UC Berkeley News
Press Release

UC Berkeley Press Release

Fall events celebrate California natives, both people and plants

– This fall, a series of events at the University of California, Berkeley, will celebrate California's native history in terms of its plants and its people.

California Indian Day launches the series on Friday, Sept 23.

That day, the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will open its doors at 10 a.m. for a California Indian food and culture tour, led by museum cultural attaché Otis Parrish of the Kashaya Pomo tribe. A second tour will begin at 1 p.m.

The University of California Botanical Garden will have a booth at the Hearst Museum featuring California native plants and explanations of their ethnobotanical uses by California Indians. Hands-on activities will include making a walnut shell dice game that visitors can take home.

From 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. that Friday, the museum will host an Indian taco sale to benefit UC Berkeley's Native American Studies Department, and at 2 p.m., the Coastal Pomo Indian Dancers of Point Arena will perform in the museum courtyard.

At the nearby botanical garden, "California Natives: Plants & People" tours of the sprawling garden in Strawberry Canyon begin at 11 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., featuring up-close examination of plant specimens, artifacts and demonstrations.

Foods domesticated by ancient Native American farmers will fill the marketplace of the botanical garden during regular open hours from Thursday, Oct. 6, to Wednesday, Oct. 26. Local schools can schedule a 75-minute program for students in grades 3 and up.

Native American Heritage Month will be observed on Sunday, Nov. 6, with crafts, tours, Indian tacos, plant activities at a botanical garden booth, and performances by Gilbert Blacksmith's (from the Sicangu Lakota tribe) Medicine Warriors Dance Troupe/All Nations Singers from Oakland at the Hearst Museum between noon and 3 p.m.

Meanwhile that day at the botanical garden, tours will begin at noon to show how California's Indians use plants for everything from food to musical instruments. The plant deck also will offer a selection of waterwise plants, and many California native plants from Oct. 27 through Nov. 8.

The Hearst Museum store will hold its annual Native American jewelry sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, with discounts of 20 to 25 percent off original prices.

There will be reciprocal entry with paid admission to either the museum or the garden. General admission to the museum is $4, while entry is $3 for seniors 55 and older, $1 for students, and free to children 12 and younger, as well as to UC Berkeley faculty, students and staff. It is free to everyone on Thursdays.

Botanical garden admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors 65 and older, and $1 for children ages 3 though 18. Admission is free for garden members and UC Berkeley faculty, staff and students. It is free to all on the first Thursday of each month.

The garden, located at 200 Centennial Dr., is open daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and is closed the first Tuesday of each month. The museum, located in Kroeber Hall at the intersection of Bancroft Way and College Avenue, is open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 4 on Sundays.

Ruth Hopper, a Native American Studies adviser at UC Berkeley and a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, said she hopes the activities raise the profile of Native American students at UC Berkeley.

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