WEBVTT 00:02.068 --> 00:07.068 Many Tohono O'odham continue to harvest, gather and plant 00:07.340 --> 00:12.340 in the Sonoran Desert just as they always have. 00:12.612 --> 00:17.612 And now there is a sense of urgency to pass the 00:20.420 --> 00:24.791 traditional ways on to a new generation. 00:30.930 --> 00:33.800 Funding for the Desert Speaks was provided by 00:33.800 --> 00:37.871 Desert Program Partners. A group of concerned viewers 00:37.904 --> 00:41.441 making a financial commitment to the education about and 00:41.441 --> 00:44.210 preservation of our desert areas. 00:45.645 --> 00:50.645 ♪ music ♪ 01:15.742 --> 01:18.078 In the Sonoran Desert no people have survived and 01:18.111 --> 01:22.282 flourished like the Tohono O'odham. 01:22.315 --> 01:25.051 They've been desert dwellers since time immemorial in a 01:25.051 --> 01:28.188 land with no rivers and hardly even any trickles. 01:28.221 --> 01:32.392 Key to their survival has been the gathering of wild food and 01:32.425 --> 01:37.425 fiber and passing on traditional knowledge to their children. 01:43.236 --> 01:45.271 The land they now occupy is much smaller than at the time 01:45.271 --> 01:47.674 of first contact with Europeans. 01:47.707 --> 01:49.909 It crosses the international border with Mexico. 01:49.909 --> 01:53.413 It is also prime habitat for the saguaro cactus 01:53.446 --> 01:58.284 which fruits at the hottest time of year, July. 01:58.284 --> 02:00.820 Selso Villegas has invited me to join him 02:00.820 --> 02:05.358 on a collecting trip with his grandsons. 02:05.358 --> 02:10.358 In order to get the fruit off the saguaro, 02:12.899 --> 02:17.899 because they're high, we need to use saguaro ribs. 02:19.372 --> 02:22.242 This is one of the most important times in 02:22.275 --> 02:25.111 the O'odham calendar. 02:25.111 --> 02:28.681 This season right now is the Ha: añ Bahidaj month. 02:28.681 --> 02:32.819 It's collecting the fruit. 02:32.852 --> 02:36.789 We believe that there is a cycle and the cycle starts 02:36.823 --> 02:40.960 now because we collect the fruit. 02:40.960 --> 02:45.960 We make syrup and jam and we do make a wine from it. 02:47.200 --> 02:49.536 But it's the ceremonial wine that we use to ask 02:49.569 --> 02:54.007 for rain to come. 02:54.040 --> 02:55.742 Somebody's been here. 02:55.775 --> 02:59.112 Somebody has been collecting saguaros from this area. 02:59.145 --> 03:01.548 And I would imagine, because if you look around, there's 03:01.581 --> 03:04.450 saguaros all over everywhere and they're pretty ripe. 03:04.450 --> 03:06.319 This is a very old one. 03:06.319 --> 03:08.488 I don't know how old it is but it's been here for awhile. 03:08.521 --> 03:10.356 This is the way the O'odham make. 03:10.356 --> 03:13.159 It's called the kuipud. 03:13.159 --> 03:17.530 It's the stick that pulls down the saguaro fruit, 03:17.530 --> 03:21.367 which is the irony, it's the cycle. 03:21.367 --> 03:23.603 We're talking in terms of cycle. 03:23.603 --> 03:26.839 We use fruit to pull down fruit from the saguaro. 03:26.873 --> 03:30.977 It's a continual, never ending cycle. 03:30.977 --> 03:33.980 I used to come with my mom, my grandmother, 03:33.980 --> 03:37.817 my father and my grandfather. 03:37.817 --> 03:41.120 My grandmother, she was always telling us about the cycle, 03:41.120 --> 03:43.423 about the plants, sort of what I'm doing now 03:43.456 --> 03:45.592 to my grandchildren. 03:45.625 --> 03:47.393 It's my knowledge of the desert and I'm passing it on 03:47.393 --> 03:50.363 to all of my grandchildren. 03:50.363 --> 03:53.399 And hopefully they pass it on to their grandchildren 03:53.399 --> 03:55.568 and then it keeps on going. 03:55.568 --> 03:57.203 We didn't have wire. 03:57.203 --> 03:59.973 We had to use some of the guts of an animal or 04:00.006 --> 04:03.610 leather to tie these things. 