Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians celebrate culture, progress at 32nd Annual Big Time

For 32 years, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians has brought Big Time to the heart of their reservation. It's a weekend full of celebrating culture and bringing people from all walks of life together.

"It's a place for gathering, for meeting up, intermarrying, and so we're continuing on those traditions and also creating a public space, which is not always typical for a Big Time," Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Councilmember Jacky Calanchini shared. "We are inviting the public to learn a bit more about the tribes in this region."

But for them, these celebrations have gone on for much longer.

"Big Time is something a lot of California Indians used to do historically since ancient times," Calanchini continued. "We have stories of our grandmothers meeting our grandfathers at Big Times in Folsom, in old times. It's really exciting to keep that going."

Dozens of tribes across California and beyond descended into Shingle Springs this weekend, bringing their own crafts, food and traditions.

"There might be a tribe over here and a tribe over there that have very similar regalia, but what they put into it and what it means to them could be very different," Calanchini said. "As you sit here in the circle, you can learn a bit about that."

This is about more than just honoring the past, but also the work of the present for future generations to come.

"We are building a golf course here in El Dorado County right next to our reservation across the street, off Highway 50," Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Regina Cuellar explained. "We purchased a property on J Street J Street and we're turning that into a culture center as well as some offices...We've been reclaiming a lot of our ancestral homelands, our village site which is Verona Marina. That was kind of our first real big purchase."

For this tribe, their progress is never done.

"All the jobs and all of what it could do for that community, and really uplifting that community," Cuellar continued. "As native people, we take care of the land, but we also want to take care of the people that live on it."