I was originally loath to name in "Indian Summer" since most designers seem to have at least one kit named that, but in the end I couldn't think of anything better, and believe me, I tried.
I even browsed through my Tony Hillerman books to see if something caught my eye, but...
Part of the problem is it's such a miss-match of Native American material that I doesn't really belong to any one tribe. It's a fantasy piece, more than anything. And while most people associate the American West with the various Native American Tribes, the truth is that they lived all through North America.
(As well I know, the Seminole Tribal Council holds quite a bit of power in the state of Florida.)
So this is set more in the woods, than in the American West and it could be anywhere and any tribe.
The term "Indian Summer" itself really has nothing to do with Indians these days, although most theories on the origin of the term lie in the Native American culture. This came up on the blog train list of course as one of the designers asked if they HAD to do Native American themed, and I said no, of course not.
Indian summer is a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before winter. Usually occurring after the first frost, Indian summer can be in September, October, or November in the northern hemisphere, and March, April, or early May in the Southern hemisphere. It can persist for a few days or extend to a week or more. An alternative to St Martin's summer was "Saint Luke's summer", as the saint's feast day is October 18. Another alternative was "All-hallown summer", as Halloween is October 31.
There are 43 or so different theories on the origin of the term. Author Daniel J. Boorstin speculates that the term originated from raids on European colonies by Indian war parties; these raids usually ended in autumn, hence the extension to summer-like weather in the fall as an Indian summer.
Another popular theory is that this was traditional period during with North American First Nations/Native Americans harvest their crops of squash and corn.
Another, not so nice theory is that Native Americans were often seen by European settlers as deceitful and treacherous, the phrase Indian summer may simply have been a way of saying "false summer."
I should note that on the whole the European Settlers proved more deceitful and treacherous in the end, handing out deeds to lands to the Native Americans, and then moving them again when the lands proved valuable. And need I say then very owned the lands in the first place, as the First Nation tribes were there well...FIRST and were the original owners.
I finally went with the Native American theme though as MediEvil Creations came out with the beautiful little Cheyene cookies and I wanted to use them in a kit...so that's how I ended up with Native American themed kit called "Indian Summer".
There are a lot of fun things included...30 patterned papers and 101 elements. I'm sure you'll enjoy it and the fact that you'll be able to snag it for free will make it even more fun for you.
So mark your calendars and be sure to stop back on Tuesday, September 1st when both the Gothic Inspirations Blog Train and the Bits'N'Bobs "Back to Nature" Blog Train leave the stations.
No new releases this weekend, I'm afraid. I've been recruited to work extra hours at my day jobs, so my designing time will be limited. So this is the perfect time to grab those kits you've been wanting - you won't have to wait - worrying that I'm going to surprise you with something you want more. LOL!
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