Author Topic: Karl May Festival 2014 - reducing ndn ceremony to entertainment for Euros  (Read 19639 times)

Offline Ingeborg

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The annual Karl May Festival, taking place from May 30 – June 1 this year, will be organised with the slogan „Indian Spirit“ and include performances of ndn spirituality for the entertainment of their Euro audience. They will also present a Nuage film on the „13 grandmothers“ as a genuine example of indigenous spirituality, ignoring the alleged council was founded by a Euro-American exploiter of ndn spirituality who promotes her business (a so-called „Center of Shamanic Studies“) using 12 elderly women from different ethnic background and means to gain 'authenticity' from this abuse.

The official flyer issued by KM-Festival announces:

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Indian Spirit
The spirituality of American Natives not only played an important role in the past. Particular reverence and respect is being paid to „Mother Earth“ from which everything past and present emerged. The deep connection to nature and the worship of that which unites all things on earth is celebrated in spiritual dances and songs, but also in rituals and games.

Indian Film Nights
On Friday and Saturday, Indian filmmakers will present their latest works. In short films, documentaries and animated films they take an outlook on modern America from their own perspective. This not only brings up life and problems within and outside of reservations, but also Indian culture and spirituality.

In a press release only published at an online portal, but not on the Festival site, this is described in more detail:
http://www.lifepr.de/pressemitteilung/tourist-information-radebeul/Karl-May-Festtage-Radebeul-widmen-sich-der-Spiritualitaet-amerikanischer-Ureinwohner/boxid/484477

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KarlKarl May Festival attending to spirituality of American Natives
With the slogan „Indian Spirit“, the 23rd Karl May Festival in Radebeul will take place from May 30 until June 1, 2014 / This year, the belief of American Natives will be placed in its focus
(Radebeul,)
At the new premises „In the Land of Pachamama“, Andean Indians from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile will present traditional music, dances, stories and rituals of worship of Pachamana, our earth.

With dances, songs, and stories Chiefs and dancers of the Oneida Indian Nation (USA) will enable an insight into their spiritual traditions at the Pow Wow at Hohen Stein.

The Indian Film Nights on Friday and Saturday will widen the perspective on Indian spirituality. The documentation „The Medicine Game“ describes the life of two brothers who are passionate Lacrosse players. With the help of the game, they gain both physical and spiritual power and manage to overcome the obstacles life puts up for them. The documentary „For the next seven generations“ tells the true story of 13 grandmothers from various indigenous peoples who formed an alliance. It is their aim to prevent Mother Earth from being destroyed by humans by carrying their knowledge and their experience into the world.

During an open discussion round Saturday evening on the issue „Indian Spirit“, Roy Halbritter (Supreme representative of Oneida Indian Nation), Dale Rood (Turtle Clan), and Chuck Fougnier (Wolf Clan) will report on the significance of spirituality in present times. This will also cover the current conflict between Karl May Museum and the Chippewa Tribe (USA) over the repatriation of the scalp of a chief. Participants of the discussion amongst others will be Cecil E. Pavlat Sr., who demanded its restoration in a letter to the museum, and Robin Leipold of Karl May Museum Radebeul.

Indian spirituality also plays an important role in longtime festival traditions. So the rider who, during the big Star Riders' Parade on Sunday, covers the longest distance will receive an original Indian Peace Pipe. As a symbol of the union between humans and universe, it [the pipe] is of utmost religious significance.
Emphasis mine

Karl May Festival has a history of exploiting indigenous spirituality during their annual events. They promoted several plastic shamans – such as Antonio Gomora aka Xokonoschtlel (see: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=610.0 ), and Tim Sikyea (see: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1020.0 ) by inviting them year after year. Ceremony has been turned into a show at their premises before, as e.g. a bear ceremony was performed regularly during the festival for several years.

So this year, „Andean Indians from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile will present traditional music, dances, stories and rituals of worship of Pachamama“. The presentation of „rituals of worship“ in front of an audience of several thousand persons does not sound appropriate.

The second film presented during the festival, „For the next 7 generations“, does not portray any indigenous spirituality but the Nuage project run by 'Jyoti' Jeneane Prevatt who is an exploiter of ndn cultures and spirituality and has been covered at NAFPS before, see: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1216.0 .

