Sharing the Ancient Tales

The sounds of drums echo, beating out the rhythm of the grass dancers. These were groups of men who stomped knee high vegetation into a solid mat suitable for the other dancers who would soon arrive at tribal functions. A few days after the gatherings were over, the grass would once again stand up, looking like no one had ever been there. According to Esther Stutzman Kalapuya storyteller, it is the lost souls of these very same dancers that are responsible for the crop circles popping up all over the world.

Every one has heard of the Umpqua Indians, the Cow Creeks. A lot of people know that the Calapooia is a creek or a street in Sutherlin, Oregon. How many people know that this area was once home to the ancient tribe of Kalapuya. They figure into several historical scenarios that are forever bond to the tales of the Applegate family whose descendents still live in Yoncalla. If it were not for Esther so eagerly and interestingly participating in so many local and state events would any one remember the tribe whose members have inhabited the Northern Valleys of the Umpqua (near Roseburg, Oregon)and the Willamette Valley (Corvallis Oregon area) for thousands of years?

"Traditionally winter is storytelling time. Knowledge and wisdom, traditional cultural values, and spiritual qualities, as well as tribal oral history and prophesy, are all imparted to younger generations through storytelling from generation to generation."

Esther Stutzman is a native Oregonian and traditional American Indian storyteller of Kalapuya/Coos heritage. She learned the stories from her grandmothers and she has been telling stories of the ancient ways for over forty years. Some of those stories have jumped traditional boundaries and have found their way into the hearts of those who have listened intently as the old truths are passed on to yet new ears and different cultures.