes entered Utah about A.D. 1100-1200.

Historically, the largest population concentrations of Paiutes were along the Virgin and Muddy rivers; other Paiutes adapted to a more arid desert environment that centered on water sources such as springs. Both desert and riverine groups were mainly foragers, hunting rabbits, deer, and mountain sheep, and gathering seeds, roots, tubers, berries, and nuts. Paiutes also practiced limited irrigation agriculture along the banks of the Virgin, Santa Clara, and Muddy rivers. They raised corn, squash, melons, gourds, sunflowers, and, later, winter wheat.

Goshute Tribe

The Goshutes are a Native American tribe that once numbered 20,000. The name Goshute derived either from a leader named Goship or from Gutsipupiutsi, a Shoshonean word for Desert People. The Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians is a federally recognized Indian Tribe located in the west desert of Tooele County. They are part of the larger Shoshonean-speaking Native American groups that lived in the Intermountain West.

The Skull Valley Band of Goshute exemplify the historic Great Basin desert way of life perhaps better than does any other group because of the nature of their territory. Organized primarily in nuclear families, they hunted and gathered in family groups and would often cooperate with other family groups that usually made up a village.

They lived in the most desolate part of what is now the western portion of Utah and eastern Nevada. Because of this, their culture has long been recognized as the simplest of any to be found in the Great Basin. Although exact boundaries are hard to determine because of the nature of the land, they lived in the area between the Oquirrh Mountains on the east and Steptoe Mountain in eastern Nevada, and from the south end of the Great Salt Lake to an area almost parallel with the south end of Utah lake.

The first contact with whites was documented in 1826. The contact with whites remained sporadic and insignificant from that time until the arrival of the Mormons in 1847 when contact became continual and prolonged.

On October 12, 1863, a treaty was signed with the U.S. Government. In 1917, and again in 1918, by Executive Order, the U.S. Government set aside and reserved a specific area of land for the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation.

The current enrollment is one hundred twenty three. Approximately thirty members live on the reservation, some on a permanent basis and some on a temporary basis. The balance live in the outlying cities or out-of-state. The Reservation consists of approximately 18,000 acres.

The Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians has no natural resources and rely on economic development to sustain them. They currently lease a rocket test facility located on the Reservation from which they currently derive their income and benefits.

Because the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation is located in an area which has been designated as a waste zone by the State of Utah, they must rely on economic development programs which are consistent with the numerous waste, production and testing facilities which surround the Reservation. They have been approached by numerous entities and have decided against a business relationship with most of them because they did not meet the strict criteria standards which the Tribal Band has established.

The Navajo (Dine’)

The Navajo (Diné) and Apache tribal groups of the American Southwest speak dialects of the language family referred to as Athapaskan. Linguistic similarities indicate the Navajo and Apache were once a single ethnic group, with substantial numbers not present in the American Southwest until the early 1500s.

Trade between the long-established Pueblo peoples and the Athapaskans become important to both groups by the mid 16th century. The Pueblos exchanged maize and woven cotton goods for bison meat, hides and material for stone tools. Coronado observed Plains people wintering near the Pueblos in established camps. The Spanish first mention the “Apachu de Nabajo” (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to people in the Chama region east of the San Juan River. By the 1640s, the term was applied to Athapaskan peoples from the Chama on the east to the San Juan on the west.
Taken from the internet from http://www.crystalinks.com/navajos.html.

Navajo Fry Bread

2 cups unbleached flour
2 pinches sea salt
3 heaping tsp. baking powder

1. Mix the dry ingredients.
2. Add enough warm water to make dough.
3. Knead and roll out into flat round cakes.
4. Fry in very hot grease until brown

Taken from www.ehow.com

The Ute Tribe

The Utes (/juːts/; “yoots”) are an ethnically related group of American Indians now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah (3,500 members); Southern Ute in Colorado (1,500 members); and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico (2,000 members). The name of the state of Utah was derived from the name Ute.

Ute’s fry bread recipe
BASIC DOUGH:

3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder (increase to 3 for higher elevations, including Reno and above)
1 tsp salt (can do without salt if you are on diabetic or heart smart diet)
1 1/2 C warm water or milk
1 tsp oil or shortening
Oil or shortening for deep frying (try olive oil or another less fattening/unfriendly oil such as safflower for equally good if not better results, but bargain oil is okay for those free from dietary concerns)
add extras such as finely chopped onions, chives, olives, garlic, etc. and contribute to tribal knowledge in the process. Credit Helen Begay,
Fry bread can come out looking like donuts without the holes, invites one to split it like pita which you can either stuff or just top it with the usual taco ingredients. Roll or pat to around 1/8″ thick for a yield of a dozen fry breads or even thinner for the tortillas which are cooked outdoors over charcoal for a unique flavor.

Native American Heritage Month

The Diversity Council would like to present the following in celebration of Native American Heritage Month. We will be posting  information regarding Native American Heritage throughout the month of November.

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