2012-05-21 "Winnemem Wintu Tribe to Hold War Dance May 24-27 to 
Convince U.S. Forest Service to Protect Coming of Age Ceremony from 
Disruptions and Heckling"
[
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/05/21/18713874.php]
 For more information: 
 Caleen Sisk, Spiritual Leader and Tribal Chief: 530-710-4817 
 Michael Preston: 510-926-1513 
 Jeanne France: 530-472-1050 
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 Winnemem Wintu Tribe needs 4-day closure of 400-yard section of McCloud
 River to Perform Girls’ Traditional Coming of Age Ceremony 
 Redding, CA – The Winnemem Wintu Tribe will hold a four-day War Dance 
(H’up Chonas in Winnemem) May 24-27 at the McCloud River site where they
 hold their Coming of Age ceremonies. 
 The War Dance signifies the tribe’s spiritual commitment to defend at 
all costs the ceremony from heckling, flashing and violating disruptions
 by recreational boaters that have occurred in previous years. 
 “We have been backed into a corner with no other choice. We should be 
preparing for Marisa’s ceremony, setting down prayers, making regalia, 
getting the dance grounds ready, making sure it happens in a good way,” 
said Caleen Sisk, spiritual leader and chief. “But instead we have to 
fight simply to protect our young women from drunken harassment.” 
 More than 400 volunteers from throughout the country, native and 
non-native, are expected to converge upon the sacred sites to help the 
tribe close the river and protect the War Dance from interference by 
boaters. 
 The ceremony will begin Thursday with the light of the sacred fire and 
an opening dance. On Friday and Saturday, the Tribe and volunteers will 
blockade a 400-yard stretch of the river. These will be the best days 
for media to attend. 
 “We hope the blockade will let the Forest Service know that boats don’t
 belong in ceremony and that we will do it ourselves if they won’t take 
the appropriate measures to protect our young women’s ceremonies,” said 
Sisk. 
 The tribe has contacted the U.S. Forest Service to arrange a discussion
 with officials to let them know what to expect and to ensure that 
everyone will be safe and have their rights respected. The tribe will 
have lawyers, legal observers, videographers, and the media present at 
all times during the War Dance and other activities. 
 The Tribe hopes the War Dance will convince the U.S. Forest Service to 
implement a mandatory river closure for 16-year-old Marisa Sisk’s Coming
 of Age ceremony, a traditional rite that is vital to the tribe’s social
 fabric. 
 The ceremony lasts four days, and takes place at the McCloud Bridge 
campground, which is within the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The site
 was once a Winnemem village, Kaibai, and is home to numerous sacred 
sites vital to the ceremony. 
 At the tribe’s ceremonies in 2006 and 2010, the Forest Service enforced
 only a voluntary river closure, which led to drunken recreational 
boaters heckling the young Winnemem women and other tribal members with 
shouts of “It’s our river too, dude!” or “Fat Indians.” 
 One woman flashed her naked breasts at the Tribe, and another boater 
dumped cremated ashes into the river shortly before a ceremonial swim. 
 For six years, the tribe has unsuccessfully worked with Shasta-Trinity 
Forest officials to secure a mandatory closure of the 400 yards river 
necessary for the ceremony. It is not a thoroughfare. Access for the 
general public dead-ends at the north end of the site, which is private 
property. 
 On April 16, the Winnemem Wintu held a direct action event at the 
Vallejo office of Regional Forester Randy Moore, asking him to take 
action and close the river using his professional discretion. The tribe 
gave Moore a May 1 deadline to respond to their request, but he has 
never contacted the tribe. 
 U.S. Forest Service officials say that laws that would allow for a 
mandatory river closure for American Indian ceremonies – the 2008 Farm 
Bill and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act – do not apply to the
 Winnemem because they are not federally recognized. 
 The Winnemem were federally recognized up until the 1980s when they 
lost recognition due to Bureau of Indian Affairs clerical error. 
 Today, they are state recognized. The California Native American 
Heritage Commission has asserted that the Winnemem Wintu should be 
federally recognized. The California State Assembly also passed Assembly
 Join Resolution 39, which urges Congress to restore the Winnemem’s 
federal recognition. 
 The Winnemem Wintu are a traditional tribe of 125 who still practices 
their ceremonies and traditional healings within our ancestral territory
 from Mt. Shasta down the McCloud River watershed. When the Shasta Dam 
was constructed during World War II, it flooded their home and blocked 
the salmon runs. It also flooded all the other Puberty Rocks that could 
be used for Coming of Age ceremonies. 
 For directions to the War Dance, a cultural guide for the ceremony and more info, visit [
http://www.saveourceremony.com/wardance]. 
 Learn more about the Winnemem Wintu at [
http://www.winnememwintu.us] 
 Learn more about the ceremony at [
http://www.saveourceremony.com]. 
 Download Video of motorboats speeding past ceremony and flashing the participants at: [
http://vimeo.com/39867112]
 Footage of April 16, 2012 protest at Forest Service Region 5 Headquarters in Vallejo: [
http://youtu.be/oglCy--o7oY]
Photo of Caleen Sisk (speaking) and members of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe at a protest at the U.S. Forest Service office in Vallejo on April 16 by Dan Bacher.
