By Barbara Arnstein
On Wednesday, November 1st, the Seneca Niagara Event Center will once again help celebrate Native American Heritage Month by hosting their Annual Community Dinner and Social. It will include the traditional Native American dishes Fry Bread and Corn Soup and more, and it will be held from 5-8pm. It is free, and open to people in the surrounding communities. Five to six hundred people typically attend. Native American Heritage Month is also American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.
The entertainment includes performances of Haudenosaunee songs and dances. Wonderfully talented Native American artisans and craft vendors will have their arts and crafts on display. Haudenosaunee translates to “People of the Long House”, who are known to most people as the Iroquois Confederacy or League of Six Nations. The nations are: the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora nations. Their homelands are in Western New York and in Canada.
If you enter the annual “Rock Your Mocs” sweepstakes, you can win an overnight stay for two at the casino plus a hundred-dollar voucher you can use for dining. To enter, you have to post a picture of yourself wearing a pair of moccasins on social media (Facebook, Twitter/x, or Instagram), using #Seneca Mocs23, between November 13th and November 18th, 2023. One winner will be chosen.
The Seneca Allegany Resort and Casino will once again host their Seneca Market and feature Traditional Dancers, celebrating Indigenous History, traditions and culture in November on Saturday, November 4th, between 9am-5pm, and on Saturday, November 11th, between 9am-5pm. The markets offer great opportunities to browse through and buy Native crafts and artisans’ items. Remember: the holiday gift-giving season is almost here! The crafts and collectibles include beadwork, paintings and woodworking. The traditional Indigenous dances are very enjoyable. You can also visit the wonderful Seneca Market in the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino Hotel Lobby on November 3rd and 10th Fridays), from 9am-5pm., and November 4th and November 11th (Saturdays), from 9am-5pm, and November 5th and 12th (Sundays) from 9am-5pm.
The Seneca Allegany Resort and Casino Event Center is located at 777 Seneca Allegany Boulevard in Salamanca, NY. Another way to celebrate Native American Heritage Month is by visiting the Seneca-Iroquois Museum in Salamanca, NY. You can browse through beadwork, basketry, pottery and cornhusk items in their online store. The museum is open Monday through Friday, from 10am-4:30pm.