Sharing Tradition

 

Frank LaPena (1937-2019) was born in San

Francisco, California. He attended federal Indian

boarding school in Stewart, Nevada. He received

his Bachelor of Arts degree from Chico State in

1965 and a Master of Arts in Anthropology at Sac

State in 1978. He lectured widely on American

Indian traditional and cultural issues, emphasizing

California traditions.

He was a professor of art and former director of Native American Studies at

California State University, Sacramento. His paintings, sculpture, and poetry reflect

a deep understanding and love of his native heritage. He was a founding member

of the Maidu Dancers and Traditionalists, dedicated to the revival and preservation

of Native arts. He also published several volumes of poetry and wrote a report

on contemporary California art activities for News from Native California. He

was quite interested in the arts and traditions of Native Americans. He coedited

Legends of Yosemite Miwok (1992) with Craig D. Bates and wrote Dream Songs

and Ceremony: Reflections on Traditional California Indian Dance (2004).

The essay 'Sharing Tradition' is about passing on culture and values from generation

to generation through oral tradition. For this, we must listen to our elders’ stories.

Reading

I was thinking one day about recent deaths of some of the traditional people and how

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difficult it is to maintain tradition. I was also thinking how important oral tradition is

in helping maintain the values of culture, and how in a sense oral tradition is also an art

form. As the elders pass on, the young people fill their places. Even though we know

no one lives forever, no one dies if what they have gained by living is carried forward

by those who follow—if we as individuals assume the responsibilities. This is easy to

talk and write about, but it is hard to practise.

Not everyone is capable of fulfilling the roles of the elders. On one hand, everyone who

lives long enough automatically becomes an elder—it is something that just happens.

Yet some elders have enhanced their lives by creating a special “niche,” and once they

have passed on, that niche is hard to fill. Religious obligations for the ceremonies

and dance, for example, were reflected in their knowledge and in how those elders

lived and how they affected people around them in common everyday activities as

well. In fact, after the elders passed away, their knowledge of the culture and the

responsibilities they had in their community had to be assumed by several individuals.

Because longevity is the guarantor of becoming an elder, the young don’t pay too much

attention to something that will happen some years down the road, but they regret it

later. I have talked to individuals who were seventy years old or older, and even those

forty and fifty years old, and they all expressed the feeling that they wished they had

listened more, remembered more, or asked more about the things that the elders were

willing to share with them.

The separation that exists between generations will always be with us. Each generation

is faced with new technologies which replace the old; ever-growing populations make

necessary new developments that replace fertile land with housing and impact on the

natural resources of air and water. Part of tradition is tied to a natural world which

is being destroyed. If we are not worried about the apocalypse, getting killed in the

streets, or having the drug culture undercut our lives, we might wonder what kind of

world it will be in the future. It is hard to live with all the stress, worry, and change

that modern technology imposes on people. It is hard to maintain traditions in such

circumstances. Our world is not the world of our great-grandparents.

So we have to remind ourselves that there are things that transcend generations, and

the living force of that truth is carried by the person-to-person confidentiality of oral

tradition. A lot depends upon the transmission of information from one person to

another. Oral tradition is the educational tool of understanding the natural world.

Oral tradition is not, however, the way many people in modern society learn things. The

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educational process of getting degrees to show how educated we are forces people to

do things out of necessity and not necessarily out of interest, passion for the true story,

or because it is good for the community. Sometimes modern researchers gathering

what they think is “oral” material “in the field” are not always told the truth. I can

still see the smile of my friend who used to tell people “whatever they wanted to hear.

I let them figure it out later,” he said. Or a person doesn’t understand what has been

told, so he/she corrects it by modifying the material so it makes sense. The result is

that erroneous information is published and falsely validates one’s research. With the

printed word there is a tendency to place the author as “someone who knows” what’s

going on. As “experts,” writers and lecturers may be put into a position where they

think they must have an answer, so they answer by making something up. We need to

learn to say we don’t know the answer, and direct the question to someone who might

know. We need to learn from the elders who sometimes say “I’ll sleep on it,” or who

approach a problem by having everybody’s input come up with an answer—which

can be changed. Logistically, it is harder to correct errors in a book if it is already

published.

A living oral tradition, as opposed to a literary tradition, accommodates corrections,

because the stories are “known” by the listeners—although today a story could be

someone’s fantasy and it might be harder to validate. The source of one’s information

and how it was given affects how correct it is. Only if one is patient and gains

information over a long period of time is it possible to get a proper understanding of

one’s information. If a person is one of the groups (an insider), usually the information

is given correctly, because it relates to something the speaker and listener have a vested

interest in or participate in. It is their life. It is worth doing right.