A flyer which can be downloaded from the KMF site provides further information regarding the programme, but also an address by Radebeul mayor:

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“... under the slogan „Indian Spirit“ we will this year attend a special, but also sensitive issue – the spirituality and belief [sic] of American Natives. This is not only celebrated in dances and songs, but also in rituals and games. Numerous cultural goods of the Indians serve a spiritual background, likewise rife with symbolism are jewelry, costumes [sic] or painting. Which importance spirituality has for Indians still today and in which way it assumes a place in their modern life we will be able to experience during the Pow Wow at Hohen Stein.“

Of course the mayor of a smaller German town will hardly be an expert regarding ndn history, cultures or modern life, but it is safe to assume that this address was previously agreed with KMF. KMF, as an aside, is meanwhile organised by the town of Radebeul's tourism department, but with the cooperation of both Karl May Museum and Karl May Foundation, although their roles are not explained in any detail – same as, BTW, the foundation does not provide online information regarding its board members, chairpersons etc, and it is likewise neither transparent in which way the foundation is represented at the museum nor is its influence on the museum. From media reports it does become apparent that the foundation is in a position to control the museum, as e.g. at the beginning of 2014, the foundation's dismissal of the museum's director met some pointed criticism from the public. Additionally, there is also a support organisation whose role and influence or personal interrelations are similarly unclear.

While the personal and economic interrelations of KM Festival, KM museum, KM foundation, and support organisation are impossible to retrace by information available online, it will be quite safe to assume that the mayor's address reflects information and attitudes as introduced by the foundation and/or the museum. This, then, apparently includes the misrepresentation of a Pow Wow as a spiritual event or even ceremony. This misperception is further exploited to have actual ceremonies performed for the entertainment of the audience. In this way, KMF cements the notion that a public performance of indigenous ceremonies was acceptable. Since there are always some ndn performers and artists (who may not be aware of programme details in this respect, in particular when they live in the Americas), their presence is employed to support the argument that performing ceremonies for an audience was tolerated or approved by indigenous persons and nations.

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At the new premises „In the Land of Pachamama“, Andean Indians from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile will present traditional music, dances, stories and rituals of worship of Pachamana, our earth.
and from the flyer, p. 16:

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In the Land of Pachamama
Music, dance, stories, and rituals of the Indian peoples of the Andes in reverence of Pachamama, our Mother Earth. With Nelson Milla, the group Maqui, and the Dance Troupe Amasagwa.
Design of location: Muriel and Cesar Olhagaray.

Again, this is most interesting. Senor Olhagaray, an artist born in Chile in 1951,  is of Chilean and French nationality, his father having been from France and his mother from Chile. According to his website: http://www.cesar-olhagaray.de/vita/  , he studied architecture in Chile, then in 1974 began another course of studies in painting and art design in former German Democratic Republic at Dresden University. Olhagaray has been living in (East) Germany since 1974.

So apparently KMF had a white artist design the 'Pachamama' location.

Olhagaray will also do other performances between July 5 to July 15, 2014:
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An Initiation Ceremony of the Tierra del Fuego Indians Selk'nam
[...]Hain narrates a myth of the Tierra del Fuego Indians who called themselves Selk'nam, a tribe which was wiped out by European conquerors during the 19th century. [...]
Source: http://schaubudensommer.de/rueckblick/programm-2012/cesar-muriel-chile/

Another newspaper (see: http://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/kultur/bis-an-die-grenzen-des-guten-geschmacks-1576888.html ) reports:

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Not without my mask. Muriel Cornejo and Cesar Olhagaray from Chile play their version of an initiation ceremony of the Tierra del Fuego Indians.
Emphasis mine

So we've got two more non-indigenous persons who believe that exploiting ndn cultures and ceremonies, and turning them into games or shows, is quite okay. KMF does it – Olhagaray does it – seems to be their variant of „I'm okay – you're okay“, also known as „10 billion flies can't be wrong“ method. In fact, no: Just because 'everybody' else one knows does it does not make exploiting indigenous cultures and spirituality legit.


