Wa-Pai-Shone

As each student stepped inside the multi-purpose room and heard the traditional Indian dance music, they bobbed their heads to the beat or walked in step to the rhythm of the drums.

"I would like to get up and dance with the dancers," said Nathaniel Duarte, 8.

"I liked the girls dancing, their clothes," said Sierra Franklin, 6. "I do hip hop."

Dancing was just one of the events Gardnerville Elementary School students participated in at this year's Wa-Pai-Shone Native American Day on Friday.

Students learned about the cultures of the Washoe, Paiute and Shoshone people in the Douglas County School District sponsored event by constructing their own Washoe winter homes, playing stone jacks and the Paiute stick game and having demonstrations on willow work and the preparation of pinenuts.

"They lived in wood houses, lots of wood houses," said Shelby Casaus, 6.

"I learned there were peanuts in the pine cones," said Jack Riley, 8.

"We saw baby baskets when they carried them on their backs," said Tony Gonzalez, 9. "We built a house out in the field. If I lived in that house, I'd be cold."

Kathy Bigpond is dance coach for the troupe of Indian dancers, Jessy Lindsey, 14, from Pyramid Lake and Bigpond's daughters Marlinda Murphy, 20, and Amy Murphy, a former Pyramid Head Start Princess.

"We explain to the kids about the dances and at the end we do a round dance," Bigpond said. "The younger kids don't have any problems."

"They all want to dance but the older ones don't like to hold hands." said Marlinda Murphy, a former Little Miss Washoe of two years.

Dancers wear different shawls for different dances, one of which was the Crow Hop. Marlinda and Amy Murphy wore ribbon-fringed shawls with cross symbols within circles.

"The cross is the four directions inside the circle of life," said Bigpond.

Colby Schmidlin, 7, and Isabelle Peterson, 8, tried their hands at stone jacks, a lot like the game played with a rubber ball, except all the pieces are found anywhere.

"You start with all these stones and you get one to throw in the air," said Colby. "You can't cheat."

"I'm getting better, just a little," said Isabelle.

"It's really a fun game because if you practice, you get better and better," said Colby.

Lori Pasqua of the Washoe tribe told students that during her grandmother Amy Washoe's life they had to make their own homes.

"They didn't make teepees, there was no such thing," said Pasqua. "The galis dungal, winter house, was made from redwood bark. They dug a hole to keep warm and had a hole on top to let the smoke out when you're making a fire."

Norma Smokey and her granddaughter Danielle Christensen showed second-grade students how Washoe people cooked pinenuts for food.

"Years ago when we had no cars, no stores, nothing," said Smokey. "We had no suitcases so everything you owned went on your back in a basket when you traveled."

When Smokey explained that it was every Washoe's responsibility to collect food, one student said, "Yes, it was survival of the finish."

Rachelle Escobar and her sister Dawneva Lundy-Bryan were in the school's music room talking about baskets.

"I do beadwork but Dawneva learned how to do baskets," said Escobar. "You need strong wrists and patience to cut willows."

"Last year I went to Piñon Hills," Lundy-Bryan said. "My cousin and I are royalty for the Washoe tribe so we were teaching them how to do dancing. This year I'm doing baskets.

"Wa-Pai-Shone is fun because you see little kids. They're excited to learn about cultures," she said. "We get to teach them about our tribe - it's good."