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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 7085
[Native]
Date Posted:
5/22/2003
12:04:14 pm EDT
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Views: 7,863
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Comments: 18
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The Dilemma Over Sharing What's Sacred
Author: Jodi Rave Lee Source: The Lincoln Journal Star
Title: THE DILEMMA OVER SHARING WHAT'S SACRED
Spiritual leaders are meeting today at the sacred site of Bear Butte in South Dakota in an attempt to stem what they see as the exploitation of Native ceremonies.
Reports abound of abuses that include molestation, money for prayers, drug use and even death during such ceremonies.
Many feel Native spiritual leaders and non-Native practitioners have corrupted a spiritual way of life once central to tribal communities.
Past attempts at seclusion -- a proposal to ban non-Natives from sacred ceremonies was brought before South Dakota's Pine Ridge Tribal Council in 1997 -- have been futile.
But in March, Looking Horse, who represents his family as the 19th-generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, issued a directive attempting to keep non-Natives from Lakota prayer altars.
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Community Thoughts: There are 18 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| A Step Along The Path | May 27th. at 12:00:54 pm EDT |
by Dustin Crewell (Boston, MA) - wc_xemail
It's my hope that this is an early step in helping the Native tribal religions. (It's not the first; there've been plenty of others, though many have slipped below the radar.) In terms of keeping things the way they feel should be, they've clamped things down. In essence, they've kicked everybody out to give themselves a chance to clean house, get things back in order. A bit draconian? Perhaps, but they have as much right as members of any other religion to bar people from their ceremonies. Given that there's so much misinformation out there that even people with tribal bloodlines get suckered, treating this as a fight for survival is entirely valid, because it *is* a fight for survival.
It's my hope that, once they get rid of the abusers, they re-open the ceremonies to respectful people. Getting rid of the abusers is only part of the equation; without an education blitz, new abusers will come back to fill in the holes, even with a ban on non-tribal members.
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| Fred... | May 27th. at 10:13:42 am EDT |
by Kat (Pennsylvania) - wc_xemail
It's true that they can't stop people from doing rituals like theirs, or the same as theirs, but that's not what the Lakota are trying to do. They are saying that they aren't going to let non-native americans worship at THEIR altars or participate in THEIR rituals. That is something they do have the right to do. I think they are trying to separate the true Lakota religion from the charlatons and con men who are using it. Now, as most of those people are actually natives, it might not work, but they do have the right to try.
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| Freedom Of Religion | May 23rd. at 12:36:05 pm EDT |
by Fred Lawrence (Kansas, a State of Mind) - wc_xemail
Oddly enough, this is a First Amendment issue. There is no legal way for Native Americans to stop European-Americans from attempting to practice their religions. Such attempts can degenerate into parody, but that is protected. There are a lot of con-men out there rooking the New Agers, but little can be done to stop them. This is similar to the way that nobody can stop somebody calling himself or herself a "witch, " no matter what he or she believes or practices.
It seems that nobody else has brought this up.
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| It's A Political Issue | May 23rd. at 9:57:02 am EDT |
by Hilldwelling Pete (Boston, MA) - wc_xemail
I agree with the sentiments that Penny expressed in her post. This is basically a political issue. American Indians don't have much political or economic power in this country compared to other ethnic groups, particularly white Americans. People of European descent took this continent away from them, and now people of European descent rule here. Can you really blame the Lakota for wanting to hold onto what they have left, whether it is land in a reservation or a ritual? They've already "shared" so much! I realize that many white Americans are not direct descendants of the Europeans that conquered North America, but all white Americans still benefit from the past actions of these European conquerors.
Pagans and Wiccans have traditionally worshipped and celebrated the gods that no one else was paying attention to anymore. Nearly all Europeans are Christian or Jewish, so they don't care how pagans work with Norse, Celtic or Greek deities. Likewise for the Middle East; most people in that area are Muslim, so they really don't care how we work with Egyptian or Sumerian gods and goddesses. The Lakota are still practicing their non-Christian traditions, however, so they do care when someone performs a ritual incorrectly. It is one thing to work with rituals and gods from a civilization that has passed, but it is another thing entirely to work with sacred traditions from a culture that still exists, particularly one that is oppressed.