04:03.643 --> 04:05.311 We don't do that no more. 04:05.311 --> 04:07.880 Cause we don't prepare leather no more. 04:07.914 --> 04:09.682 So we got modern. 04:09.682 --> 04:12.752 We use wire. I use wire. 04:12.752 --> 04:17.223 And why am I putting it back where I found it, Nacheto? 04:17.223 --> 04:20.193 Because it's somebody else. 04:20.226 --> 04:21.794 Where does it belong? 04:21.794 --> 04:24.864 Right there. 04:24.864 --> 04:26.633 And if it's not yours it belongs wherever you found it, right? 04:26.666 --> 04:28.034 Yep. 04:28.034 --> 04:29.535 And that goes with all the animals and 04:29.535 --> 04:31.671 anything you find in the desert. 04:31.671 --> 04:34.240 It's yours, you can use it, but you got to put it back. 04:34.240 --> 04:36.576 Isn't that kind of like borrowing without asking? 04:36.609 --> 04:38.878 There you go. 04:38.878 --> 04:40.847 That's what it's all about. 04:40.880 --> 04:43.916 Putting the saguaro ribs together is probably 04:43.950 --> 04:47.587 the easiest thing to do. 04:47.620 --> 04:50.223 And what you need to do is put 'em about maybe a two foot 04:50.256 --> 04:54.260 overlap and then tie them with wire. 04:54.260 --> 04:55.828 Look here Mark and Nacheto, I will show you 04:55.828 --> 04:58.131 a little trick. 04:58.164 --> 04:59.999 This is a trick that I was taught from my dad. 04:59.999 --> 05:01.868 A secret? 05:01.901 --> 05:03.236 A secret. 05:03.269 --> 05:05.471 It's not a secret no more. 05:05.471 --> 05:07.674 So what I'm going to do is I'm going to use this file 05:07.707 --> 05:12.707 and I'm going to cut into it half way, make a notch, 05:13.279 --> 05:17.317 and then I get my crossbar and I do the same thing. 05:17.350 --> 05:22.350 And there you go. 05:23.923 --> 05:25.925 It fits. 05:25.925 --> 05:27.994 And it'll give you a better fit. 05:28.027 --> 05:30.430 It doesn't matter what you do now, you can go this way, 05:30.463 --> 05:33.766 you can go this way, that's my favorite. 05:33.766 --> 05:36.469 You can go underneath. 05:36.469 --> 05:39.105 You can make a little, you can do this way, you can come 05:39.105 --> 05:42.141 across and then you end up right here. 05:42.141 --> 05:44.577 You end up back together, see? 05:44.577 --> 05:49.577 And that's, when you get this, and that becomes your tie down. 05:50.483 --> 05:54.420 And then if you pull on it it's pretty snug. 05:54.420 --> 05:57.657 And we're gonna start, we're gonna put some posts together 05:57.690 --> 06:02.690 so that we can go do what we came for. 06:04.230 --> 06:07.033 These are the notches that will hold the wire in place 06:07.066 --> 06:11.938 so it won't slip as much as I use it. 06:11.971 --> 06:13.506 That's it. 06:13.506 --> 06:15.475 Now we're ready to go get fruit. 06:15.508 --> 06:17.543 Go try it out, Mark, see if you can handle it. 06:17.543 --> 06:19.946 Okay, let's try this one. 06:19.979 --> 06:21.347 Who's gonna catch? 06:21.347 --> 06:22.448 I am. 06:22.448 --> 06:24.517 Not that one, Mark. 06:24.517 --> 06:25.685 The other one. 06:25.718 --> 06:27.120 No, no, to your right. 06:27.153 --> 06:28.654 Right. 06:28.654 --> 06:29.822 See that big one? 06:29.822 --> 06:33.192 Here it comes. 06:33.192 --> 06:33.893 All right. 06:33.893 --> 06:34.761 Oh. 06:34.794 --> 06:35.695 That was loud. 06:35.728 --> 06:36.629 It bounced out. 06:36.629 --> 06:37.630 That was a bouncer. 06:37.630 --> 06:39.298 It's not your fault. 06:39.298 --> 06:41.734 Here guys, this is the first one we caught today 06:41.734 --> 06:43.136 that we're gonna eat so we're gonna have to share this one. 06:43.169 --> 06:45.138 Here goes. 06:45.171 --> 06:46.706 This is what it's all about. 06:46.739 --> 06:50.076 Because we know it's a cycle. 