Nelson Milla, another Chilean exile living in Ludwigshafen, is said to be from the Likan-Antay nation. Milla's LinkedIn profile says he is a musician, and he has done gigs at several Karl May Festivals in previous years. Besides being a musician, Milla also seems to do cultural and educational seminars on ndn life, mostly for children, although there is one site where he gets called a shaman. Judging by that site, I'd say Milla is not misrepresenting himself – it is the site owner who misrepresents Milla

The group Maqui seems to be a project of a South American musician by the name of Juan Saúl Villao Crespo who lives in Dresden. His site (see: http://www.combi-nacion.com/maqui.html  ) does not offer any biographical info. Judging from the small photo, I doubt the three musicians have an indigenous background.

The Dance Troupe Amasagwa yields three results in a Google search, all of them in connection with KMF. The group does not seem to exist otherwise.

The information available does not offer any further details regarding which ceremonies or rituals are to be performed at the KMF 2014, not regarding who will do this, or whether the re-enactors are indigenous or Euro.


As may be seen from another press release, KMF work hard at raising some more generations of Germans ignorant regarding what is appropriate and what isn't:

http://www.kribbelbunt.de/termine/termindetails/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=22446&cHash=a2b8df4d382f6e879a9e1b6817eb1cac

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June 1, 2014 – 10:00 a.m.
Adventure at Children's Day at Karl May Festival Radebeul, Karl May Museum Radebeul
At Children's Day, June 1st, there is quite a lot to experience. As a special gift, all children disguised as their Indian heroes will be granted free admission.
Whether as Winnetou, Yakari, Rainbow, or Nscho-Tschi – there are no limits regarding creativity when chosing the costume. Young Indians with feather decorations and mocassins will be able to roam the premises. At Hohen Stein, they will meet their role models from North America. Representatives of the Oneida Indian Nation perform their traditional dances and songs and tell the stories of their tribe.
Chilenean artists César and Muriel Olhagaray will design a unique Indian playground where Winnetou and co. may romp about in the prairie sands, or watch what's going on from high up on the climbing frame.

This is so rife with stereotypes, inaccuracies, etc. it makes one sick.
But this is the stuff presented by KMF year after year after year. KMF also does not only have a regional, but nation-wide audience coming to their premises. The KMF does not contribute to 'building bridges' between ndns and Germans, let alone educate the German audience. In fact, the equation is pretty simple: garbage in = garbage out.
But of course it may appear to much of a risk to the organisers to present facts to the audience. After all, the audience might wake up to the fact that all this is about a lesser author (quality-wise, not in the way of output) and ex-inmate who knew Jack Sh!t about ndn nations, their cultures, their history etc.



Offline Ingeborg

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For the convenience of our German readers:

Das diesjährige Karl-May-Fest vom 30.05. bis 1. Juni wird unter dem Motto „Indian Spirit“ stehen und Vorführungen indigener Spiritualität zur Unterhaltung des Publikums beinhalten. Ebenfalls wird ein esoterischer Film über die sogen „13 Großmütter“ gezeigt und soll offenbar als Beispiel für echte indigene Spiritualität gelten, wobei unterschlagen wird, daß dieser angebliche Rat von einer Euro-Amerikanerin gegründet wurde, die bereits als Ausbeuterin indigener Spiritualität bekannt ist und mit dem Rat sowie mit dem Film ihr Geschäft (ein sogen „Zentrum für schamanische Studien“) fördern möchte. Sie gehört dem Rat auch selbst an und benutzt zwölf ältere Frauen unterschiedlicher ethnischer Herkunft, um daraus eine Art „Authentizität“ für sich zu ziehen.

In einer Pressemitteilung – die nur in einem Online-Portal, nicht aber auf der Seite des KM-Festes veröffentlicht wurde – werden detailliertere Informationen geboten:
http://www.lifepr.de/pressemitteilung/tourist-information-radebeul/Karl-May-Festtage-Radebeul-widmen-sich-der-Spiritualitaet-amerikanischer-Ureinwohner/boxid/484477

Das Karl-May-Fest blickt auf eine langjährige Praxis der Ausbeutung indigener Spiritualität zurück. Man bot mehreren Plastikschamanen eine Plattform zur Darstellung – wie z.B. Antonio Gomora alias Xokonoschtletl und Tim Sikyea, die beide über Jahre immer wieder eingeladen wurden. Auch Zeremonien wurden dort bereits zur Publikumsunterhaltung aufgeführt, so z.B. eine Bärenzeremonie, die bei mehreren Festen gezeigt wurde.