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| And The Problem Is....? | May 23rd. at 9:36:48 am EDT |
by Penny J. Novack (Berkshire Mntns, MA, USA) - wc_xemail
A very long time ago I was attracted to learning about the Native Peoples of this continent because I love this land. I love the plants, my kin among the finned, furred and feathered (no, no, I don't forget the reptiles, et al) peoples, and I felt that the tribal folks who preceded the Europeans probably had spiritual connections to this land and its peoples which would teach me.
In the middle of learning, awash with the history of these origional peoples, the Indian Tribes, I began to hear the bitterness of some who said, "You have taken all we had and turned it around and pushed us out. Now you want to steal the ceremonies and paraphenalia from us when you have no idea what they mean. These are only really understandable if you are part of our people and have the experience of living your life among us."
I heard that voice and I believed it. As I still do to a large extent. Just as I, who was desperately poor -- frequently abused -- as a child and young adult, can nevertheless not understand the experiences of Black Americans because theirs is a unique experience, I know that no matter how closely I love and relate to the Earth and my fellow beings here on this continent, I could never really comprehend the full depth of the Native American spirituality because it comes from the tribal experience.
However, as one or two folks put it, many many "official" tribal members also have never lived the tribal experience. How are they to comprehend their heritage? And as another of our responders pointed out, things change. Customs evolve. All tribal heritages adapt to current conditions.
This situation cited here is a matter of great debate in Indian Country as I am seeing in the Indian Country newspaper. Many full Indian tribal people are in a fury at the blanket rejection of sincere and spiritual non-natives who are willing to fully honor and respect all aspects of what they are taught -- not in some silly tourist-ish fake Injun secrets crap but in the immersion in real worship and willingness to honestly adhere to the sacred rites. Most of the Indian Peoples know that people such as these exist. And if not, it has always been, as with the Jewish tribal peoples, that adoption into the tribe was allowed. Blood is only part of the equation
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| Time To Take Your Medicine... | May 23rd. at 6:43:58 am EDT |
by ReverendStyx (Mesa, AZ.) - wc_xemail
Y'know, this isn't bigotry... This is coming out and saying, "Hey, enough B.S. Already!"
Yeah, it's true, people are cashing in on Native American Shamanism just like they're cashing in on Wicca and Paganism. Maybe by kicking out the outsiders, there won't be the motivation to cash in...
And yes, lots of these so-called Medicine Men are actually Con Men. It's nothing you don't see in Wicca and Paganism... We get our share of sexual predator HP and HPS's. We get our share of Earl Shieb the HP who'll teach you Wicca for $99.99. We get our share of covens that exist for surrogate wife-swapping under the guise of the Great Rite...
And yet, we aren't generally inclined to welcome Satanists and other Left Hand Paths into our circles, and very reluctant to let other religions in...
Well, this article is about the Lakotas' response to their own fluff-bunnies, predators, playgans and users. More power to 'em, I say.
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| That Which Does Not Evolve Dies | May 23rd. at 6:21:38 am EDT |
by Avian Stone (Enid, Oklahoma, U.S.A.) - wc_xemail
I have read dozen of articles here for several months and have recently begun to toss my two cents in here and there. Then I read this story. Of all the stories I have read, I found THIS the most disturbing thus far. The reason why is that this is the most vile form of elitism - the 'magical' rite of birth.
What pure, unadulterated crap. Why, you may ask. Because the intention here is not to protect the sanctity of ritual - if that were truely the issue, then I would say, 'go nuts'. No, this is about hating Anglos, and white folks practicing something that, in the eyes of the elitists, white folks could not POSSIBLY understand. If you have not been an Amerindian, then you cannot play in our toybox, the Amerindian leaders seem to say. Nevermind the concept of reincarnation (how do these 'leaders' know that I was not a Lokata 100 years ago?) or the possibility of mixed blood showing up (do any of us really know with absolute certainty our blood-line?) . All of that is irrelevant to these elitists. "You carry the sins of your great-grandfathers, white-man - get out!"
If this kind of thought was prevelent in the Wiccan comunity during the sixties and seventies, no one today would practice Wicca unless they were of British/Scottish/Irish decent. If this was the norm for Islam, there would be no non-Arab followers of the Muslim faith. If this was the attitude of the followers of the ancient Egyptian religion... well, their would BE no followers of Isis or Osiris or the wonderful Bastet, since a vast majority of Egyptians are Muslim and most of the followers of the ancient Egyptian dieties are of European decent.
