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someone sent me the following this morning in an email, I believe some members of this forum are from Ohio so I thought I’d post it.
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Subject: Newark Earthworks Day – October 22
Newark Earthworks Day
Oct. 22 2005
Two thousand years ago, American Indians built a huge earthen octagon and aligned it to the sky. The walls they built predict every significant transition in the 18.6-year lunar cycle; there are only a handful of nights when we can see the moon rise over the central axis of the Octagon. Oct 22 2005 is one of those nights…..
** All events are free and open to the public except where noted **
Cultural Performances and Activities
Except where noted, all events are in the Amphitheater
All day
· Art Exhibit: “We are Still Here”
At the LeFevre Exhibition Gallery
· Native American craft demonstrations, vendors, and food, outdoors between
the Reese Center and the Amphitheatre
· Children’s activities
· Short-term childcare available
9:45am and 11:45am Planetarium Program at Denison University. Buses leave from the South Parking lot. OSU-Newark
10-Noon “A Virtual Tour of the Newark Earthworks” 10am Lecture. The Works @ 55 South First Street, Downtown Newark
10am Storyteller Nancy Swartz
11am Flute Music
Noon Poetry Reading Rikki Santer
1pm Native American Singing and Dancing Exhibition, Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio
2pm Native Storyteller Dolores Santha
3pm Native American Singing and Dancing Exhibition: Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio
4pm Flute Music
5pm Poetry Round: Allison Hedge Coke, Janet McAdams, Rikki Santer
6:30pm “Between Earth and Moon: Voice from the Great Circle” Daystar: Contemporary Dance-Drama of Indian America
Featuring Rosalie Jones
Lectures and Speakers
At the Reese Center Ballroom
10am Welcome
Richard Shields
The Friends of the Mounds
John Jackson
11am Indians Are Us?
Christine Ballangee-Morris
Noon Native American Re-representation
of Complex Identities
Pat Stuhr
1pm Discovering the Stories
of Native Ohio
Lucy Murphy
1:30pmAesthetics, Human Dignity, and the Ownership of Expressive Culture
Chadwick Allen
2pm Moundbuilders Today
Jay Miller
3pm Geometry, Astronomy and Topography at the NewarkEarthworks
Ray Hively and Robert Horn
4pm Looking for Luna: The Moon in Science, Mythology, and Culture
Tom Burns
5pm The Newark Earthworks:
a wonder of the Ancient World
Brad Lepper
Moonrise at the Octagon
7:30 – 10:15
(The following programming has been planned by the Moonrise Committee and is pending approval by the Ohio Historical Society)
The Octagon Earthworks are a world-class archaeological site
considered by many Native Americans to be a sacred space.
The Earthworks are owned by the Ohio Historical Society and are being leased to a business.
As a result, access to the site is limited. Please be respectful of this arrangement.
Buses will take visitors to Octagon from the OSU Newark campus.
Park at the OSU-Newark campus: Parking will not be permitted at the site. Buses begin at 7:30 p.m. from OSU-Newark’s South Parking Lot.
Do not bring coolers, drinks, or chairs: Water and limited seating will be available at the site. Port-a-lets will be available.
Stay within designated areas: Visitors will not be permitted to enter any of the business’ buildings for any reason.
Please Do not walk on or over the earthwork walls.
Please refrain from taking pictures during any Native American spiritual ceremony.
RAIN DATE TO OBSERVE THE MOONRISE IS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23; ALL OTHER ARRANGEMENTS REMAIN THE SAME
9:15pm Native Ceremony in the Octagon
At about 9:15 American Indian spiritual leader and singers will begin a procession into the earthworks complex. The public is invited to join this moonrise walk in order to assemble and observe the moonrise.
10:13pm Moonrise
The moon will be visible in alignment for about 25 minutes
10:45pm Procession out of the Octagon begins. Buses return visitors to the OSU Newark campus.
Sponsored by Ohio State University at Newark • Newark Earthworks Initiative
Denison University •Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations • Board of Trustees OSU-Newark • The Karen Holbrook Fund Ohio State University
Licking County Archaeological and Landmarks Society • Licking County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau • Office of the Dean OSU-Newark
Office of Minority Affairs OSU • Multicultural Center OSU • Native American Alliance of Ohio • Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio
Ohio Historical Society •The Robert P. Hubbard Fund of Kenyon College •The Works
You might be interested to know a couple of things.
First, the business that leases the land is a golf course. That has mixed results – the golf course has cared for the mounds which might have been destroyed without their care. However, the thought of golf balls being hit from among sacred mounds bothers me, and I am a golfer.
Also, these Mound Builders were, at least according to one web site I looked at when I was researching the source of my Hopewell pipe, said that they were Siouan.