In diesem Jahr sollen namentlich ungenannte „Andenindianer aus Peru, Bolivien, Ecuador und Chile“ nicht nur ihre traditionelle Musik, Tänze und Geschichten aufführen, sondern auch „Rituale der Verehrung von Pachamama“. Dies hört sich nicht nach angemessenem Umgang mit indigener Spiritualität an.

Der zweite beim Fest präsentierte Film, „For the next 7 generations“, zeigt jedenfalls keine indigene Spiritualität, sondern ein esoterisches Projekt, das von einer „Jyoti“ Jeneane Prevatt geleitet wird, die als Ausbeuterin indigener Spiritualität bekannt ist (siehe: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1216.0 ). Der Film ist auch bereits gut zehn Jahre alt und tourt seitdem über diverse esoterische Kongresse und Veranstaltungen und ist nunmehr beim Karl-May-Fest angekommen. Da hier etwa 30.000 Gäste erwartet werden, wird wohl einiges an Geschäft für Ms Prevatt dabei abfallen bzw. für einige der 'Großmütter', die auch in Deutschland bei esoterischen Veranstaltungen auftreten. 


Im Programmflyer, der auf der Fest-Webseite heruntergeladen werden kann, ist eine Grußadresse des Oberbürgermeisters von Radebeul abgedruckt. In dieser ist z.B. die Rede von „der Spiritualität und dem Glauben der amerikanischen Ureinwohner“. Das ist insofern nicht korrekt, als es nicht „den“ Glauben der indigenen Nationen gibt.
Der Bürgermeister einer kleineren Stadt ist natürlich kein Experte für indigene Geschichte und Kulturen oder das heutige Leben der Indianer, daher wird seine Grußadresse mit den Festorganisatoren abgesprochen worden sein. Das Fest wird vom Tourismusbüro der Stadt Radebeul in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Karl-May-Museum und der KM-Stiftung organisiert, wenn deren Rollen auch nicht weiter erläutert werden und man online auch keine weiteren Informationen darüber erhält, wer bei der Stiftung im Vorstand oder anderen Gremien sitzt, wie die Stiftung im Museum beteiligt ist oder welchen Einfluß sie im Museum hat. Aus Presseartikeln wird deutlich, daß die Stiftung offenbar irgendwie das Museum kontrollieren kann, da es Berichte über die Entlassung des Museumsdirektors Rene Wagner gibt, die einige Kritik auslöste. Ferner gibt es noch einen Förderverein, dessen Rolle und Einfluß oder personelle Verflechtungen ebenfalls unklar bleiben.

Während also die personellen und wirtschaftlichen Verflechtungen des Karl-May-Festes, des Karl-May-Museums, der Karl-May-Stiftung und des Fördervereins sich aus den im Internet erhältlichen Informationen nicht ermessen lassen, kann doch angenommen werden, daß die Grußadresse des Oberbürgermeisters die Informationen und Einstellungen widerspiegelt, wie sie von der Stiftung und/oder dem Museum vorgegeben werden. Dies umfaßt offenbar auch die falsche Darstellung eines Powwow als spirituell oder als Zeremonie. Diese unkorrekte Auffassung wird weiterhin ausgebeutet, um dem Publikum tatsächliche Zeremonien zur Unterhaltung zu bieten. Auf diese Weise zementiert das KM-Fest die Meinung, daß die öffentliche Zurschaustellung indigener Zeremonien akzeptabel sei. Da ja auch immer indigene Künstler und Mitwirkende anwesend sind (die – vor allem, wenn sie aus den USA anreisen – nicht immer über alle Programmpunkte informiert sein müssen), wird deren Beteiligung am Fest genutzt, um das Argument zu stützen, daß die Vorführung von Zeremonien vor Publikum von indigenen Personen und indigenen Nationen toleriert oder sogar befürwortet werde.

