Plenty of people round the world loved
watching western films in the sixties and seventies. People were hungry
to see great open spaces and western landscapes they lacked in their own
countries. Western films were propelled to fame worldwide with
additional attractions such as cowboys, wild horses, herds of cattle and
bison. To add more excitement and western flavor, Indians were
introduced as well. The attire and arms of both cowboys and Indians were
rather exotic and added to the success of the films. Beside all of
that, the roles assigned to cowboys and Indians, either as “good guys”
or “bad guys” somewhat succeeded in alienating a great number of viewers
and making them side with some rather than with others. The great and
glorious cowboy image has been sketched and commercialized through the
media. Earlier than that, cowboys were simple people leading harsh,
simple and monotonous lives. The rise of the cowboy image was
established through Hollywood films. These same films most often
depicted Indians as blood thirsty savages capable of all sorts of murder
and mischief. The image of Indians scalping their enemies was driven
deeper into the conscious of film viewers worldwide. Consequently, no
matter what harm happened to Indians was justified and, much worse, well
deserved.
My own experience with Indians was from
real life and not from western movies. The New Mexico Orchestra was
performing at the University of New Mexico that evening and I was
invited by this lady who volunteered to play the role of informer about
American Indians of the South -West. As an exchange student, I was
offered this golden opportunity to stay with Apache Indians at White
River reservation, Arizona, for a period of fifteen days. The upcoming
event filled me with anticipation and some apprehension I have to admit.
The lady’s house was a bit of a museum that included Indian katchinas,
handicrafts and paintings showing features of life in the South-West. My
host’s paraphernalia offered me along with her explanations and
comments a much clearer idea of what to expect, nothing like in the
movies. The journey was a real “once in a life time” experience. Before
the White River experience, I had an idea about Indians In the old
downtown Albuquerque plaza where you could see scores of Indian and
Hispanic street-vendors displaying beautiful jewelry, handicrafts and
rugs on the ground.
The plaza seemed to contain all American
diversity of ethnicity, skin color and language. Unlike in films,
instead of fighting, people were absorbed in earning a decent living for
themselves and for their children. My experience at the Indian
reservation in White River also strengthened my hunch. It was only
different because at the reservation Indians were not in a cosmopolitan
setting, rather they were leading a life style that somewhat resembled
that of their ancestors.
My host and I went on talking about
other cultural issues related to Indians and desert life in the
South-west with its two notorious figures: Coyotes and Road-runners.
Now, it was evening and my host happened to have had two tickets for a
performance by the Orchestra of New Mexico. Her husband was away for a
job related task so she offered me a ticket to discover a bright facet
of modern western civilization. Of course I was very grateful and there
we set for the New Mexico University campus. I must confess that, at the
time, I did not have much of an ear for that kind of music. I was more
of a “KC and the Sunshine Band” fan back then. Prior to attending the
symphony, the lady thought I may not have access to a fridge at the
reservation so she offered me some hominy to take along on my journey to
the land of the Apaches. So, there I was the next day with echoes of
the symphony in my ear and with a bag of hominy in my luggage, ready to
set off on this once in a life time journey into another culture.
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