Native American music filled SAC’s mall Nov. 14 as vendors sold jewelry, crystals, art and literature at the college’s Native American Heritage Month vendor fair.
“We wanted to give people of Indigenous and Native American heritage a chance to sell their products, promote their arts and share their culture,” event organizer and Native American Heritage Committee member Crystal Olivo said. “We wanted to give students a little bit of thought or reflection and for them to take that away and continue the curiosity and research on their own so they can know where they came from, where we could go as a people, and just so people can understand one another and appreciate diversity.”
Selina Trejo-Flores is studying education at SAC. She said she recently found out she has Chichimeca and Pame roots on her grandfather’s side.
“It’s part of who I am now, so I want to learn more about that side of me,” she said.
Local artist Kuetzpal Vasquez, owner of KurArte Healing Arts and Cultura, burned Copal, an ancient tree resin used to cleanse and bring in good spirits. Palo Santo — a wood considered sacred by many cultures — is said to treat pain and clear stress and negative energy. Sage, a mixture of herbs and spices is used to purify spaces, remove negative energy and promote healing and wisdom.
“Most of the students I see on this campus look indigenous,” Vasquez said. “They might not know it yet, but they are. Our indigenous culture is what unifies us all. We all have an origin culture, whether across the border, up north or even across the pond.”
Juan Tejada from local independent publisher Aztlan Libre Press, said his press amplifies Chicano authors as they navigate the literary world.
“We feel it’s important that we have these independent presses to publish the Indigenous Chicano, Latino voices that a lot of times don’t get published by mainstream presses out of New York or even university-based presses,” Tejada said.
Libre Rocha of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project, an organization whose mission is “to reconnect Texas Indigenous Lineal Descendents to each other as relatives as well as the Iyane’e (buffalo) as our relative,” said it’s essential for people to understand where they came from.
“I think Texas — a state where there are no federally recognized native people because of how Texas became a part of America — is important. It’s important for us as Native people in Texas to reclaim our sovereignty with our indigeneity, identities, histories and cultures,” Rocha said.
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