Wie im Flyer angekündigt, wurde das Gelände „Im Land der Pachamama“ von Muriel und Cesar Olhagaray gestaltet. Olhagaray wurde 1951 in Chile geboren, sein Vater war Franzose, seine Mutter Chilenin. Seiner Webseite zufolge ( http://www.cesar-olhagaray.de/vita/  ) studierte er in Chile Archtektur und begann 1974 ein zweites Studium (Malerei und grafisches Design) an der Universität Dresden. Seit 1974 lebt er in Dresden. Das KM-Fest hat also einen weißen Künstler mit dem Auftrag betraut.

Olhagaray hat vom 5.-15. Juli 2014 noch einen weiteren Auftritt, bei dem er angeblich einen Mythos der Feuerland-Indianer aufführen wird ( http://schaubudensommer.de/rueckblick/programm-2012/cesar-muriel-chile/  ).
Einem anderen Presseartikel zufolge ( http://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/kultur/bis-an-die-grenzen-des-guten-geschmacks-1576888.html  ) wird Olhagaray jedoch seine Interpretation einer Initiationszeremonie der Feuerland-Indianer zeigen. Dies ist eben jene Vermarktung, die indigene Spiritualität und indigene Zeremonien zum unterhaltsamen Spektakel macht und dies ist nicht akzeptabel. Auch wenn das KM-Fest und auch Olhagaray dies tun und meinen – das ist offenbar ihre Version von „Ich bin okay – Du bist okay“, oder auch die Methode „10 Milliarden Fliegen können nicht irren“. Nein: nur weil 'alle' anderen, die man kennt, dies auch tun, wird das Ausbeuten indigener Kulturen und Spiritualität nicht legitim.

Die verfügbaren Informationen bieten keine weiteren Details darüber, welche Zeremonien oder Rituale beim KM-Fest 2014 aufgeführt werden sollen oder durch wen, oder ob diese Personen indigen oder Europäer sind. Diese Verschlossenheit wirkt dann doch etwas erstaunlich und könnte darauf hindeuten, daß man sich bei den Organisatoren doch darüber im Klaren ist, daß man Grenzen überschreitet.

Auch weitere Werbeartikel enthalten Stereotypen und zeigen, daß man beim KM-Fest die nächste Generation von Gästen sicherstellen möchte, die nicht wissen, was akzeptabel ist und was nicht:
http://www.kribbelbunt.de/termine/termindetails/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=22446&cHash=a2b8df4d382f6e879a9e1b6817eb1cac

Im Text geht es darum, daß Kinder freien Eintritt erhalten, die sich wie ihre indianischen Helden verkleiden. Es sei ganz egal, ob als Winnetou, Yakari, Regenbogen oder Nscho-Tschi, der Kreativität bei der Auswahl des Kostüms seien keine Grenzen gesetzt. „Kleine Indianer“ mit Mokassins und Federn dürften über das Gelände streifen und es gebe einen Spielplatz, auf dem „Winnetou & Co.“ durch den Präriesand toben können.

Das steckt voller Stereotypen und Halbwahrheiten. Aber genau das bietet das KM-Fest Jahr für Jahr seinen Besuchern. Es nimmt auch nicht nur regionales, sondern bundesweites Publikum teil. Das Fest baut so keine Brücken zwischen Indianern und Deutschen und noch weniger wird zum Wissen der deutschen Besucher beigetragen. Die Gleichung ist vielmehr ganz einfach, so wie in der Datenverarbeitung: „Wenn man Mist eingibt, kann auch nur Mist herauskommen“.
Es ist aber für die Organisatoren vielleicht ein zu großes Risiko, Fakten anzubieten. Das Publikum könnte feststellen, daß es bei all dem nur um einen geringeren Schriftsteller (was die Qualität, nicht die Quantität betrifft) und Straftäter geht, der absolut nichts über indigene Nationen, ihre Kulturen, ihre Geschichte etc wußte. Das Publikum könnte aufhören, Fakten und Phantasie gleichzusetzen.


