THE DUNE PEOPLE
An Ethnography
"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms." - Muriel Rukeyser
The storyteller does not invent the story, only discovers it. She is part of that story and of other stories as well. It is sheer physics. And sheer jumbles of the same words, tumbling over one another in a variety of ways.
This is the story of the Dune People which I have discovered within my story of being a guest at the C-Scape Dune Shack. My experience is carried along within a Niagara Falls of storytelling history that we call culture.
"I have found a serene people…I do not look upon the people of this land to be warlike. On the contrary, I think they belong to a rather shy and inoffensive race, no way inclined to cruelty."
Captain Cook upon locating the Australian Aboriginals
To live in modern America means to learn to adapt to or learn how to live in a changing world. To discover the stories of one's own culture. Or, to learn to live in another dimension.
To the story teller, all stories already exist and are real. We do not create them. We find them. The universe is no different. It might be helpful to see it as a coherent collection of stories which unfold as we suspend our disbelief about their coherence, their existence, their relevance. Can space evaporate? Can time change direction. Some think so.
We break stories into smaller components: chapters, sentences, phrases, words. The storyteller moves these components around in an infinite number of ways. They are like random jigsaws. Here is a story broken down into phrases and jumbled up. The rest of it is with the story teller.
"Oh there you are!
How do they steer those big ships?
Come here, boy. Sit.
Steer? Why, the rudder. Isn't it the rudder?
I thought the red for Jimmy and the gray for Billy.
Such a beautiful day!
Yes, I believe it's the rudder that allows them to steer.
Where should we eat this evening?
Don't get wet!
She's staying in a cottage now, but for years, they camped.
Shut UP!
I'm looking for the beach. I'd better go the other way.
Did I leave a little black bag here? Yes! Here it is. Thank you very much!
I'm getting hungry.
Where is it from?
There's an empty bench!
Why do these young people have dogs? They should be having children!
Palermo…from Italy.
Ahhhh.
Twenty nine dollars.
Are there any restrooms in there?
These young kids are living sometimes twelve in one apartment!"
The universe is this same way. Culture is this same way. There are many possible stories and where stories fit they combine to form many different universes and cultures. Each of us has a life which is a story somewhere in these universes, in these cultures. What we have experienced up to now is not necessarily pre-determined. It could fit into many stories with different endings. Even our pasts, and events happening elsewhere in our present, may not be fully determined, yet we are guaranteed a consistent story in the end. The storyteller's arena of universes is called the multiverse and her arena of cultures then, is a multiculture. This is the storyteller's paradigm.
… Some people talk about "many worlds" and the multiverse of possible universes. Sceptics cannot accept it because it is hard to believe that so many things are going on in parallel…But this quantum theory of life is where our real origins lie…in all times and in all places.
A Definition of Culture
Culture evolves from the ways people meet basic needs for food, clothing and shelter. Offshoots of culture are language and religion. Language spreads and develops culture, religion is tied to the culture's environment and to important parts of daily life.
Some History of Culture
Both the Ice Age and the Old Stone Age ended about 8000BC. By then, the earth's climate had greatly changed. Temperatures all over the planet were significantly warmer; glaciers melted allowing arid areas to develop more varied types of vegetation. This warming trend allowed the birth of farming and creating one's own food supply. The so-called New Stone Age followed for next the 5000 years, beginning around 8000 BC. During this period, some learned the art of domesticating animals for companionship and the art of farming. Domestication of animals and their companionship during long hours of crop planting and cultivation on the Dunes of Cape Cod allowed the formation of Dunian villages, better shelters and cultivated crops.
"The dog barks to keep itself, not the village."
Dunian Proverb
This domesticated pet of the Dune People is the descendent of ancestors of this breed used by Aztec Indians and later, the Conquistadors of Spain as companions on long journeys and ready-made and easily transportable food supplies. A traveling Dunian, affectionately known as "Short of Breath" came upon these gentle animals and rescued several from their perilous end by hiding them in several pockets of his traveling garment. These small creatures not only sleep with the children of Dunians for the warmth in winter and companionship they provide the yearlings, but are also known as great protectors of Dunian dwellings, even though, according to the Dunian proverb, it is well known that the dogs have become fierce to protect themselves because of their short stature. They are invaluable because of their ability to work below the often-debilitating sand storms that a taller being would find difficult to work in.
