WASHOE LIFE EVENTS AND CEREMONIES

OBJECTIVE: Students will learn how the Washoe traditionally and currently celebrate and acknowledge significant life events, Such as birth, marriage, illness, death, etc.

TEACHER BACKGROUND: See student booklet of the same title.

KEY POINTS: Traditional Washoe birth and cradleboards, early Childhood, marriage, daily rituals, illness, and death.

MATERIALS: Catalogs and newspapers for cost estimates, cassette tape player, construction paper, yarn, markers, and crayons for baby baskets activity.

MATERIALS FROM KIT: Washoe language tape, Lesson 10 notetaker and booklet, baby basket craft models (one large and one small).

ACTIVITIES:

1. Hand out the booklet on Lesson Ten, and have the students read individually or with a partner, and fill out their notetakers.

2. Have the students each pick a ceremony or a life event they practice at home (birthdays, coming of age ceremonies, weddings, bar or bat mitzvahs, mealtimes, funerals, community or church meetings, Christmas, parades, New Year's Eve, etc.) Have them describe this event in small groups (with a time limit) and explain what they like best about it.

3. Have each group of students design their own ceremony. Have them explain what the event commemorates or celebrates, and then have them make a list of equipment and supplies they would need for this ceremony. Have them make a web of this ceremony on a large piece of paper, mapping the reasons for ceremony and the materials and beliefs involved. Encourage them to use their imaginations. Math enrichment: Have them add up the estimated cost of the ceremony, with the help of catalogs, newspapers, and your input. Have them calculate and add sales tax.

4. Have the students make and decorate Washoe baby baskets using the Washoe baby basket craft models, either large or small, included in the kits.

5. Have the students, in small groups or as a class, compare and contrast traditional Washoe and contemporary American customs surrounding a baby's birth.

6. After explaining the traditional Washoe custom of not naming a child until he or she began to speak, discuss with the students the current practice of giving nicknames. Ask them if they have nicknames which were given to them after they did something unusual or displayed a personality trait. Then have the students give themselves a new name, drawing from their environment or from their experiences. Have them write a paragraph about how they got the name. Make a bulletin board or a class book of each child's picture, new name, and explanation. Photocopy the display or book, and give each child their own section to take home at the end of the unit or year.

7. The Washoe vocabulary words for this lesson-are: da-'mom-lee (traditional doctor or medicine person), bic-koos (cradleboard), ngow-ngong (baby), dow-hi'gee-gidih (teacher) Use the cassette tape of Washoe words for pronunciation, and see Appendix A for suggested vocabulary activities and Washoe spellings.

OPTIONS:

1. Have the students bring in pictures from home of their favorite event or ceremony and present them to the class.

2. Have the students graph the favorite events and ceremonies of the class to see how different or similar their responses were.

CLOSURE: writing activity: Have the students write about the nicknames they discussed in Activity 6. If they themselves do not have a nickname, have them write about someone they know who does. Have them explain how they or someone else got their nickname. Tell them to be creative if they do not know the origin of the nickname.

EVALUATION: The webs of ceremonies designed by small groups of students will demonstrate the students, understanding of the reasons for and the complexities of ceremonies. If you need another evaluation, have the class help you make a web of Washoe ceremonies and life events on a large piece of paper or give them a quiz, comparing traditional and contemporary Washoe ceremonies and customs, allowing them to use their notetakers.