Palomar College honors Calif. Native Americans

Palomar College will close its campuses today in honor of California Native American Day, a California holiday that has been celebrated in the state since the late 1960s.

Superintendent and President Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey said in an email that the closure today will be the fifth year the campus has closed, “in recognition of the distinctive culture of Native American people indigenous to California.” Rivera-Lacey added that the 2,500-square-mile radius of the Palomar Community College District includes nine Native American tribes.

On Thursday, Palomar College and MiraCosta College in Oceanside held a joint event on their respective campuses that included traditional bird singers, an acorn f lour demonstration, frybread and storytelling.

The state holiday dates back to 1939, when Gov. Culbert Olson started Indian Day, but the fourth Friday in September was established as California Native American Day under a resolution signed by Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1968, according to the California Native American Heritage Commission. In 1998, the California Assembly passed a bill making it into an official state holiday as a way to better inform the public about Indigenous heritage, history and culture.

For many members of the community, the holiday is a day to observe and celebrate their traditional culture.

Before performing at the Palomar event, Blue Eagle Vigil from the Viejas Band of the Kumeyaay Indians shared how learning and singing about his community’s creation story through bird songs has helped him feel better connected to his ancestors.

Palomar is the only San Diego County college that will close today in honor of the holiday, although it and schools in the region similarly close their campuses on another cultural holiday, Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of Black slavery in the United States. Many schools also close on holidays honoring the lives of civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. in January and Cesar Chavez in March.

Although SDSU is not scheduled to close today, the Native Resource Center at the university will host a community gathering on campus from 1 to 3 p.m.