By Dana Benner

Nothing screams Hawai’i more than the lu’au.  Every year countless people experience the numerous commercial lu’aus offered on all of the islands, but how many of those people understand what the lu’au, or as it is called by the Hawai’ian people, ‘aha’aina, means to the Hawai’ian culture.  In many cases, the modern lu’aus that draw many tourists, only very slightly convey the true meaning of the event.

Tribal language programs nationwide have begun summer program preparations for a range of community language immersion and teacher training opportunities. Among Cultural Survival’s advisor programs, the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project and Euchee (Yuchi) Language Project, will offer multi-week language camps for youth focused on building conversational skills and ceremonial vocabulary to engage students as future community cultural leaders.

By Febna Caven

"Today is the beginning of a new era" -- Alma Gloria Temaj Morales, Mam Maya spiritual guide from Guatemala

Today is December 21, 2012, the end of the Oxlajuj Baktun cycle, the end of the "long-count" calendar that finishes up a 5,129-year cycle in the Mayan calendar. The ancient Maya people were master astrologers and timekeepers, tracking the stars and planets and developing a cyclical calendar. Today is also the Winter Solstice.

The team-based master apprentice project based at the Sac and Fox Nation has completed a multi-year effort to significantly boost the language proficiency of three second language learners. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Native Americans, the project was jointly administered by Cultural Survival’s Endangered Languages Program and the Sauk Language Department in Stroud, Oklahoma.