06:50.109 --> 06:52.645 We know that we're back here next year, we'll back 06:52.645 --> 06:54.414 here again and we collect the fruit and then we wait 06:54.447 --> 06:57.950 for the rain to come. 06:57.950 --> 06:59.452 The rain comes. 06:59.485 --> 07:01.320 Why do we need the rain? 07:01.320 --> 07:02.288 Because there's a fire on the mountain. 07:02.288 --> 07:04.190 Good. 07:04.190 --> 07:08.961 So every year we've got to hope and pray that the water 07:08.961 --> 07:13.533 will come cause the birds like it, the lesser long nose bats 07:13.566 --> 07:16.502 like it, insects like it, ants like it, but O'odham's like it. 07:16.502 --> 07:18.971 So we throw it back to the ground to complete the cycle. 07:18.971 --> 07:23.971 Now it goes back, starts all over again. 07:25.111 --> 07:28.381 The first one you open, you're gonna eat it, you share, 07:28.414 --> 07:30.850 you eat it and then you give some back to the earth because 07:30.850 --> 07:33.286 the earth will bring it back up again and you'll 07:33.319 --> 07:35.455 be back here again. 07:35.488 --> 07:38.057 And it's a continuous cycle forever. 07:38.057 --> 07:40.026 Grandpa, can I try? 07:40.059 --> 07:41.594 Okay, try Michael. 07:41.594 --> 07:42.562 No, keep on going higher. 07:42.595 --> 07:44.497 Right there. 07:44.530 --> 07:45.465 Oh, right there, right there. 07:45.498 --> 07:48.534 Are you all right? 07:48.534 --> 07:50.703 Here it comes. 07:50.703 --> 07:52.472 We're gonna try to keep it in. 07:52.505 --> 07:54.774 There he comes. 07:54.807 --> 07:58.377 Good shot, almost got it Nacheto. 07:58.377 --> 07:59.779 Grandpa, can I try? 07:59.812 --> 08:01.047 Hey, score one for Sergio. 08:01.080 --> 08:02.114 Yes, you can try. 08:02.148 --> 08:04.383 This one has ants on it. 08:04.383 --> 08:09.383 Even if I just eat one saguaro fruit, just one's enough 08:09.455 --> 08:11.591 for me to complete my cycle. 08:11.624 --> 08:14.060 But like I said, I have, my mom says, where's hers 08:14.093 --> 08:17.763 and I have to go and get it. 08:20.266 --> 08:21.434 Saguaros and their fruits grow at the lowest 08:21.467 --> 08:24.804 and hottest elevation. 08:24.837 --> 08:26.939 The best plants for fiber with which to weave baskets grow 08:26.939 --> 08:30.309 somewhat higher where it is also cooler. 08:30.309 --> 08:32.278 Regina Siquieros has been sharing 08:32.278 --> 08:35.414 her knowledge for decades. 08:35.414 --> 08:40.414 ♪ singing in O'odham ♪ 08:52.231 --> 08:54.333 We're taught from the beginning that we need to respect 08:54.333 --> 08:57.603 the land and everything on it and you address. 08:57.603 --> 09:01.607 That's the reason that I sing before I do any collecting 09:01.607 --> 09:04.644 to acknowledge our maker and to acknowledge what we're given. 09:04.677 --> 09:09.482 And we pick so that we don't kill the plants. 09:09.515 --> 09:14.515 Those, you try to pick those and the ones that 09:16.689 --> 09:19.158 are like really straight. 09:19.158 --> 09:21.260 You kind of try to stay away from the ones that 09:21.260 --> 09:23.996 are real curly [O'odham word]. 09:23.996 --> 09:28.996 But the ones that are white with moho, with the bear grass, you 09:30.336 --> 09:34.941 can pick it all year round but in the summer a lot of the bugs 09:34.974 --> 09:37.343 are out and so they eat, they chew on them and 09:37.343 --> 09:41.981 you can't really find really good ones. 09:41.981 --> 09:45.351 Like now there's a lot of good ones. 09:45.351 --> 09:47.453 Those are good, the ones you have right there. 09:47.453 --> 09:52.391 And we've always said [O'odham words] which 09:52.391 --> 09:56.195 means the O'odham way of life is our strength. 