For an artist, the oral tradition has an impact on how one visualizes the stories, the

characters, the designs and colour for art, the atmosphere, and other information which

can be useful to an artist. If I think of these elders whom I respect and love and who

were my teachers, I sometimes wonder—as I extend and alter the traditions—if I am

somehow not doing right by them. If an artist’s work is abstract, is it true to the stories?

At what time of doing one’s art does the artist begin to relate conceptually instead of

representationally to his source, and is that good or bad? Ultimately being good or bad

can refer to how we do our art—what’s included or left out, and how true the artwork

is to the “real” Native American thing. Do our modern life and new things function

independently of or holistically with the old ways and symbols? Each of us has choices

in the outcome of our lives.

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As an artist, I won’t try to answer these questions because the answers will be reflected

in artists’ works, and how they explain their work and how they understand their work.

Each of us makes choices in how we work and how we live. If one knows tradition

and modifies how he/she presents it, I hope it is not only for one’s ego but that more

independently we are also paying attention to the source of our inspiration. And if it is

tradition, I hope that we honour the elders and think of the responsibility they entrusted

to us by sharing the traditions with us.

Glossary

alter (v.): change

apocalypse (n.): a very serious event resulting in great destruction and change

confidentiality (n.): the state of keeping or being kept secret or private

entrust (v.): give responsibility for

erroneous (adj.): wrong; incorrect

holistically (adv.): relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems

logistically (adv.): something done in logical or practical way

longevity (n.): long life

niche (n.): ideal position; slot

obligation (n.): responsibility, compulsion

transcend (v.): rise above or go beyond the limits of something

validate (v.): check or prove the validity or accuracy of something

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a. According to LaPena, what is the importance of the oral tradition? To what extent

do you agree with his opinions and why?

 The Oral tradition is important in helping maintain the values of culture, and it is an art

form. As the elders pass on, the young people fill their places. Even though we know

no one lives forever, no one dies if what they have gained by living is carried forward

by those who follow—if we as individuals assume the responsibilities.

Yes, I agree with his opinion because it is important for everyone to learn older ways of life to make a 

better present and future. 

b. Who preserve and pass on the oral tradition?

Elder, everyone who lives long can preserve and pass on the oral tradition.

c. What is the danger of not passing on information from generation to generation?

There is the danger of not passing on information from generation to generation. It destroys the tie with the natural world.

d. What is the difference between oral tradition and literary tradition?

The difference between oral tradition and literary tradition is that oral tradition has known listeners, it can be validated whereas literrary tradition can be full of fantasy.

e. How does LaPena establish a relationship between art and the oral tradition?

The oral tradition has an impact on how one visualizes the stories, the

characters, the designs and color for art, the atmosphere, and other information which

can be useful to an artist.

......................................

Reference the context

a. LaPena states that the oral tradition helps maintain the values of a culture. If you

believe that the oral tradition is important, how would you maintain it?

LaPena states its through oral tradition one can keep up the ways of life, religious activities, traditional roles, and cultural aspects.

Yes, I believe that the oral tradition is important. I would maintain it by listening to elders and sharing to others like friends and younger generations.

b. “Not everyone is capable of fulfilling the roles of the elders.” Explain this

statement with reference to the essay.

Lapena thinks no one is as capable as the elders for the transmission of culture. He thinks so because only the elder generation would know actual ways of leading life and everyone who lives long automatically becomes an elder. The elder creates a niche that is hard to fill in the absence of the elder. When the elders are passed away, several individuals from the new generation only can assume at the culture the elders had in the comunity. Hence, its more important to listen, ask question,s and remember more.

c. What is the controlling idea or thesis of this essay?

The controlling idea or thesis of this essay is oral tradition is an important art to pass on the culture and values to generations so elders should be listened.  

d. How do topic sentences guide the reader through the essay? What would be lost

without them?

The topic sentence introduces the topic with the controlling idea (thesis)

e. What are the four major problems developed by LaPena with regard to

maintaining the oral tradition. How are they used to structure the essay?

Reference beyond the text

The four major problems are,

1. Not everyone is capable of fulfilling the roles of the elders.

2. The young don't pay much attention to something that will happen.

3. Each generation is faced with new technologies.

4. Oral tradition is not the way many people in modern society learn things.

a. Write a paragraph or two explaining your attitude toward the oral tradition of

passing along information.

b. Our culture is our identity. Write a few paragraphs.