Greetings to Folks near and far from beautiful Northern Nevada in Washoe County. I hope your New Year has started out great and will continue to be so.

Yesterday I visited beautiful Grimes Point in Fallon, Nevada and Sand Mountain just a few miles down the road from there. The Northern Paiute tribes used to live there when the dry desert was the ancient Lahontan Lake. There is a lot of lore connected to this hauntingly beautiful land. The dune of Sand Mountain looks like a giant snake. In fact, the Paiute call it "Kwazi" because the crest of the dune resembles the backbone of the snake.

There are petroglyphs at Grimes Point that are 5000 to 8000 years old and tell their own story of the lore of the past. If you ever get to Northern Nevada, it will be well worth your effort to visit these places.
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From Around the Country:

H-Net proudly announces its newest addition to its family of over 180 discussion networks -- H-Folk -- in cooperation with The American Folklore Society, The Folklore Society of Great Britain, The Folklore Studies Association of Canada, the International Society for Folk Narrative Research, the National Folklore Support Centre [India], and the Société internationale d'ethnologie et de folklore.

Read more about this project at:
http://folklore-society.com/aboutus/hfolk.asp
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Folklore Society AGM and Conference: "Collecting Folklore"
Friday 24 April 2009, 10.00-8.00 p.m.
At The Bishopsgate Institute, Bishopsgate London EC2M 4QH

For more information go to:
http://folklore-society.com/
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For open positions in Folklife and a "Call for Papers" on folklore, visit:

http://www.westernfolklore.org/
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The American Folklore Society:

AFS 2009 Annual Meeting, October 21-25, Boise, Idaho: "Examining the Ethics of Place"
The AFS 2009 annual meeting will take place at The Grove Hotel and The Boise Centre in downtown Boise, Idaho.

For more information see:
http://www.afsnet.org/annualmeet/index.cfm
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Ponder's Corner:

Ever wonder why the beautiful creatures of the wild are put in danger and their rights to life taken away so humans can have the "pleasure" of destroying them in fun?
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From Native American folklore comes a beautiful and heart-rendering story of Grandfather and the Wolf, the Guardian of the People:

The Wolf Song

I wanted to give something of my past to my grandson. So I took him into the woods, to a quiet spot. Seated at my feet he listened as I told him of the powers that were given to each creature. He moved not a muscle as I explained how the woods had always provided us with food, homes, comfort, and religion. He was awed when I related to him how the wolf became our guardian, and when I told him that I would sing the sacred wolf song over him, he was overjoyed.

In my song, I appealed to the wolf to come and preside over us while I would perform the wolf ceremony so that the bondage between my grandson and the wolf would be lifelong. I sang.

In my voice was the hope that clings to every heartbeat. I sang.
In my words were the powers I inherited from my forefathers. I sang.
In my cupped hands lay a spruce seed -- the link to creation. I sang.
In my eyes sparkled love. I sang.

And the song floated on the sun's rays from tree to tree.

When I had ended, it was as if the whole world listened with us to hear the wolf's reply. We waited a long time but none came. Again I sang, humbly but as invitingly as I could, until my throat ached and my voice gave out.

All of a sudden I realized why no wolves had heard my sacred song. There were none left! My heart filled with tears. I could no longer give my grandson faith in the past, our past.

At last I could only whisper to him: "It is finished!" I watched my grandson leave and I wept in silence. All is finished!

by Chief Dan George, Salish
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Help save the wolves and you will save the legends to pass on. Please do not let their presence and call in the wild become only a memory of the past.

Phyllis
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Here's the latest article from the Folklore site at BellaOnline.com.

Lore Of The Yukon
The lore of the Yukon is full of mysterious tales and the law of the call of the wild is not for the weak and wary.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art22074.asp

Please visit folklore.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Folklore.

To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Folklore located here -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=131

I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!

Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!

Phyllis Doyle Burns, Folklore Editor
http://folklore.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com