09:56.195 --> 09:59.599 But it carries on to where any native population, 09:59.632 --> 10:03.869 their way of life is their strength just like your way 10:03.869 --> 10:08.608 of life is your strength, if you utilize it. 10:08.641 --> 10:10.710 Well, you have to wear long sleeves here, too. 10:10.743 --> 10:14.647 Cause when you go in you have to go in like from the bottom 10:14.680 --> 10:16.649 so you don't. And we had to learn this because 10:16.682 --> 10:18.851 we were always. 10:18.851 --> 10:19.585 Are you like weaving your hand under there? 10:19.585 --> 10:20.753 Yeah. 10:20.753 --> 10:23.556 So that way you don't get cut. 10:23.589 --> 10:26.626 We start picking yucca about May through September, 10:26.659 --> 10:31.564 maybe early October, depending on the weather. 10:31.597 --> 10:35.735 Cause once it gets cold they won't be good anymore. 10:35.768 --> 10:39.038 The bear grass, we call it moho, are the ones that 10:39.038 --> 10:42.908 are inside the coils and then we use the devil's claw 10:42.908 --> 10:47.079 for our design, that's the black. 10:47.079 --> 10:48.948 And we also use the wild banana plant root, 10:48.981 --> 10:52.518 if you ever see the red design. 10:52.518 --> 10:57.518 [O'odham words] What we're trying to help our children 10:58.624 --> 11:01.961 to do is to learn about it and then utilize it, 11:01.994 --> 11:05.698 live it, because that's what made us strong. 11:05.731 --> 11:09.101 We survived this many generations and our stories 11:09.101 --> 11:14.101 and our songs survived this many generations. 11:14.473 --> 11:19.473 [O'odham music] Living at different locations at 11:20.913 --> 11:24.717 different times of year was part of the O'odham way of life. 11:24.750 --> 11:29.689 Much of the movement between places has to do with water. 11:29.722 --> 11:32.258 The most reliable surface water can be found near the 11:32.291 --> 11:36.696 mountains, like on the slopes of Baboquivari Peak. 11:36.729 --> 11:41.100 For the O'odham it is a most special place. 11:41.100 --> 11:43.703 This is a nice area so I'm glad I'm up here. 11:43.736 --> 11:47.740 Water just changes a place, you know, it makes 11:47.773 --> 11:51.243 it, it does something for the spirit. 11:51.243 --> 11:56.243 My grandmother, she said in the summertime the sun 11:57.049 --> 12:02.049 walked towards the earth and it gets hot. 12:04.156 --> 12:09.095 The cloud and the rain get mad at each other and will 12:09.128 --> 12:11.697 not cool the earth. 12:11.697 --> 12:16.001 The wind gets mad and starts blowing hot air. 12:16.001 --> 12:18.838 The animals will start arguing among themselves. 12:18.871 --> 12:22.908 Cottontail and the snake will not share their home. 12:22.908 --> 12:25.244 The chichara will scream its head off 12:25.244 --> 12:29.148 and then the humans get mad. 12:29.148 --> 12:30.983 They get overheated and they get thirsty 12:30.983 --> 12:34.487 but the O'odham understand. 12:34.520 --> 12:36.155 They've been thirsty and overheated. 12:36.155 --> 12:39.592 It's just part of being in the desert. 12:39.625 --> 12:42.294 And again she said nobody, nothing cannot live 12:42.294 --> 12:44.964 without water. 12:44.997 --> 12:48.434 And so people that settled here before we came, before 12:48.467 --> 12:53.467 my generation, they picked out areas where the primary water 12:53.639 --> 12:57.276 was there and then they hunted and then they start making 12:57.276 --> 13:01.080 baskets and then they start having recreation. 13:01.113 --> 13:02.715 And then we eventually became farmers 13:02.748 --> 13:06.085 and moved down to the fields. 13:06.118 --> 13:10.156 The O'odham, like most desert people, we really have evolved 13:10.189 --> 13:13.492 with the water and that's where we're at right now. 13:13.492 --> 13:16.962 Water is our main purpose. 13:16.962 --> 13:21.962 The represos are our Spanish term for charcos. 13:23.402 --> 13:25.538 Charcos are stalk palms. 13:25.571 --> 13:30.209 When the Spanish came to the O'odham land, 13:30.209 --> 13:33.579 they brought well technology. 