Traditional Ways Prevail Today

My husband is a Native American. He is a Tuscarora from New York State. We live simply and I have noticed that some of our lifestyle reflects the traditional beliefs. I was raised with some pretty basic old-fashioned beliefs that go hand-in-hand with DH's upbringing. It is just something that we have always enjoyed. Living simply is very important to both of us.

I am taking a Biological Psychology course presently and in my reading this week I came across something that just stayed with me. DH and I discussed it later. The subject was eating and the brain's functions in the feeding process. The Native American Pima tribe out in Arizona and New Mexico have a problem with obesity. This is genetically connected to the presence of two genes linked to obesity. However, there is also the fact that the tribe were not obese until the 1990s! Previous to that their diet consisted of plants from the Sonoran desert. They have been struggling with diabetes as a result of the severe weight problems.

There is a general enlightened school of thought that is encouraging the people to return to the old ways. This would include changing back to the historically traditional diet. I found several questions and answers when I checked further. The Tohono O’odham and Achimel O’odham (Pima) tribes of Arizona were two tribes that were studied.

This obesity-linked obesity issue has been seen in other native communities as the people change and adapt to the (now recognized as unhealthy) drive-thru biggie-size way of life. An article in the New York Times in 1991 really covered the present day hope that the Pima will be able to resume and reclaim the way of life that was the best for them.

Returning to the old ways has saved many of us in this time of downsizing and economic adjustments. It is such a wonderful experience! I would be fibbing if I did not tell you how much it means to me to live as simply as my grandparents. It means a great deal to me. But getting back to the Native American Pima tribes, I have added several items to offer you the opportunity to check this out. Sign me, Living the old way in small town America, M

AT THE DESERT’S GREEN EDGE
An Ethnobotany of the Gila River Pima - Amadeo R. Rea
430 pages (Hardbound)

For those seeking a real understanding of Pima lifeways or alternative ways of inhabiting arid riparian ecosystems, this book will be a treasured classic. It has the power to immerse and transform, as well as to inform in subtle ways. The Akimel O’odham (Pima Indians) of the northern Sonoran Desert continue to make their home along Arizona’s Gila River despite the alarming degradation of their habitat that has occurred over the past century. First discussing the Pima people’s environment and language, Rea then proceeds to share their botanical
knowledge in entries for more than 240 plants that cover information on economic botany, folk taxonomy, and linguistics, This is an archive of otherwise unavailable plant lore that will become a benchmark for botanists and anthropologists. Enhanced by more than 100 brush paintings, it is written to be useful to nonspecialists and to be a great resource for the Pimas regarding their former lifeways. More than an encyclopedia of facts, it is the Pimas’ own story, a testament to a changing way of life in the Sonoran Desert. 0-8165-1540-9

THE DESERT SMELLS LIKE RAIN: A NATURALIST IN O'ODHAM COUNRTY
BY GARY PAUL NABHAN
Paperback 147 pages.

Longtime residents of the Sonoran desert, the TOHONO O'ODHAM people have spent centuries living off the land - a land that most modern citizens of southern Arizona consider totally inhospitable...bringing O'ODHAM voices to the page at every turn, he writes elegantly of how they husband scant water supplies, grow crops, and utilize wild edible foods, woven through his account are coyote tales, O'ODHAM children's impressions of the desert, and observations on some problems that come with living on both sides of an international border.


The New York Times article:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD71F31F932A15756C0A967958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=all


To the untrained eye, a desert is a wasteland that defies civilization; yet the desert has been home to native cultures for centuries and offers sustenance in its surprisingly wide range of plant life. Gary Paul Nabhan has combed the desert in search of plants forgotten by all but a handful of American Indians and Mexican Americans. In Gathering the Desert readers will discover that the bounty of the desert is much more than meets the eye—whether found in the luscious fruit of the stately organpipe cactus or in the lowly tepary bean. Nabhan has chosen a dozen of the more than 425 edible wild species found in the Sonoran Desert to demonstrate just how bountiful the land can be. From the red-hot chiltepines of Mexico to the palms of Palm Springs, each plant exemplifies a symbolic or ecological relationship which people of this region have had with plants through history. Each chapter focuses on a particular plant and is accompanied by an original drawing by artist Paul Mirocha. Word and picture together create a total impression of plants and people as the book traces the turn of seasons in the desert.