Techteach
The moonrise event that was scheduled for October 22 was cancelled due to weather. Many folks still tried to view the moonrise. Some were escorted off the grounds by the golf course security, some managed to stay.
At moonrise, a group of club members were escorted by security out to the mounds, with coctails in hand, to view the huge full red moon rise in alignment with the sacred mounds. Native Americans, friends and descendents were not permitted the experience.
There has been a formal request to the golf club to view the full moonrise on November 18. It won’t be in as perfect alignment as the October date, but it will still be spectacular.
I might have to be a “party crasher” this time if the request is not granted.
A journalists experience of the moonrise – if you read nothing else read the last paragraph.
To Whom It May Concern:
The October conference was very impressive. It was well run yet friendly. It had
something of interest for everyone: lectures, Native American arts and culture
demonstrations, dance theater, a brisk lobby scene with vendors and displays.
Each speaker was excellent; the crowd gasped repeatedly with wonder during the
Horn and Hively visual presentation of the lunar alignments. I cannot recall
ever having seen a more demographically diverse crowd at a university event and
was especially impressed with the number of elderly. As one said, “This is the
culmination of a controversy I have followed my whole life.”
As a journalist, one strives to remain objective. I have interviews yet to do
and cannot assure of how the articles will come out. But the Octagon enthusiasts
have impressed me with their sincerity and patience. In contrast, I have rarely
run into people as unpleasant at those at Moundbuilders Country Club. It is such
a contrast at how I was treated at a golf course in Monroe, Louisiana, which has
3500 BCE mounds. They invited me into their clubhouse, loaned me a gold cart,
and assisted with every request for information. Officials at MCC, on the other
hand, literally slammed the door in my face when I asked for an interview on
Sunday. My gosh!
As a further example, at the earthworks open house on Sunday I was present when
the MCC officials demanded that OHS staff and volunteers cease using the golf
cart-trams to give tours, even though that was the only way most elderly could
access the site. Informed that the tram tours were forbidden, a senior couple
that was waiting for the next one exclaimed “Why would they do that to us!” I
had no answer. They were too infirm to walk the slippery paths on the course and
were unable even to climb the stars to the observation platform. To see the MCC
officials high-fiving each other after this incident was truly appalling.
And everyone else in Ohio was so nice, especially the man on Saturday
night who told me about the back access to the earthworks. My trip would have
been so disappointing without seeing the Moonrise that night. Myself, like most
who came in from out of state, had scheduled plane flights home on Sunday night.
At the Sunday afternoon open house, I ran into a number of angry tourists, some
who came from as far away as California, who did not get word of the impromptu
Saturday night Moonrise viewing. They were further incensed to learn that while
they traveled halfway across a continent to view the Moonrise, MCC members had
been able to see the Moonrise at a party, complete with alcohol, at the Octagon.
The elderly among these earthwork enthusiasts will not live long enough to see
this opportunity again. The potential Moonrise viewing in November will be their
last chance. Be assured that they were angry only at MCC, and not at the event
organizers or the town of Newark. A lot of ill will toward the club was
generated that has now spread coast to coast and beyond.
I really appreciated the Sunday afternoon open house, especially in light of the
Moonrise cancellation. I had traveled to Ohio in 2001 to see the Octagon and was
so frustrated to realize how little access I was allowed. I had assumed that
something listed as a state memorial would be open access, or at the very least
offer bathroom facilities and a water fountain. I felt mislead by the tourism
materials. So it was great to finally walk the entire site.
At the impromptu viewing late Saturday night, about 100 of us attended, mostly
locals who were aware of the back entrance to the earthworks through the
hospital parking lot. We gathered at the Observatory Mound on the Circle where
in ancient times people would have watched the Moonrise. The mood was friendly,
but subdued. We joked that Henry David Thoreau would have been proud of our very
civil civil disobedience. Even though trees blocked our view from that location,
making us unable to see the full alignment, we felt it important to be a part of
this momentous event.
As the Moon began peeking through the trees, the crowd grew hushed. This was a
solemn, even spiritual, event for many, in contrast to the irreverent party down
the fairway. When the Moon came into full view, some were moved to tears. A few
broke into a chant from southeast Native American traditions honoring Neesa, the
Seneca name for Grandmother Moon. We all watched in wonder. The ground picked up
a palatable sense of electric energy that astounded us. This was the earthworks’
moment – it literally came alive.
Please stay in touch in regards to important developments.
With respect, Amy Martin
The land belongs to the Licking County Historical Society and is leased to the country club. They credit the golf course with maintaining the mounds. Well, I guess we see how they are maintained.
My NA ancestors lived in Licking County. I am a golfer also; but I am and have been, ever since I read that this is part of a golf course, appalled and disgusted at the country club; even more disgusted that it was even leased to them.
Techteach
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