13:33.579 --> 13:36.615 We learned from them how to build wells. 13:36.615 --> 13:39.852 But it was more of a forced labor. 13:39.885 --> 13:44.885 Windmills are an example of a mechanized device 13:50.062 --> 13:54.667 that changed the O'odham, the way the O'odham's live. 13:54.700 --> 13:59.700 But when the Indian Service came out here in the 1930s, 14:01.340 --> 14:06.045 when they came, they set up and they put in a lot of windmills 14:06.078 --> 14:10.749 because windmills can produce a larger amount of water than 14:10.749 --> 14:13.652 trying to draw it by hand. 14:13.652 --> 14:16.822 They changed the life of some of the villages 14:16.822 --> 14:18.557 out in the fields. 14:18.557 --> 14:21.227 Our semi-permanent villages became permanent. 14:21.260 --> 14:23.262 People started moving down from the hills, 14:23.262 --> 14:28.262 from the mountains into the valleys. 14:29.368 --> 14:33.873 It's the center of our universe and it would be 14:33.906 --> 14:36.809 in our O'odham belief that we do, we would settle around 14:36.842 --> 14:41.347 the center of the universe and that the Creator would provide 14:41.380 --> 14:45.084 us the most important element and it would be water. 14:45.117 --> 14:47.853 So it makes sense that we would live in a mountain area 14:47.853 --> 14:50.689 around, centered around our sacred peak and drink water 14:50.689 --> 14:55.689 that comes from the mountain area where we're at. 14:56.762 --> 14:58.697 Baboquivari's not the only sacred peak. 14:58.697 --> 15:00.633 There's other peaks on the nation 15:00.666 --> 15:03.335 and it just seems to be the same pattern. 15:03.335 --> 15:08.335 ♪ O'odham music ♪ 15:12.244 --> 15:14.246 In the summertime thunderstorms spill out from the mountains 15:14.246 --> 15:17.149 into the valleys and flats, 15:17.149 --> 15:20.653 sometimes causing flash flooding. 15:20.686 --> 15:22.955 The O'odham are masters at timing their planting 15:22.988 --> 15:26.659 to make use of the floods. 15:26.692 --> 15:29.595 Jefford Francisco continues traditional desert farming. 15:29.628 --> 15:31.897 .come in here. 15:31.897 --> 15:33.933 It's coming from that way too. 15:33.966 --> 15:34.566 And what I want to do. So this is actually sheet flooding 15:34.600 --> 15:36.235 in here, isn't it? 15:36.268 --> 15:37.970 Yeah, sheet floodings, yeah. 15:38.003 --> 15:38.837 It's always been like that over there. 15:38.837 --> 15:39.972 Yeah. 15:40.005 --> 15:41.540 See how it's flat? 15:41.540 --> 15:42.574 Used to be like that all the way across. 15:42.608 --> 15:44.443 My son did a lot of this. 15:44.443 --> 15:46.211 He comes out here and he does it after the rain. 15:46.211 --> 15:47.713 They like walking in the rain. 15:47.713 --> 15:49.815 Yeah, well, I do too. 15:49.815 --> 15:51.350 Do you know anybody who lives in the desert 15:51.350 --> 15:52.785 who doesn't like walking in the rain? 15:52.818 --> 15:54.520 Yeah. 15:54.553 --> 15:55.521 When you have a garden, you've got to do that. 15:55.554 --> 15:56.622 Yeah. 15:56.655 --> 15:58.190 Spend a lot of time. 15:58.190 --> 16:00.192 I remember my grandfather used to come out and plant. 16:00.192 --> 16:02.661 I always remember when I went with him, he went and 16:02.661 --> 16:05.397 just made, kind of did the same thing here, wait for the water, 16:05.397 --> 16:07.733 for the floods to come in. 16:07.733 --> 16:10.803 May 500 or 600 years ago if they could get a crop here, 16:10.836 --> 16:12.805 why no reason why you couldn't. 16:12.838 --> 16:13.839 Yeah. 16:13.839 --> 16:15.574 It's still going on. 16:15.574 --> 16:20.079 So my plans next year is to make a berm from that angle. 16:20.112 --> 16:22.681 I like to see other families do the same thing, 16:22.681 --> 16:24.616 just do a small garden. 