Offline milehighsalute

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is "standing eagle" gonna be there? he seems like he wont miss an opportunity to feed his ego and collect a check

Offline Ingeborg

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is "standing eagle" gonna be there? he seems like he wont miss an opportunity to feed his ego and collect a check

He's not among the persons announced.


winyan ohansica

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Yes, the Karl May Festival is all about Karl May ... but other than other Festivals, that only show the stereotypes of Karl May`s Winnetou, the Festival in Radebeul tries to build a bridge to all kinds of native people. And yes, sometimes they have frauds, because of lack of knowledge .... they have so many plastic shamans and great grand sons of Geronimo in Germany, that it is hard to tell the frauds from genuine people. But in the last years the Festival was able to get in contact with tribes from the US and Canada, who are willing to show their culture and teach the people. The movie that Ingeborg is complaining about was NOT a choice of the Festival but of the Oneida Nation. It was Jim Loperfido, in the Name of the Oneida representatives, who brought the movies to Germany. For them it was important to show the destruction of earth and what happens when people unite and do something against it.
I didn´t see any ceremonies there!  Even the Lacrosse-game was only explained and not shown ...
There is so much critic against anything that people are willing to do in Germany that organisations are really getting helpless and prefer to ignore the issue "Native Amercians" at all. So a lot of help, that initially came from Germany is now directed to other projects. That doesn´t help either. The Karl May Festival has offered native musicians, dancers and even poets a place where they can perform and show their art.  They try to do it in a good way and they are not earning money with it! Such an event is a high risk, as you never know, how the weather is ....  I don´t see the problem here .... I am more pissed of a comic series like "Yakari", that all Kids in Germany watch and what really is giving them only stereotypes of native people.  Look at the newspapers in Germany .... they only come up with stereotypes and use a language like "Reds want Skalps back" ... and play with words like torturing pole, squaw etc ..., but no word on issues like "idle no more", fracking, etc .... I don´t like all what they do at the Karl May Festival, but I like the idea, that they are trying to change it into an intercultural event.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2014, 03:59:27 pm by winyan ohansica »

Offline earthw7

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since Karl May wrote about a make believe people he never visited us,
they know nothing about us, and have the fakes they pay to represent us
you will always have problems, we become entrainment instead of the truth
In Spirit

Offline milehighsalute

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he visited the usa ONCE.....he even got ass far as philadelphia.....amazing

Offline earthw7

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lol what did he see quakers
In Spirit

Offline Defend the Sacred

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It's a fraud fest. I think anyone who cares about accurate representation should stay far away from it and not make excuses for those nasty German pretendians.  They always claim to "love" NDNs.  But tell them their money doesn't buy them rights to ceremony, tell them playing dress-up and giving themselves new names doesn't make them NDN, and they have screaming, racist meltdowns. We've all seen it happen and it's ugly.

winyan ohansica

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Maybe you better then complain to Ray Halbritter and tell him that he is a fraud ....

Offline earthw7

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ohan sicemay ;D

lila sica
In Spirit

winyan ohansica

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Yes, it is a Festival ... the have square dance, line-dance, horse riding etc... they play Country Music and they have reenactment .... but the people, that dress up like Natives are maybe a hundred in whole Germany .... and only they can tell, why they do it ...maybe they want to be connected .... 8)  but I didn´t see ceremonies on the Festival! They used the Name "Native Spirit" to teach people, why the Nations are claiming the scalps back. They explained lacrosse and why it is called the "medicine game" and they showed different dances, and what it is all about. They informed about native issues, idle no more and the Leonard Peltier Defence Group.  This group here is about frauds .... we can discuss, wheather the people, that are being invited are genuine and real, or not ... but the last years the Festival has invited a lot of Native People to show their art, music and dancing, including the Benally Family, (also Sehasin, and Blackfire) Joanne Shenandoah and Doug George-Kanentiio, Wade Fernandez, Murray and Devlin Small Legs, Michael Pace, Leela Gilday, several dance-formations for example with Lowery Begay .... they could have booked just some german reenactors or the Big City Indians from Austria ...but they didn´t. There are a lot of festivals world-wide, where you will find only stereotypes, and no Natives at all ...
There is still room for improvement, but I like, how the Festival works together with the tribes ... I wish, more people would do it like this, and not just show the stereotype. Most of the audience comes here to see the steroetype and I agree that this is weird and ugly .... and for Natives not acceptable .... but that is due to the movies, they watched or the old books of Karl May .... they need to be taughed ..... and here they don´t expect it to happen ...some are really shocked, when they hear about native issues for the first time ...  so it is a start. Not the best, though ...I agree
« Last Edit: June 19, 2014, 09:10:31 pm by winyan ohansica »

Offline Ingeborg

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Our member winyan ohansica is not Lakota but German, and has meanwhile added her real-life first name to her nick.

