Rain may have hindered plans for baseball Friday night at Victory Field, but celebrations for the fourth annual Native American Heritage Night went on.
The Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana and baseball fans celebrated Native American culture and history. Many members participated in a smudging ceremony to cleanse spirits, get rid of negative energy and bring up the positive. All at the park were welcome to join.
Eight-year-old Cora was there for her birthday. She said she didn’t know what smudging symbolized but got in line anyway. “He told us it was to ward off evil,” she said.
Brian Buchanan is Chief of the Miami Nation of Indiana. He said the Heritage Nights show more people that this culture still exists.
Buchanan said controversies about the names of sports teams have been frustrating because he personally doesn’t really care about that. To him, the Indianapolis Indians play a role in portraying his culture and not letting it die.
“And as long as they're respectful of doing so, we're right there with them, and I see this partnership lasting a very, very long time,” he said.
Pointing to the Indians jersey he wore, he said he was really happy with the new design. To Buchanan, it symbolizes years of collaboration between the team and the tribe.
“What it means to me is society and corporations like the Indianapolis Indians are showing the utmost respect to use our mentorship to be able to show who we are and what we're all about,” Buchanan said.
Max Freeman, Marketing Director with the Indianapolis Indians, said it took over 18 months to put the new design together, and it has a lot of meaning. Symbols include the city flag in the middle of the logo. There’s also ribbon work on the side of the jerseys that includes specific shapes unique to the eastern woodland tribes. That includes tribes from the Great Lakes Region, where the Miami nation is focused. Freeman said it’s taken a few tries to get the logo right, but accuracy is important.
“So our old logo had parts of the Cherokee sun on it, which is a tribe that is not even part of this region. That was, that was a really big focus in the redesign as well,” he said.
Freeman worked with the Miami Nation to coordinate Native American heritage nights over the last four seasons.
“What we do is first listen to what the tribe wants to share and educate fans. Over the last decade or so, it's been their mission to become federally recognized and so as a part of our partnership, our goal is to amplify that message in ways that we can,” Freeman said. “So not only teaching fans about their culture and their community, but also that cause.”
Freeman said it’s also important to the team and to Chief Buchanan to include other tribes in events like these.
“Native American Heritage Night isn't Miami Nation Night,” Freeman said. “There's, you know, reasonable skepticism, I think, sometimes from tribes, and so we really just invite them to come in and see what we're doing, see that it's authentic and that the partnership is real, and that we're trying to make this, trying to help amplify each other.”
Adelynn Engle travelled from near Bloomington to Indianapolis for the event. She is a member of the Miami Nation. It was her first time attending Native American Heritage Night at Victory Field.
“I came tonight because I just thought it would be a super fun experience,” she said. “But I think everyone should come just to experience the native culture, experience the people that were here before them, and just learn that we are not gone. Don't forget about us. We're still here.”
Contact WFYI Morning Edition Newscaster and Reporter Barbara Anguiano at banguiano@wfyi.org
