Life on the Menominee Reservation

My Reservation, the Menominee Reservation, which is located in Menominee County five minutes away from Shawano (which is one and a half hour away from Green Bay) is a great Reservation. We have a rich culture and a rich heritage. We have many great stories such as the legend of the little people and the eagle. My personal favorite "the serpent that once lived in legend lake". Recently, I learned of another good legend from my tribe called the legend of the "Orign of Night and Day", as follows:

One day long ago Rabbit was walking through the forest. He saw Owl sitting on a branch of a tree. There were bits of light coming through the trees but it was hard for Rabbit to see. Rabbit asked Owl why he liked it so dark. Rabbit told Owl he didn't like the dark and he was going to make it bright like the daylight. Owl told Rabbit that if he was powerful enough, to do it. Owl told Rabbit that they should have a contest to see who could make it dark or light all the time. Rabbit and Owl called togethor all of the birds and animals to witness. Rabbit and Owl explained to the animals what they were trying to do. Some of the animals wanted Rabbit to win but didn't know if they wanted it to be light all of the time. Some of the animals wanted Owl to win so it could stay dark all of the time. The contest began. Rabbit repeated "Light, Light" and Owl repeated "Night, Night." The trick was not to repeat the other's words. If they repeated the wrong word they would lose. Rabbit and Owl kept on saying their words. The animals were cheering them on. All of a sudden Owl said "Light" and lost the contest. Rabbit was the winner and he had his wish for daylight. Yet, he decided to let there be night as well for the benefit of all the animals. This made everyone happy.

Recently, I visted the Reservation for Christmas vacation. I had an opportunity to visit my sister. I was estatic to see her and my family and to get away from Milwaukee for a while. While I was there we probably had one of the saddest/poorest Christmas season's I ever have seen my family go through due to the shortage of money. Even though I had to got through this experience, I am still very thankful for all that I have in Milwaukee. I also charished my time I was able to spend with my family.

If there is anything that I want you to learn from my Christmas experience on the REservation, it would be that you should all be grateful for the people and things you have in your life because you never really know what you have until it is gone.. I also want you to realize and recognize that there is more to the world like culture, family friends, and happiness (especially compared to life in the "hood"). During my trip, I took some pictures. One of the pictures I took is shown below in this story.