Our new member is Ms Kerstin Schmäling, or Kerstin Groeper using her nom de plume, sometimes she gets mentioned as Kerstin Groeper-Schmäling. 

Apparently Ms Groeper-Schmäling is well informed about the KMF because she has been a moderator at the Karl May Festival since 2012, i.e. for the third time this year:

http://www.karl-may-fest.de/Programm/Programm+Samstag.html

Quote
14.00 / 16.00 / 18.00
Songs, dances, and stories of the Oneida Indian Nation
With Ray Halbritter (Nation Representative of the Oneida Indian Nation), Dale Rood (Turtle Clan) and Chuck Fougnier (Wolf Clan) […].
Moderation: Kerstin Groeper-Schmäling

She is an author of ndn history novels and runs a publishing house by the name of „Traumfänger Verlag“, i.e. Dreamcatcher publishers:

http://www.traumfaenger-verlag.de/
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Traumfänger Verlag was founded to publish authentic books on culture [sic] and history of the Indians of North America.
Publications focus on both historic and contemporary Indian novels with exciting stories, wake the Indians' world for the readers' eyes and also give an authentic picture of the culture [sic].
Although some of the books published were written by contemporary ndn authors, most were written by white authors. Authentic?
Another issue is the use of the singular „culture“. This intro text from the publishing house's site thus reinforces the misconception of a generic ndn culture, instead of the diversity of many cultures. Traumfänger thwarts its own claim of authenticity, servicing and cementing the misconceptions their audience is familiar with.

Ms Groeper seems to be good friends with a hobbyist club named „Southernstars e.V.“ (of Comanche docu 'fame': http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4245.0 who organise a Powwow: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4390.0 ), as their website offers a rebate of 20% on Traumfänger books when ordered through the Southernstars' site.

Ms Groeper promoted her publishing house and her books at a book fair wearing ndn garb:
http://www.traumfaenger-verlag.de/index.php/news-reader-news/items/mitteldeutsche-buchmesse.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jsdbpsdo88

Under her real-life name, she is also a member of a hobbyist club, F.B.I. Olching – i.e. Free Bavarian Indians from the town of Olching. Her profile on their site:

http://www.fbi-olching.com/M_Kerstin_deu

Quote
Indian name: Inhanbla-waste-win (Dreams Good Woman)
Tribe: Lakota
Region: Central Plains (US-North and South Dakota)
Language Family: Sioux
Reenacting: Lakota-Sioux woman

„My hobby is the Lakota language which fascinates me very much. It is rather interesting when one learns the language of a people who have an ancient culture. A language which was forbidden by the Americans at the beginning of the last century. A language only spoken by 30% of the Lakota.“

That sounds quite like a claim of 'the better Indian'...

http://www.fbi-olching.com/Presse/2007/KB201107.JPG
A press article titled: „Indian culture in the county – why a couple of authors stands up for Indian Reservation“, complete with a photo of several FBI hobbyists

http://www.fbi-olching.com/2011/rosenheim/IMG_0191.JPG
FBI Indians have women at the drum

http://www.fbi-olching.com/2010/FFB-TB_v._16.08.10-2.jpg
Another photo with women at the drum:
Irene „Mma Aokhii“, chief Max „White Eagle“, Anna „Tacincala“, Ida „Igmu Gleschka“, Sabine „Dream Weave“, Helmut „Tatanka“ and Norbert Voß.

