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- By Native News Online Staff
Whether attending traditional ceremonies, taking part in powwows, or spending time with relatives and friends, our days are busy.
Here are three stories you may have missed this weekend:
Reviving the Words of Our Ancestors: Potawatomi Language Conference Inspires Generations
Cultivating Culture. During the conference, Rhonda Purcell (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), the director of her tribe’s Ėthë Bodwéwadmimwat (the Language and Culture Department), stated that Native people have become so involved with Western institutions that it is difficult for parents to teach their children their language.
“Our parents and individuals who are responsible for raising those children are so busy working that 40-hour-a-week job to maintain full-time status so that they can earn a living wage, if we can even call it that, at this point, and to be able to provide health benefits for their children. So that's taking them away from the house. And these kids after preschool or elementary school, they're going to these daycare institutions, and they're being parented after hours by somebody else, and not their own family member, who may have, you know, a semblance of knowledge of the language,” Purcell told Native News Online.
Purcell said language must be shared and taught within families, rather than being taught strictly in an educational setting.
55th Annual United Tribes Techincal College International Powwow in Photos
United Tribes Technical College kicked off its 55th annual International Powwow on Friday evening in Bismarck, North Dakota, with around 500 dancers filling the arena in a vibrant opening celebration.
The Powwow runs throughout the weekend on the UTTC campus.
25th Navajo Nation Council Mourns the Passing of the First Navajo Nation Speaker Nelson Gorman Jr.
The 25th Navajo Nation Council extends its heartfelt condolences to the family of former Council Delegate and the first Speaker of the Navajo Nation, Nelson Gorman Jr., who passed away on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. Mr. Gorman was 91.
“On behalf of the 25th Navajo Nation Council, we honor the life and leadership of Speaker Nelson Gorman Jr. As the first Speaker of the Navajo Nation, he helped establish the foundation of our modern government and guided our people through a pivotal time of change. We extend our deepest condolences to the Gorman family and ask our Nation to keep them in prayer during this time of mourning,” said Speaker Crystalyne Curley.
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