Surviving Indian community restarts annual tradition

By Ambria Hammel, The Catholic Sun
March 15, 2007

LAVEEN — Sheltered from the open desert and blowing dust, a dozen dancers made their own unique sound by stomping on the hardwood floor inside.

Performers, ranging in age from 2 to 40, demonstrated their fancy footwork while decked out in colorful costumes often full of jingling bells and other noisemakers.

“A lot of the dances that we do are from different tribes because that’s what St. John’s was,” Aaron Sabori said, referring to the parish community and former school.

He was one of two adults and roughly 10 children who performed at the Indian Festival March 4 sponsored by St. John the Baptist Parish. The annual event returned this year following a four-year break.

Roughly 300 Catholics attended the day-long celebration that honored the heritage of various tribes through dancing, crafts, food and music.

Peaceful spirits soared among the adults and playful children dotted the dirt lot full of food vendors, carnival rides and activity booths. Yet some quietly recalled the days of a livelier community.

“When the school was functioning, we’d dance six times a day,” Sabori said. Now, he’s thankful to keep the dances alive by passing them on to the children, who only gather for the festival.

The performance featured roughly 12 dances in which the girls and boys took center court separately in the community gymnasium. Six men sat circled around a communal drum pounding it behind the dancers and providing the vocals.

Deacon Joseph “Tom” Swisher, parish administrator, said most of St. John’s members over age 40 are graduates of what was once a boarding school for 700 students.

The school closed more than a generation ago amid low enrollment and other challenges. Vandals subsequently burned down the buildings.

The festival used to be a fundraiser for the school. Even though the school is no longer there, the community still gathers to honor the sacredness of their tradition. Monies now support various needs in the Gila River Native American community. 

The parish needs repair and maintenance work on its air conditioning and heating system. It could also use a handicapped accessible restroom outside the parish.

“There’s just so much that we want to do for our church with the monies we make,” said Arlene Rodriquez, the festival chairperson.

Income from each booth and performance helped.

Donald Sabori, one of the elder dancers, described the children’s dancing as northern and southern traditional. The main difference lies in their dress. Northern style features only a frontal breastplate while the southern style has the breastplate draping on both sides.

He also said the jingle dance originated from a tribe in Minnesota that performed it as a medicine dance.

“People still use it today if their family is having trouble,” Donald Sabori said.

The adults modeled a two-person arrow fight through dance.

The Saboris remember taking their dances on the road as students to raise money for the school. Aaron once traveled to Japan to dance.

Deacon Swisher, who has been in Indian ministry since 1979, said the Native American community typically honors crops, special events and human life with dance.

“Those events we kind of celebrate with the sacraments in our culture,” he said. “It’s a community thing. It’s a communal celebration and ceremony.”

The dancers closed out their performance with the round dance. This social dance drew in the audience, creating a large circle of 30 dancers.

“It gets the people together,” Aaron said.

That is exactly what the festival meant to do.