Ms Kerstin herself at the drum during an event:
http://www.fbi-olching.com/Engagements/2007/Rgensburg/r08-07.jpg


Another 'FBI Indian' is re-enacting an „Iroquois, language family Mohawk“ and goes by the Lakota name of Ite Nupa:
http://www.fbi-olching.com/M_Frank_deutsch.htm


Ms Groeper last logged into this forum on June 20, 2014. Perhaps she is not interested in a further discussion with NAFPS members. Her facebook site, resp the FB presence of her publishing enterprise, however, has seen lots of activities since June 20:

https://de-de.facebook.com/Traumfaenger.Verlag

On July 8, 2014, she published this post:
Quote
Traumfaenger Verlag hat einen Link geteilt.
A bad habit in Germany: Plastic shamans who claim to be descendants of some Plains tribes or were initialised [sic] by Indian medicine men and who charge money for their ceremonies. The worst of them are to be found here:
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?board=4.0

Comments dd July 9:
Quote
Christina Wittkamp: I don't think we should judge these persons. He who heals is right.

Christina Wittkamp: Only real shamans can tell who of these persons is a fake.

Christina Wittkamp: I don't claim I can.

Traumfaenger Verlag But you can realise very quickly whether they really descend from an „Indian tribe“ … if they claim they do... Indian medicine men, BTW, don't call themselves „shaman“...

Christina Wittkamp:
If you refer to this life, definitely

Christina Wittkamp:
I rather think it is alarming how many persons meanwhile call themselves shaman. There even are institutions with a trademark. This I believe is nonsense. From my instructor, I have learned that you are only initiated by the spirit world and not by another shaman. All others are shamanic practitioners.

This comment received a 'like' by Traumfängerverlag.

Ms Groeper, NAFPS would be pleased if plastic shame-ons only ocurred in Germany.
My congrats to a phrasing, BTW, which leaves open whether NAFPS provides information on plastics and their activities – or whether NAFPS members were the plastics. The way you wrote this, your sentence can be understood both ways. Perhaps this is a matter of „With friends like you....“, since you also decorate the comments of a plastic shaman's student with a 'like'.
Ms Wittkamp employs several Nuage buzzwords in her comments, plus mentioning her 'instructor'. Ms W also prefers to deny that ndn persons are in a position to tell whether plastics are fakes by claiming this could only be done by 'real shamans'.

Ms Groeper, you cannot have the cake and eat it. You either take a position against the exploitation of ndn cultures and spirituality – or you applaud plastics for their comments and support their entitlement. And maintain friendly contacts to hobbyist groups accepting fakes, flakes, and frauds like Jobst and Schäfer – groups who pose as Indians in racist 'documentaries'. And do a little bit of exploitation yourself by being a member of another hobbyist group, and acting as moderator for a sorry event like the KMF which services and reinforces stereotypes.


Offline Ingeborg

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Re: Karl May Festival 2014 - reducing ndn ceremony to entertainment for Euros
« Reply #13 on: October 11, 2015, 11:32:36 pm »

As I happened to see just a minute ago reading another of our threads, our member going by the nick of "winyan ohansica", real name: Kerstin Schmäling, pen name: Kerstin Groeper or Kerstin Groeper-Schmäling, has silently cancelled her membership in this forum recently. Seems she now decided that she'd rather continue to be good friends with types like Manfred Jobst and Wolle Schäfer.

Fair enough. We all got to make our choices in life. It's just always a pity when a person decides to continue being bedfellows with fakes, flakes, and frauds. But as Confucious says: He who goes to bed with the dogs will get up with fleas.




A German translation for convenience:

Wie ich soeben beim Lesen eines anderen Threads bemerkte, hat unser Mitglied mit dem Nick "winyan ohansica", bürgerlich: Kerstin Schmäling, Autorenpseudonym: Kerstin Groeper oder Kerstin Groeper-Schmäling erst vor kurzem in aller Stille ihr Account in diesem Forum gelöscht. Offenbar hat sie sich entschieden, daß sie lieber mit Typen wie Manfred Jobst und Wolle Schäfer zu tun haben möchte.

Wenn sie denn meint. Wir müssen alle in unserem Leben Entscheidungen treffen. Es ist nur immer schade, wenn sich jemand entscheidet, weiterhin mit Plastics, Imitationen und Frauds zusammenzuhängen. Wie aber schon Konfuzius sagt: Wer sich mit den Hunden ins Bett legt, steht mit Flöhen wieder auf.