But What Exactly IS Culture?
Culture is a conglomeration of things. These things give a society it's character and include:
"It is easy to be the father of children already born."
Dunian Proverb
Dunians are a cooperative people, who believe in the strength of the community. Decisions are made for the common good; the individual is not as important. Loss of this individuality is offset by the strength of community bonds and support.
As the Dunian proverb here illustrates, the children of a Dunian village are considered the children of all. Parenting, whether disciplinary or nurturing, is conducted by all adults.
Dunians are not inevitably hostile and dangerous to people. When some one does them a good turn, they become his or her foster parents, sworn sisters, and even become patrons of the person's children.
"They do not want him in the village, he asks for the high priestess' house."
Dunian Proverb
Many people ask why the sand dunes of Cape Cod national seashore should be preserved; "they are just piles of sand devoid of plants and animals," they say. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. There are hundreds of dune dwellers, considered rare and endangered. Their limited and specialized habitats are threatened by urbanization and various motorized off-road vehicles as well as by environmental contamination.
Some sand dunes have unique habitats that occur in no other dune chains: the Dune People.
"Draw water from the new well, but do not spit in the old one."
Dunian Proverb
Cape Cod has a serious problem with its ground water. During the past six decades, activities of the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) - formerly known as Camp Edwards, then Otis Air Force Base - on the Upper Cape have resulted in contamination of billions of gallons of underground water.
In addition to septic tank systems linked to human dwellings on Cape Cod, other sources of ground-water contamination include wastewater treatment facilities; landfills; underground tank storage of fuel oil and home-heating oil in addition to gasoline; pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer application in agricultural areas as well as salt application in residential areas; salt-storage areas and salt application on highways; waste from industrial parks, leaking sewer lines, and so forth.
And so, the Dune People continue to look to The Sea — its place is central in the lives of the Dune People…during birth, at death, in their cleansing rituals.
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Finding herself exposed more to the elements on the seashore where she had landed, rather than the deep, dense woodlands from where she had lived previously, the maiden at first lived under gnarled old trees of the heath behind the great dunes of the seashore. But for protection from humans who soon began encroaching on her hideaways, she was eventually driven underground, beneath the very dunes where the humans walked.
"…Neither are they numerous. They live in small groups along by the sea coast and near the banks of lakes, rivers and creeks. They move about from place to place in search of food. Sailors have reported that they appear to be a most wretched people on earth, but they are far happier than we..."
Captain Cook
You take a ladder down from the roof into the center of a Dunian dwelling.
It takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the dimness of the interior of a Dune Dwelling.
The only light comes from the small openings near the roof. In the courtyard is where artisans work. The shrine is where gods and goddesses are worshipped. People have begun to specialize…they are trained to do certain kinds of work.
Dunians guard jealously their dwelling and hiding places and anyone who trespasses their lands, vanishes or falls incurably ill. That is why people did not venture to step in such places in the night time and dared not mow the grass of the "fairy" meadows even when they were part of their own estates.
"A single hand cannot wash itself even in the ocean."
Dunian Proverb
"He who undertakes too many jobs does none."
Dunian proverb
On occasion, a Dunian has been accused of hard work. In all recorded cases, these accusations have been denied by the Dunians.
A story is a cultural thing. Different peoples of the world have different traditional stories. If we found that a tribe in the Amazon knew a story which was identical to one told by the Eskimos, or by the Dune People, we would think that it was coincidence, synergism, or some form of modern communication between them.
Yet people are all the same form of life and therefore, must have the same biology. If we ever make contact with intelligent life on another planet, or in another dimension, we will be interested in learning about their biology because it is likely to be rather different from ours. However, their cultural trappings will surely be the same even though they express them differently.
Thus, the Dunians have their own story of Creation, that the first Dunian, an ethereal maiden, flew out of the spout of a whale and in a whirlwind of sand and water, landed on the shore.
She wore her hair long and loose hair and beneath her shoulder-length hair, sprouted wings. She was dressed in a feathered shirt and belted gown and she could fly like a bird.
Therefore, she was not only a creature of the water who could bring about drought, she was a friend of eagles, able to command the winds.
