Red Thunder
by David Matheson
List Price: $24.95
Pages: 326
Format: Hardcover/Paperback
ISBN: 0964721252
Publisher: Media Weavers
David Matheson was born into the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation in 1951.
Matheson has spent a lifetime learning and living the teachings of the Coeur d'Alene. Hunting, root digging, berry picking, and camping are a major part of his family's regular routine, as are observing the Tribe's traditions and ceremonial dances and events. He has worked and lived most of his adult life on the reservation, where he has served as a Council leader, the Tribal Chairman, and manager of various tribal operations.
David Matheson is currently the CEO of the Coeur d'Alene Casino & Resort Hotel in Worley, Idaho. Matheson holds an M.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington. Over the past twenty years, Matheson has held many esteemed positions and has received many honors for his work in preserving cultural traditions, the native language, and ceremonial practices. He has served as the Deputy Commissioner for Indian Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Interior; the CEO for Coeur d'Alene Development Enterprises; an advisor for the President's Commission on Reservation Economies; a delegate to the People's Republic of China's Native American Trade Mission; and a recipient of Commendation from the Secretary of the Interior for Outstanding Service.
In his spare time, Matheson enjoys training and riding horses, competing in cutting and reining, as well as participating in Native American traditional dances and pow wows.
ABOUT THE COEUR D'ALENE TRIBE:
The original Coeur d'Alene homeland spans almost five million acres, stretching from Montana in the east to the Spokane River Valley in present day Washington State, from near the Canadian border in the north to near the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers in north Idaho.
Coeur d' Alene Indian villages were established along the Coeur d' Alene, St. Joe, Clark Fork and Spokane Rivers. The homeland included numerous and permanent sites on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene, Lake Pend Orielle and Hayden Lake.
This tribe traded among themselves and with dozens of tribes far away on the Pacific coast. Ancient trade routes connected the Coeur d'Alenes with the Nez Perce, the Shoshones and the Bannocks to the south and southeast. To the east were the tribes of the Great Plains and the vast herds of buffalo. With the coming of horses, young Coeur d' Alene men journeyed east to hunt buffalo. These journeys, however, were not necessary for survival. They were viewed as adventures, and even rites of passage, for youth who would emerge into manhood and into leadership roles.
All ancient tribal trade routes and paths remain today. In fact, those very same routes are still used all across the country. Today, however, we call those tribal routes "Interstate highways."
The first white people to encounter the Coeur d'Alenes were French trappers and traders. It was one of these Frenchmen who found the tribe to be vastly experienced and skilled at trading, thus the name "Coeur d'Alene," meaning "heart of the awl." The nickname stuck. One Frenchman described the tribe as "the greatest traders in the world."
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Q: You have written a moving memoir of the Schee-tsu-umsh Indians, now called the Coeur d'Alene Tribe in Northern Idaho. Why did you decide to write this story?
DM: I am a member of the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe. Over the years, I've served as a Council Leader and the Tribal Chairman and manager of various tribal operations. I practice the teachings of my tribe in my everyday life as the owner of a successful business. I feel that our tribal practices have served me well, and I would like to share this knowledge with others in the hopes of fostering stronger faith, courage, and togetherness.
The deep and sincere feelings with which our ancestors conducted their lives, tradition, and culture is the story within me that was crying to be written. The functional aspects of our native ceremonial life can only be truly understood through appreciation of the great degree of kindness, humility, and faith with which our ancestors lived their everyday lives.
Q: So, why did you decide to write your story in novel form?
DM: I wanted to capture the essence of our authentic traditions and customs, our principles and teachings. Our tribe has a long-standing oral tradition, and thus I felt the most effective way to bring these teachings to life was through the power of story. The backdrop to the story is part of our genuine oral history regarding the life and times of our great prophet chief, Circling Raven.
Q: What is Red Thunder about?
DM: It is a story of harmony: man's harmony with the natural world; peace and unity of purpose with a Higher Power; and understanding all of life and oneself in it. I feel it is a story much of the world is ready for – even yearning for.
Q: Is that why you feel it is so important to share this story with people outside your tribe?
DM: Yes. And, also I realize that even 500 years after Columbus, many Americans still do not know who America's first inhabitants were or are. They know so little about our unique, beautiful culture. The world could learn from it.
Q: How is this story, set in the 1700s, relevant in today's world?
DM: In Red Thunder, I follow several generations of this family band from birth and youth to adulthood, old age, and death – not necessarily in that order. These four cycles of the circle of life are clearly depicted by telling their stories.
Life is not certain, or even promised to anyone. The characters live life, laugh, and learn. But, also, they struggle, they work, and they confront life's tragedies. They do this with tears like any human being may, but also with hope, faith, and courage.
In this way, the reader comes closer to the true meaning of life according to our Native cultural understandings. These meanings are not spelled out for the reader. But, they are between the lines to be deciphered by individuals as they contemplate the book and their own lives.
Q: This is such an important story that is of value to so many people the world over. Why has this story never been told before?
DM: Those who really knew kept it to themselves; and most all who knew are gone now from this earth. Much of our tradition has been a guarded secret fro many reasons, partly from fear and partly from a deep feeling to protect what we have left.
At one time, we were prohibited from talking our language or practicing our traditional ceremonies and customs. This instilled a deep fear in our grandparents, who as little, defenseless children, bore the brunt of ignorant acts to assimilate them by stomping out our culture.
Q: What kind of research did you do to prepare for this book?
DM: I have spent a lifetime learning and living the teachings depicted in the book, talking to many of our elders and practicing our culture and traditions in everyday life. Hunting, root digging and berry picking/camping are a major part of my wife's and my regular routine, as are traditions and ceremonial dances and events.
The miracles that are depicted in this story and the teachings of Chief Circling Raven are actual accounts told by all our grandparents of most every family band in the tribe.
Excerpted from Red Thunder © Copyright 2009 by David Matheson. Reprinted with permission by Media Weavers. All rights reserved.
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