WPR: Ho-Chunk Nation shares culture with students from China

The students from three of China's top high schools began the week at the Ho Chunk casino in Baraboo, where they were greeted by a Ho Chunk drum and dance performance. In return, Chinese-American students from Milwaukee performed the traditional Dragon Dance. Tribal members then used an Eagle wing to offer the Chinese visitors a smoke blessing from a smudge pot filled with cedar and sweet grass.

From the Ho Chunk side, tribal member and cultural dance and art expert Melanie Tallmadge Sainz says she hopes the future collaboration among the Ho Chunk and Chinese youth will address the harmful waste created by consumer culture, “[by] being conscientious about what we call 'planned obsolescence,' [so] that in years to come these plastic items made from China won't be filling our landfills,” she said. “We as humans ... need to healthfully survive on our Earth mother and be a good steward for her.”