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I just wanted to share this with all of you. Last summer I visited the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in East Glacier , MT and stayed a week in the wilderness with the Rising Wolf Wilderness Adventure , owned by Pauline Matt. She is a revered member of the Blackfeet Tribe and one of very few Pipe Holders for the tribe. This adventure featured herbal and medicial studies, Blackfeet Culture and Ceremonials , nature walks, beadwork and craft related teachings, horseback riding and then the final two days , preparing for and gathering of materials for the prayer sweat lodge ceremony.
I realise that this tribe isn’t related to our/my Southern Blackfoot people, however I was fortunate in being able to participate in a Prayer Sweat Lodge ceremony and will cherish that experience the rest of my life.
A more spiritual people would be hard to find and I was greatly impressed with the sacrifice’s made in the sweat lodge on behave of the ones the prayers were offered for. It is no small matter to do a sweat and I truly thought I couldn’t finish it, however I did make it through and am GRATEFUL for that also. Anyway I just wanted to share this experience with this forum, it was most insightful for me.
Thanks for telling us about that. This past week there’s been news that the Lakota are no longer going to allow “non-natives” to attend their ceremonies (defining that should cause some endless debates). I hope that isn’t going to mean there will be anyone bothering people doing sweats outside their turf. I know people who have invested a great deal of themselves into this religious expression, sweat frequently and strongly disagree with any assertion that they are “non-native.”
The Lakota had very good reasons for closing their ceremonies to those that aren’t American Indian. I respect their decision, & hope others will also.
Sincerely,
CoheeLady
Yes, I was very concerned about the proper protocol for an outsider’s participation in this sweat lodge and if it was even a true sweat or would be just for show, before my arrival to MT. However I had no doubts after meeting Pauline and questioning her . Their believe was that if you go through the proper cleansing ceremony and preparatory process before the sweat ( a very strick process was followed) then a prayer lodge is open to anyone who wants to participate. And not everyone can follow thru , 2 people in my sweat didn’t, and it isn’t for someone to take lightly. All of this was explained and understood before we even started the process. However, I could see how some tribes might not want outsiders to see or know about certain ceremonies and I also respect their wishes, I am so thankful that the Northern Blackfeet tribe allowed me to share in this one.
I think that the edict sucks. It would be more understanding to include all non Lakota, Dakota, Nakota period. Most Western Indians have a hard time with “breeds”, especially the Northern Plains. However an edict is a suggestion as the article mentioned above stated. There is no “governing” indian police. It will be interersting to see how the deffinition of Indian goes. it will also be interesting to see how various people who rely on donations to live handle non natives who give generously. Things just arent simple.
i really don’t have much experience with Northern Plains, but I’ve had plenty with Southern Plains and transplanted Eastern Woodlands people here in Oklahoma.
I’ve been told the following point blank. What many Indian people have a problem with is they are very gratious to a visitor, let him/her attend and participate in something, doesn’t matter what, and they later learn that person is going around telling everyone in the universe about their experience and acting like some kind of an expert on the topic of “Indians” or “Indian Ceremonies” — wanna get somebody mad at you, start acting like such an “expert”, even tho you know very little about it. A little knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge, and things get distorted.
Now Bushtick, you aren’t doin’ that I’m not sayin that. But I think that might be why they are bein’ cautious. I’d be willin to bet you if you’re polite and get to know the people first, eat dinner and help with the dishes — and they wouldn’t care if you are green or purple colored, you’d be welcomed, no matter what that report says.
Now I could be wrong.
vance
I understand what you are saying, and no I wouldn’t think or try to act like I am an expert of sweat lodges. I feel like my whole experience with the Blackfeet tribe was a personal & spiritual one and I was surprised at how much I DIDN’T WANT TO SHARE with others of my trip. I went on this trip because I needed some time away from family and home life. Now, I had never been to MT before ( I live in FL ) and I had not met the other 4 women going on this same adventure before, however we all had different needs and reasons for picking Rising Wolf and when we all did meet and started our trip , each and every one of us somehow had those needs met in someway or another by someone in our group! That was an experience you can not share with others afterwords.