16:24.650 --> 16:27.453 Maybe one or two, four plants and get an idea 16:27.486 --> 16:31.090 how it feels to work a garden. 16:31.123 --> 16:33.292 You've got to chop the weeds, you've got to just 16:33.325 --> 16:36.428 maintenance it, something to remind you about traditional, 16:36.428 --> 16:41.333 how our ancestors used to walk around and do the same thing. 16:41.333 --> 16:43.002 Work the fields, plant, know when the rains 16:43.035 --> 16:44.636 are going to come. 16:44.670 --> 16:46.438 That's nice texture soil. 16:46.438 --> 16:48.741 See, it's more drier here than it is over here. 16:48.774 --> 16:50.542 Pray for the rains and we do rain dances. 16:50.542 --> 16:52.811 That's traditional. 16:52.811 --> 16:55.014 That's still going on and we start getting rain. 16:55.047 --> 16:57.149 Other ones that I never tried. 16:57.149 --> 16:59.118 I always want to stick to the O'odham squash. 16:59.151 --> 17:01.053 I have better luck with that one. 17:01.086 --> 17:02.821 Well, it seems to be doing real well. 17:02.821 --> 17:05.024 If it's too dry, you know it's really dry, 17:05.057 --> 17:07.659 we haven't gotten any rain, you start watering. 17:07.693 --> 17:11.563 But you've to always remember. Well, one of the things that we 17:11.563 --> 17:14.233 have to do is we have to talk to the plants when we plant them. 17:14.266 --> 17:16.402 We tell them, we're here to plant you. 17:16.435 --> 17:20.472 As we work the ground, we're telling the ground, 17:20.472 --> 17:22.474 there's a reason why I'm tearing you up. 17:22.474 --> 17:25.644 There's a lot of the traditionals that I think 17:25.644 --> 17:28.781 it's just built in everybody. 17:28.814 --> 17:30.816 Well, I'm sure your dad and granddad knew and they knew 17:30.816 --> 17:33.285 where the good soil was. 17:33.285 --> 17:36.889 And they found out before everybody else does. 17:36.922 --> 17:39.191 When I look at the saguaro cactus, they're done, 17:39.191 --> 17:41.560 the fruits are done, that's the timing right there when 17:41.560 --> 17:43.195 to start getting out in the garden, start working on it, 17:43.195 --> 17:45.230 start getting it ready. 17:45.230 --> 17:46.432 Oh, they call that purslane. 17:46.465 --> 17:47.433 You eat it? 17:47.466 --> 17:48.500 Yeah. 17:48.500 --> 17:49.668 Is this one open? 17:49.668 --> 17:50.969 It's spinach. 17:50.969 --> 17:52.738 I think it's wild spinach. 17:52.771 --> 17:55.074 Sometimes you don't need to really work. 17:55.107 --> 17:57.342 You just kind of let nature take over itself, 17:57.342 --> 18:01.313 repair the land and let the weeds grow. 18:01.313 --> 18:04.383 A lot that we call weeds but I don't call these weeds. 18:04.416 --> 18:07.519 They're good for wildlife as well, rabbits and birds 18:07.519 --> 18:09.955 and other things. 18:09.955 --> 18:12.257 And when they die it brings the nutrients back into the ground. 18:12.257 --> 18:13.959 That's what I see. 18:13.959 --> 18:16.762 And people say, "Well, why are you doing this, 18:16.795 --> 18:18.697 it's going to do more work." 18:18.697 --> 18:21.200 I said, "That's the plan, that's the thing farming, 18:21.233 --> 18:25.604 gardening, it's work. It's not, it's meant to be." 18:25.604 --> 18:27.406 I don't know how far it goes down. 18:27.439 --> 18:29.475 I do know here, on this side it's softer than over there. 18:29.508 --> 18:30.943 Yeah. 18:30.976 --> 18:32.311 But you notice over there that when we did it 18:32.344 --> 18:35.714 it was still kind of dry. 18:35.714 --> 18:38.617 It's kind of getting dry here. 18:38.617 --> 18:41.153 The Tohono O'odham gardeners have to work in the full sun. 18:41.186 --> 18:43.555 Basket weavers have the advantage of working in 18:43.555 --> 18:48.026 the shade in warm and cool months. 