Top 5 things to do at the Dragonfly Gala

Fly with the Dragonflies! 

Join us in celebrating Southern California’s Native American cultures on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019, with delicious foods, traditional music, exhibits, and arts at the annual Dragonfly Gala. This year's gala celebrates "Our Native Homelands," especially the Native American relationships with Southern California's unique and beautiful landscapes.

Here are the top 5 things to do at the Gala!

 1. Connect with "Our Native Homelands" through hands-on cultural exhibits. 

Barbara Drake teaches Native uses of native plants for foods, medicines, and more.

This year visit with Barbara Drake, an elder who shares Native uses of plants as foods, medicines, and more; Morongo Cultural Resources Department and Morongo School; Malki Museum; several regional wilderness land conservancies, and more.

2.  Eat a delicious dinner. Yum, traditional pit BBQ beef cooked by the Mathews family, and yes! feast on some favorite foods made by Cahuilla elder Jenny Lyons.

3. Enjoy traditional Native American music. The gala is the place to be for bird singing and dancing.

Dragonfly Gala 2018, Carlos Puma photo

4. Shop! Bid on eclectic and artistic finds at our famous silent auction.

  5. Bring a dragonfly (handmade, art, what have you) and take home a dragonfly in the Community Dragonfly Exchange. 

Dragonfly Gala 2018, Carlos Puma photo

Most importantly, join our community celebrating our Southern California Native American cultures. The Learning Center’s Dragonfly Award for soaring achievements in saving and sharing Native American cultures this year goes to educator, storyteller, and ethnobotanist Kat High. 

Kat High at our Native Voices Poetry Festival (Carlos Puma Photo)

Tickets are $50 each; tables are $1,000, $2,000, $3,000.

4-8 p.m. Aug. 10, 2019

Morongo Community Center, Morongo Reservation.

Get Ready for the Dragonfly Gala!

Being Native American in 2018

Come listen and engage in this discussion on following traditional cultural pathways in our contemporary world, being true to one's Native American identity, respecting the past in present tense. 

Being Native American in 2018

A panel discussion with Culture Bearers and Catalysts

Moderator: Elder Ernest Siva (Cahuilla/Serrano)

Including Sean Milanovich, Cahuilla Red Elk, Gerald Clarke Jr., Terria Smith

DETAILS

6 pm Oct 15, 2018

127 N. San Gorgonio Ave., Banning CA 92220

Your $5 donation helps the 501(c)3 nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center save and share Southern California's Native American cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts.

And at the 2018 Dragonfly Gala, the Dragonfly Award goes to ...

We'll be honored and thrilled this Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018, at our Dragonfly Gala to present the 2018 Dragonfly Award for soaring achievements in saving and sharing Native American cultures to BILL MADRIGAL Sr. AND HIS FAMILY.
Please reserve your spot now, 951.849.7736, or email eandjsiva@gmail.com, so we can make sure we have enough of Daniel McCarthy's delicious BBQ dinner to serve everyone. The gala will be at Morongo Community Center.

Here is what they wrote about themselves!
"Bill and Monica are of Cahuilla and Luiseño ancestry from local reservation communities. They home-schooled and raised their children William Jr., Menil, Andrew, Kateri, Starla, Nesune, Noel, Avelaka, and Tishmal in their faith and traditions on the Cahuilla Indian reservation.
All their lives they visited with the elders to learn our culture, bird songs, stories, basket making, foods, and languages.
They have formed a traditional Bird-singing/dance group and also teach what they have learned to all our people and those who want to learn in the local area.
They have been teaching on the local reservations and presenting at schools, colleges and Universities for many years.
Their grown children have also been active in cultural teaching and giving presentations on our culture as well.
It is with great honor and love of our brothers and sisters to share the gifts of our elders that come from our Creator with all our native family!
Umon Chemingkim All our relatives!
Nesun Achama!"

RSVP now for the 2018 Dragonfly Gala

Everything in Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s annual Dragonfly Gala is handmade, homemade, and from the heart. The gala each year is like a giant reunion of more than 350 family and friends who celebrate and support Southern California’s Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts. This year’s gala underscores the theme, “Family, the Heart, & the Word.”

Ernest Siva, President of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center

At the gala from 4 to 8 pm Saturday, Aug. 11 at Morongo Community Center, 13000 Malki Rd., Morongo Reservation:

• Explore many Native American cultural displays and exhibits; visit, share memories and stories.

Chia Cafe Collective with a Native food sampler (Carlos Puma photo)

• Eat a delicious dinner! Daniel McCarthy and his crew again will prepare their famed BBQ turkey and beef, along with some favorite vegetable dishes and salads incorporating Native foods, the original California cuisine. The desserts are simply the best. 

RSVP so we have plenty of food for all! (Carlos Puma photo)

• Dance to Bird Songs and other traditional music. Enjoy flute music.

Carlos Puma Photo

Carlos Puma Photo

• Bid in the silent auction for eclectic and Native American art, jewelry, and other treasures. 

Shop amid many beautiful items in our famed silent auction (Carlos Puma photo)

• Honor Bill Madrigal Sr. (Cahuilla/Luiseño) and family, winner of the Center’s 2018 Dragonfly Award for soaring achievements in saving and sharing Native American cultures.