Now I have been on other trips ( I went to Australia several years ago, just as an example ) and I wanted to share and tell everyone about every minute of those trips……..however this trip was different and I just wanted to share a little bit of it , but to keep and hold dear to my heart most of it, including the sweat lodge. That is why I didn’t post it on this forum until now.
I have somewhat documented and somewhat undocumented Blackfoot ( Saponi ), Cherokee and Melungeon ancestry and therefore I didn’t feel completely ” an outsider ” and I am definitely Native American in spirit and in heart, not that this should count in anyway, but I was EMBRACED by the Blackfeet and ACCEPTED for who I AM , not WHAT I AM, and that was a honor.
Bushtick
I wrote this to a friend last week. I see the official statement barring “non-natives” as mirroring the announcement, back in the early seventies, by SNCC or whoever it was, that whites would not be allowed in their organization. It was a watershed and meant, in some ways, the end of a significant phase of the civil rights movement.
The civil rights movement would never have gotten over if those white boys hadn’t been buried under that dam, and all those other white folks hadn’t been visibly risking life and limb in the demonstrations down south, but sooner or later there had to be a gesture made that they weren’t “needed.”
You see the same pattern in the Ghandi movie, when Mohatma tells the English minister who’s been a part of everything since day one that he has to go. Mohatma’s explanation is very coherent. In the end, it has to be seen that the people of India are gaining their independence on their own, and not because some good hearted (presumably superior) Englishmen helped them. Interestingly, around the same time he took in the daughter of an English general and adopted her as a member of his family. The gender dynamics came into play. It was another public gesture that was necessary, the (presumably inferior) Indian man taking on the role of a father figure to a (presumably superior) English girl. (A general’s daughter, no less.)
It’s all just growing pains. Odd, often harsh things need to be done to reverse unnaturally twisted roles. In another fifteen years, it will all have sorted out however it’s going to.
Twenty five years ago, black people were crying the blues that white folks were stealing all their music and culture. Now that it’s the dominant musical form on the planet, have you heard any of those complaints?
What is significant to me is that this means that the seminal part of the (American) Indian Renaissance (or whatever you want to call it) is over, relative to its influence on world culture. What’s left is whatever crop that will come in, but no more seed will be sown.
Dear Linda,
As a guitarist & music lover I wanted to comment on your statement regarding African American’s music being stolen. They did & still do have a right to complain. As their music is still being played by the white artists that stole it. Whenever an “Oldies record” is played on tv, or on the radio the royalties go to the white artist, not the original African American artist. So the valid complaints of 25 years ago still stand today.
The African American recording artists of today’s generation don’t complain, as they make the same amount of money as everyone else that sings and/or performs music.
Sincerely,
CoheeLady (Blues guitarist) 😉
This is just my opinion but I have to say that it doesn’t matter who, what, when, where or why. The fact still remains that it is a spiritual honor. Regardless of your “degree” or “pedigree”, it all boils down to one thing. Your spiritual growth. What occurs in a sweat, on sacred land or in your own heart, it is just that. In your own. I can see the hesitance of the various tribes in allowing ANYONE in. What one needs to look at is not the honor of being invited but instead, the honor that you have reached a point in your understanding that you have the opportunity. And any experiences that one has is meant for that individual only. If it were meant to be shared with the “universe”, then everyone would already have experienced it themselves. Just remember, it is for your benefit and your benefit alone.
OHan!
I thought cermonial practices were sacred and not to be discussed even though I have wondered many times about this. I know I am not ready nor am I possibly destined for a sweat. Traditional ways do not permit women in them and that they were originally intended for males entering malehood.
At least this is what I was told. I know of women who have entered them that were not prepared as mentioned here and they were not sacred, I speak of one or two back in NY, one by the Mohawk. This sweat, even though spiritual, was not as described here. I guess there are many types of sweats depending on where you reside and the customs of the tribe.
I know that you must be asked to attend a sweat and that you can not ask to be involved.
Just my two cents worth.
Wanbli Winyan
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