Oldest Cultures Celebrate at Park

At least for one day, American Indians and Mexican-Americans reclaimed a piece of land that was once theirs.

In the central portion of Irvine Regional Park on Saturday, drums beat and dancers performed in celebration of the park’s 94th anniversary.

“This year we are commemorating the two oldest cultures in the county: Mexican and Indian,” said Carolyn Charkey, the event director. “In previous years it was planned entirely around the history of the park.”

The celebration attracted about 1,000 visitors to the park near Anaheim, Orange and Irvine Lake to learn about American Indian and Mexican cultures and sample traditional dishes and music. The festival was designed to capture the interest of children.

“If we want to create an understanding of cultures,” Charkey said, “we should start with the children.” Children were allowed to handle musical instruments and touch animal furs. The displays were set on the ground or on low tables to meet the eye level of children.

American Indians said they relished the chance to share their culture, one they said frequently goes unrecognized.

“The first Americans don’t exist in America,” said Renee LaShelle, an artist and weaver whose bloodline, the Lame Deer family, is Sioux and Cherokee. LaShelle was dressed in a traditional Indian outfit circa 1840 and sat at a loom spinning dance shawls and headbands worn by the Plains Indians.

LaShelle said she devotes much of her time presenting “living history” to children and adults who stop to watch her work.

Nearby, Apache dancers in large headdresses, their faces covered with red scarves and bodies painted black and white, performed to drumbeats.

The Mexican tradition was hard to miss at the event, as many children walked around with Day of the Dead masks covering their faces.

A student organization from El Modena High School in Orange was selling the cutouts of a skull in recognition of that Nov. 2 holiday.

Gabriela Garcia, a senior at El Modena who was born in Mexico City, said children go door to door on the holiday asking for money instead of candy. People also go to cemeteries to pay respect to their ancestors.

Irvine Regional Park officially became California’s first county park in 1897, when James Irvine donated the land, according to Sam Edwards, a park ranger who specializes in its history.

Charkey said that in each successive year, the park anniversary celebration will introduce a new culture. Next year it will be Germans, who arrived in Anaheim in the 1840s.