Laughter filled Textor Hall on Monday afternoon as dozens of students listened to stories about why the bear hibernates and how the owl got big eyes.

As part of November’s Native American Heritage Month, the Native American studies program brought to campus storyteller Perry Ground, a member of the Onondaga nation near Syracuse.        

Brooke Hansen, associate professor of anthropology, said the event was meant to expose students to Onondaga people, who are one of the five original Haudenosaunee nations in New York, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy.

“Storytelling melts the ice,” Hansen said. “It breaks down cultural barriers because obviously the students in the room loved hearing the stories. Storytelling and Perry are like ambassadors of peace, extending hands in friendship and sharing of cultures.”

Ground, who has been performing stories for more than 17 years, spent the first half of his presentation recounting a history of stories in Haudenosaunee culture as well as the importance of storytelling across cultures.

“A story takes on a different life than when it’s read,” he said. “It’s a positive way to share information about cultures. They’re fun and exciting to listen to.”

After Ground’s introduction, he ran from the classroom and returned wearing traditional Onondaga clothing, which included a feather headdress and turtle pendant to represent the Onondaga’s name of Turtle Clan. One of Ground’s stories explained that the bear hibernates because he’s a sore loser.

“He’s so tired from running that race with the turtle that he sleeps all winter long,” he said. “And whenever bear sees snow and ice coming down on his cave, he stays there all winter and doesn’t like to remember losing that race.”

Ground performed his stories with high energy and used multiple voices, from a bellowing bear voice to a high-pitched turtle voice. Using the lecture hall as his stage, he was jumping, stomping and shouting.

“When I was telling the stories, I hope students were seeing how a lesson could come to life [and] what part of Haudenosaunee culture they could learn about, whether it was the values like waiting your turn or explaining the world around us.”

Hansen said she required her cultural anthropology students to attend the event. She said Ground, who gave a similar presentation in 2004 at the college, is an important guest for all students to meet.

“I want students to learn how you get to know a culture,” she said. “I think Perry hit on that quite well. We get to understand the morals and the code of conduct for native peoples.”

Senior Amanda Magee, a Native American studies minor, attended the presentation as a requirement for her North East Native American class taught by Jack Rossen, associate professor and chair of the anthropology department. Magee said she saw Ground’s performance as a way of bridging cultural gaps and she hoped the presentation might have debunked some attendees’ preconceived notions about Native American culture.

“I believe many people are miseducated about native values and hold timeless stereotypes of traditional Indian images,” she said. “It’s through native storytelling and speakers that [we] will be able to understand and appreciate the similarities and differences of each culture as we continue to live amongst each other.”

Ground said he thinks the values his stories teach are universal and promote cross-cultural peace.

“I think [storytelling] does draw a bridge between two or multiple groups of people because it might force them to think about their own background,” he said. “They can compare [stories] and say, ‘Well that’s similar, those people believe something similar to the Haudenosaunees, and it helps us see that’s what we all are — we are people, and we share a lot of these same beliefs and values as human beings.”

Hansen said she hopes Ground motivated students to learn more about Haudenosaunee culture.

As part of the month’s events, Onondaga clan mother Freida Jacques will give a lecture about Onondaga culture and peace-building at 7 p.m. Dec. 1 in Textor 102.

“I hope they understand that Haudenosaunee culture is alive and well, and it’s not a thing of the past,” Hansen said.