Carlos Puma Photo

Carlos Puma Photo

• Dragonfly exchange: bring a dragonfly (art, handmade, be creative!), and take home someone else’s. Morongo School students have made beautiful beaded bracelets and artwork to share, for example, as all celebrate Native American cultures.

Dragonfly exchange (Carlos Puma Photo)

 Please RSVP so there’s more than plenty to serve you. 


Tickets $50; Tables, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000. 

Reserve your spot: 951.849.4676, or info@dorothyramon.org

All proceeds support the 501(c)3 nonprofit, Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, which since 2003 has saved and shared all Southern California’s American Indian cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts.

Dragonfly Exchange

"Saving our culture by
Learning and Sharing our Story (Chaterha')
Loving each other (Piihanich)
Reading our history (Ushranich yerhyer')
Creating a future for Morongo (Tum hiitii uu')
Watching our Elders (Yerhyerher')
Making our Ancestors Proud (Ichu'uv)"
Morongo Reservation School students plan to share this message at our Aug. 11, 2018, Dragonfly Gala, as part of our Dragonfly Exchange. 
This is a call to participate with them — and all of us — in the Dragonfly Exchange at our Dragonfly Gala.

The Back Story: When Ernest Siva sings the Dragonfly Song, he says that Dragonfly will either come to you, or stay away from you. "The teaching goes, if you are kind and have kind thoughts, he will come to you. Conversely, if you are troubled, nervous, angry, etc., he will leave your presence. The elders say, 'Mehuun terrux!' "Quiet your heart!' In other words, be calm and confident before proceeding with anything of importance." (Siva 2004)

The Exchange: At our Dragonfly Gala on Aug. 11, 2018, we'll have our second annual exchange. Bring a dragonfly (handmade, art, what have you) and take home someone else's dragonfly! Bring kind thoughts and friendship to another person, and take home the same. Share the peace, comfort, and beauty that comes when your heart is open and Dragonfly comes to you.

LOOK AT THIS! This is only part of what Morongo Reservation School is bringing to the Dragonfly Gala for the Dragonfly Exchange. The students all made these beautiful beaded bracelets with dragonflies. They are enclosed in special gift boxes. With that special message inside. So, when you come to the Gala, please bring a dragonfly that's from your heart, to share.
GALA DETAILS: 

Dragonfly Gala 2017

Dragonfly Gala on August 13, 2016

Poetry Festival: Native Voices 2016

Inspire. Discover. Explore. Create. The second annual Native Voices Poetry Festival at Dorothy Ramon Learning Center in downtown Banning on Saturday, January 23, will celebrate the human voice in all the arts. 

Explore the richness of Southern California’s Native cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts. Discover and be inspired by our region’s beauty, vitality, and uniqueness. Enjoy Native American songs, storytelling, poetry, and more in family-friendly, free performances. 

Create poetry, stories, and art in free workshops for all ages.

 

DETAILS:

When:  9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, January 23.

Where: Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Gathering Hall at 127 N. San Gorgonio Avenue, Banning.

What: Free, family-friendly performances and workshops.

Who: Native American storytellers, singers, and poets from the region and from throughout Southern California, including Georgiana Sanchez, Ted and Dennis Garcia, Ernest Siva and family members, Kim and Mallory Marcus, Raymond Huaute, the Morongo Bird Singers and Dancers, Madrigal Family Bird Singers and Dancers, and other bird singers. 

Dragonfly Wind Flute Ensemble returns for the 2016 Festival, along with musicians Bill Bell and Don Strandberg, who again will perform local historian Bell’s “Ballad of Willie Boy.”

Food: Festival participants can enjoy lunch from Ramona’s food truck and Super Subs restaurant nearby.

Other Poetry Festival highlights are:

• Free workshops throughout the day, many for children, teens, and their families, offering ways to explore their own creativity through writing and art. First-come, first-serve signups will be available at the event.

• A Native Garden area with demos and displays of how native plants provide foods, medicines, tools, and have served Native cultures through time. 

• Shopping, browsing, and enjoying poetry in the Literary Café sponsored by the nonprofit Inlandia Institute, with poetry readings throughout the day.

Browse among books offered by vendors Malki Museum/Ballena Press; Heyday Books and News From Native California magazine; Scarlet Tanager Books; Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s publishing arm, Ushkana Press; UC Riverside Costo Chair; and Inlandia Institute.

• Tours of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s new library, along with information on local history resources in Banning Library. The nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center since 2003 has saved and shared Southern California’s Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.

Festival sponsors Include California State University, San Bernardino, and CSUSB Palm Desert;

Banning Community Fund; Mt. San Jacinto Community College; College of the Desert;

Inlandia Institute; Banning Schools Indian Education Program; UC Riverside Costo Chair; Poets and Writers; PoetrIE; Morongo Cultural Resources; Morongo School, and Banning Library District, which is kicking off its 100th birthday celebration at the Poetry Festival.

For more information: Call 951.849.7736; email info@dorothyramon.org, or come back here.