She had lost her bow and her arrows which were always with her as she rode gracefully on a gray deer, holding reins made of intertwined snakes.
Twilight pulls up her cobalt blanket, and the moon rises,
Star chandeliers glitter in the sky;
The heath brush rustles, a wind stirs,
The dunes are singing a maiden's song.
And Dunians, all clothed in feathers,
Twirl on the sand and take up the tune.
Across the windy expanse, softly stepping,
They come to the Maiden of Creation, and there they kneel down.
One of them sprinkles her face with water from the sea,
Another feeds her fresh herbs and sand food;
The third bends down and kisses her gently,
She looks up, smiling and kind.
They clap their hands, and clasp each other's waist,
Their song floats with the currents up into the skies,
Then flying and singing, they play until the earliest light of dawn spreads over them
The main staples of the Dunian diet are sand food and the more commonly known cranberry.
Sand food is a root that may extend 6 feet or more into the dune where it attaches to the roots of nearby shrubs deep in the soft sand. The entire plant lives below the surface of the sand, with only the flower head pushing above sand during early spring. All of its vital organic nutrients (amino acids and carbohydrates) come from nearby host shrubs. The dried flower head resembles a sand dollar attached to a long piece of seaweed.
The Dunians are organized into an organic group which rules by consensus. There are no leaders except the spiritual leadership bestowed on the Maiden of Creation.
Dunians take turns chairing group council meetings which are made up of rotating representatives from each age group. Mustering out of the group has occurred if a serious offense to the well-being of the village, most often, child abuse, occurs. The decision to "muster out" is a serious, if undesireable duty of this council.
"…They live peacefully while the Earth and the sea of their own accord give all things that are necessary for life. In short, the people of this land seem to set no value upon anything other humans can give them, nor would they ever part with the earth’s natural gifts…"
Captain Cook
Dunians, while not considered "hard workers," do find a variety of activities necessary for their physical and spiritual nourishment. Thus, they have noted the arts and crafts of fishing, cranberrying, rearranging grains of sand into beautiful patterns. As in the picture above, beach-goers rarely understand the the beautiful sand patterns found on an early-morning beach are the result of a Dunian's painstaking job of selecting out grains of sand that are unsightly. Dunians were the first ocean rescuers along the national seashore. Those who are considered the more industrious Dunians have developed industries in pitch pine harvesting and purifying, the building of funeral boats, instrument making.
Dunian maidens and their offspring can be seen mainly in spring or summer either at night, or at the earliest moment of dawn. At twilight the Dunians dare to go near to the fresh waters of the Cape - lakes, pools, springs, wells - to bathe, wash their shadows (or clothes) and then hang them out to dry in the moon, keeping a vigilant eye on them, so as not to get stolen.
After their baths, Dunians…single young people, families, old people, come together on the sands of the shore outside their village proper where they sing, play music, romp about and dance. They love music, especially the melodies of their bone flutes.
Games
Musical instruments: flute from bone,
Shakers from dried seeds and berries, drums with skin made from the embionic sac of birds’ eggs, chimes from smooth glass
In the spirit of the Maiden of Creation, the traditional Dunian dress for females is feathered shirt and belted gown with billowing legs. Males wear sleeveless, feathered jackets and the billowing pant-gowns, similar to the females. The footprints of a Dunian, found along the beach, denote the ornithological shape their feet have taken over time. Researchers believe that the bird like footprints indicate that the Dunians, for preservation of their species, will not remain beneath the sand dunes for much longer. They are apparently making ready to adapt themselves to the world of the birds of the air from whence their Creator came.
"…The storyteller, surrounded by her enthralled audience, softly ended her tale. After a few moments of silence a young voice from the front asked a question. "What is the difference between a story and the world?"
The storyteller replied "There is no big difference. The world is just a story told with too much irrelevant detail."
"That's nonsense!" The words came from a teacher listening from the back. "The world is real, tangible, concrete. A story is just made up fiction."
"A child knows that a story can be as real as anything." said the storyteller. "As people grow older they learn to separate a part they see as the real world from the rest, but they are mistaken. Some continue to regard certain stories as real which others come to regard as fiction. A story is not made up. It is discovered!"…"
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