18:48.026 --> 18:50.462 Regina knows well that wild plant material is not just 18:50.462 --> 18:55.462 for utilitarian purposes, but for artistic creation as well. 18:57.936 --> 19:01.440 This is the red, the roots of the wild banana plant 19:01.473 --> 19:05.110 and that's how it looks. 19:05.110 --> 19:06.812 And that's the color it. 19:06.845 --> 19:08.413 And it's natural. 19:08.413 --> 19:11.283 It won't fade. 19:11.283 --> 19:15.420 Same way with the black, the devil's claw, that won't fade. 19:15.420 --> 19:20.420 Then of course we have the white, that's the takwi. 19:20.492 --> 19:24.796 And the moho, it'll be real green when it's fresh 19:24.830 --> 19:29.830 but also when it gets old, it'll kind of turn like yellowish. 19:30.302 --> 19:35.302 But when you make baskets it's really a good feeling, 19:35.674 --> 19:39.545 it's just a time to be in your own little world, 19:39.578 --> 19:43.615 when I make them by myself. 19:43.615 --> 19:46.218 But when I'm with others, like when I sit with my mom 19:46.251 --> 19:49.922 and my sisters, it's really a lot of fun. 19:49.955 --> 19:52.291 We just spend a lot of time talking. 19:52.324 --> 19:56.461 So I always tell people that buy my baskets that 19:56.461 --> 19:58.630 it's not just a basket. 19:58.630 --> 20:01.700 It's part of me that you're taking with you and 20:01.700 --> 20:06.004 I'm going to be a part of your life from here on out. 20:06.004 --> 20:09.741 Just because of that, because a lot of my feelings, 20:09.741 --> 20:14.741 a lot of my thoughts and a lot of my own memories go into this. 20:15.180 --> 20:18.517 It's more than just a basket. 20:18.550 --> 20:23.550 It's always told to us that it's something that was given to us. 20:24.289 --> 20:29.289 That in our stories it's told that it was a means of survival, 20:29.728 --> 20:34.333 not like it is today where you sell your baskets. 20:34.366 --> 20:39.304 But when you harvest your plants that you use them to store 20:39.304 --> 20:42.574 stuff so you made the baskets. 20:42.574 --> 20:46.445 And it wasn't until not too long ago when people 20:46.478 --> 20:51.478 started selling them for money. 20:52.217 --> 20:55.020 We have, like our rain ceremony is probably the most 20:55.020 --> 21:00.020 important and it's considered the most important because 21:00.659 --> 21:04.997 out here on the desert we don't get much rain. 21:05.030 --> 21:09.868 And we need to call for rain, we need to pray for rain. 21:09.868 --> 21:13.171 It goes along with our cactus fruit, 21:13.171 --> 21:16.408 the saguaro cactus fruit gathering. 21:16.408 --> 21:20.779 And then we make it into syrup and eventually make it into, 21:20.779 --> 21:25.779 ferment it into a drink. 21:25.884 --> 21:30.088 And with that came the baskets, the wine baskets they call them. 21:30.088 --> 21:34.393 We use those baskets to serve the sacred wine or 21:34.426 --> 21:39.426 the fermented drink to everybody at the ceremony. 21:39.998 --> 21:44.403 And that's what brings the rain every year. 21:44.436 --> 21:47.606 And the men were the main ones that went out and now more 21:47.639 --> 21:52.639 so the women go out because a lot of the men aren't around. 21:53.645 --> 21:57.516 This is my mom's basket, Matilda. 21:57.549 --> 22:02.287 And this is what we call the Man in the Maze and 22:02.287 --> 22:04.956 that's very significant for us as O'odham people. 22:04.990 --> 22:08.460 I know that the Pimas have something similar, there's 22:08.460 --> 22:11.129 a little difference I think. 22:11.129 --> 22:14.933 If you follow the white path, it'll take you and 22:14.933 --> 22:19.933 it'll keep going and going and going. 22:20.672 --> 22:22.808 And it's just like any maze that you see 22:22.841 --> 22:27.841 where it ends up at the center. 22:32.751 --> 22:37.751 But what this symbolizes for us is our journey in life 22:39.958 --> 22:44.162 and we get to the middle here. 22:44.162 --> 22:47.232 Formerly Tohono O'odham education began 22:47.232 --> 22:49.568 in the open desert. 