CSUSB hosts California Native American Day celebration Sept. 25; Pow Wow on Sept. 18-20 attracts thousands

The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation and Cal State San Bernardino invite the university and surrounding community to celebrate California Indian culture, heritage and family during California Native American Day Friday, Sept. 25, from 6-9 p.m., next to the CSUSB Alumni Center.

The celebration, free and open to the public, caps the week-long California Indian Cultural Awareness Conference, which saw more than 1,500 elementary school students and their teachers from throughout the Inland Empire visit the campus to learn first-hand about California’s Native American culture, history and customs.

CSUSB has been the venue for the event since 1999.

“Since 1999, Cal State San Bernardino and the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation have worked together to honor California’s Indigenous peoples and share their cultures, histories and traditions with our region,” said CSUSB President Terri Gómez. “This longstanding partnership makes California Native American Day a meaningful opportunity to learn directly from tribal members and elders, strengthen understanding across generations and celebrate the rich heritage of California’s Native communities.”

California Native American Day is a day to honor California’s indigenous people, an opportunity to learn about Native Americanculture and a time for people of all cultures to reflect on and remember their traditions.

The celebration will feature traditional Northern California brush dancers, Southern California bird singers, a traditional Native American theater company performance featuring all-ages dance groups from Central and Northern California, food and demonstrations of traditional life ways and knowledge. 

The event is free and open to the public. Free parking will be available in Lot D. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets.

The Friday celebration comes after the conclusion of the week-long California Indian Cultural Awareness Conference, which is being held on campus Monday through Friday, Sept. 21-25. More than 1,500 elementary school children and their teachers from throughout the Inland Empire were expected to visit Cal State San Bernardino and learn firsthand about California’s Native American culture, history and customs.

Students learned firsthandfrom tribal members and elders about Native American traditions including basketry, plants, music, language and history including Native American accounts and perspectives on the mission period of the state’s history.

“California designated the fourth Friday of September in 1998 as California Native American Day to dismantle the misconceptions about California Indians,” according to the California Native American Day website. “Previously, Students were led to believe California history began with the arrival of the first explorers and lacked a fundamental understanding of Native American’s existing society. Native populations across the country were seen as primitive and were too often associated with stereotypes like teepees and drums.

“Education in K-12 schools and community colleges has since evolved to entail the extensive history of the many tribal groups in California,” the website states. “We now have programs and conferences each year on California Native American Day to continue educating our communities.”

Not far from the site of the California Native American Day event, on the university athletic fields, the San Manuel Pow Wow attracted thousands of dancers, singers and spectators over three days, from Sept. 18-20.

The event featured traditional bird singers and dancers, drum singing groups and vending from more than 100 artisans representing Indian tribal nations from across North America and Canada.

Native American dishes, such as crowd-favorite foods like fry bread, as well as a diverse array of authentic Native American traditional crafts and fine art were available for purchase from vendors across all three days.

The Pow Wow is a sacred space where people from across Indian Country can share their traditions, spirituality and individual style through sounds, motion and art. It is both a celebration and cultural competition with participants vying for prizes and honoring enduring Native traditions. The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation presented more than $250,000 in cash prizes.

For more information on the San Manuel Pow Wow or California Native American Day, contact Kenneth Shoji at (909) 754-0298 or email kshoji@sanmanuel-nsn.gov.