22:49.601 --> 22:53.638 Today it's inside a classroom. 22:53.638 --> 22:57.142 We're going to talk about natural resources, water, 22:57.142 --> 23:00.379 things that are because of your age that are going to 23:00.412 --> 23:02.881 affect you in the future. 23:02.881 --> 23:05.183 What we're trying to tell you is the transfer of 23:05.183 --> 23:07.619 information to you guys. 23:07.619 --> 23:11.156 Because it's good for you as O'odham people and 23:11.156 --> 23:13.725 around your village to know where the historical water sites 23:13.725 --> 23:14.960 are because if we ever run out of water in the future, 23:14.993 --> 23:19.993 you'll know where nature puts water. 23:21.833 --> 23:25.303 Spaniards, they made us slave, learn how to build wells. 23:25.303 --> 23:28.874 They had technology because after the Spaniards came, 23:28.907 --> 23:33.645 a lot of wells started being developed on the nation. 23:33.645 --> 23:36.281 But I think that O'odhams always knew how to live in 23:36.281 --> 23:41.281 the desert with a minimal amount of rain or water. 23:43.388 --> 23:47.092 Tohono O'odham, desert people, O'odham, people, 23:47.125 --> 23:51.129 the Sonoran Desert, the cycle, the rain, all of that stuff, 23:51.129 --> 23:54.199 if you're an O'odham, there's no way you're gonna get out of it. 23:54.199 --> 23:56.568 You're hooked to the land. 23:56.568 --> 24:00.906 You need to know that, because everybody has their maze. 24:00.939 --> 24:03.074 We all talk about the cycle, we all talk about, 24:03.108 --> 24:06.611 in terms of four, all of this stuff. 24:06.611 --> 24:09.915 But the reality is that without water we cannot live out there. 24:09.948 --> 24:14.653 And we have to understand that it's the most important 24:14.686 --> 24:18.356 thing for us as desert people, because we always say that. 24:18.356 --> 24:21.493 There's books written about the desert O'odham, desert people. 24:21.526 --> 24:24.496 But if our children and our grandchildren don't know 24:24.529 --> 24:27.599 the history of water or where it came from or where it's coming 24:27.599 --> 24:31.436 from now, then I think we need to make them understand 24:31.436 --> 24:33.238 and help them to learn. 24:33.238 --> 24:38.238 ♪ O'odham music ♪ 24:45.250 --> 24:47.719 As pressure from development on the outside increases on 24:47.719 --> 24:50.956 Tohono O'odham lands and on the Tohono O'odham themselves, 24:50.989 --> 24:54.226 the importance of passing traditional knowledge from one 24:54.259 --> 24:59.259 generation to another is more important than ever. 25:00.198 --> 25:05.198 The holiest place in all of Mexico is also 25:06.671 --> 25:10.141 the departure point for one of North America's 25:10.175 --> 25:13.745 most important royal highways. 25:13.745 --> 25:16.281 Along its sixteen hundred mile coarse, 25:16.281 --> 25:19.885 there's plenty of history. 25:19.918 --> 25:23.455 And modern culture is celebrated in ancient cities. 25:23.488 --> 25:26.491 Join us next time on the Desert Speaks. 25:30.395 --> 25:32.864 Our dad always told us whenever we'd go someplace, 25:32.864 --> 25:37.864 including picking, like a positive outlook on life, 25:38.503 --> 25:43.503 positive thoughts, a happy heart and go and come back that way. 25:44.943 --> 25:47.412 So we'll not get frustrated 25:47.412 --> 25:52.412 cause it takes patience and not get mad. 25:52.717 --> 25:57.155 So everybody has a real positive attitude. 26:00.091 --> 26:03.128 Funding for the Desert Speaks was provided by 26:03.161 --> 26:06.765 Desert Program Partners. A group of concerned viewers 26:06.798 --> 26:09.935 making a financial commitment to the education about and 26:09.968 --> 26:13.271 preservation of our desert areas.