Rituals are living things, and if ritual is not allowed to evolve and grow, it is just like every other living thing - it will die. These 'leaders' with their elitist socio-political agenda, may have just done the very thing they claimed they wanted to avoid - consigned their rituals to a slow death.
Oh, did I mention that I am one-quater Amerindian? (Cherokee, to be exact) Just so you didn't think I was just some out of control "white guy" talking here. Goddess and God forgive me if I dare speak out of turn...
Avian Stone
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| Unlimited Shades Of Intolerance... | May 23rd. at 1:27:13 am EDT |
by Jay B. (Los Osos, CA.) - wc_xemail
Several years ago, a vehemently anti-white Lakota man, a one-time AIM
activist, came here to California & established a small community in the
mountains of this county where young native Americans & some Hispanics who had been ensnared in drug & alcohol abuse or in a crim-
inal lifestyle were taught traditional Lakota ways & how the wicked white
man was to blame for all the world's woes.
Then, one year a devastating wildfire swept through the region; burning
out this encampment, along with many other rural dwellings. This Lakota
"traditionalist" afterward made statements to the local press, accusing
the county fire department of being racist & not containing the fire fast e-
nough to save his settlement. The fact that several homes of other people
were destroyed too evidently didn't matter to the jerk.
Then, up spoke certain tribal elders from our own local Chumash people
who declared that the spirits of the land caused the fire due to their anger
at the presence of someone practicing a non-Chumash tradition on their
sacred , historic land.The main lesson here, as in the article posted is
that fundamentalism has many faces; which one is yours?
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| Non Natives Not The Whole Problem | May 22nd. at 8:07:23 pm EDT |
by KarEEna (Perth, Australia) - wc_xemail
It sounds like part of the problem is that some Lakota dont have enough respect for the sacred. I dont think banning all non natives from the ceremonies is going to help fix the problem at all. And it will certainly lose them the experience of knowing some people who would otherwise be very determined, interested and respectful. It should be on a person to person basis when it comes to teaching non Lakota the ceremonies and such. And it sounds like they need to do some internal modification as well. Maybe this non native ban will give them the time to work on the internal problems. In that case, I suppose it could be good.
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| The Lost Ones | May 22nd. at 5:23:22 pm EDT |
by Bonnie Verner (Georgia, USA) - wc_xemail - Web
If native spiritual leaders, real ones, are "selling" participation in traditional ceremonies to non-native non-adopted persons, who is actually profaning the ceremonies? One can say "Well, it's due to fantastic poverty on the reservations, " but is that really the whole reason? Perhaps there are unscrupulous charlatans in all groups of humans - however, that would place the majority of the blame for this situation on native rather than non-native individuals. Hmmm...
The thing is, in some parts of N America "white" people are just as much Muscogee, Lakota, Cherokee, etc, as they are English, German, Polish or any other identifiable nationality. There are also black people who are as much Native American (by blood) as they are African.
During the days of the most harsh gov't persecution of (as opposed to warfare on) Native Americans, people from many tribes survived by hiding themselves among the non-native population. They changed their names, avoided being documented, moved around, married outside the tribe... and they lost themselves so thoroughly the tribe could no longer find them. Here in the South, sometimes Native women would give birth in a public hospital & be told the baby had died when in fact the child had been taken to an east coast city & placed for adoption. The new families were told that the child was an orphaned Italian baby. Today many North Americans feel a strong attraction to certain native cultures because that culture is in their blood - they just don't know it.
If more tribal members & more supposedly non-native North Americans realized how many lost ones there are, this situation could be resolved w/out rancor on either side.
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| Some Thoughts | May 22nd. at 5:00:33 pm EDT |
by Feribear (Western, MA) - wc_xemail
Ok, so being in a closed tradition I *completely* understand the want/need for keeping the sacred in the family and not wanting it corrupted by people who neither understand nor respect it. I *totally* respect their decision to close off their practices for a while while they reclaim it.
Having said that, there is something in that article really put my panties in a bunch:
"One, they killed their own god. And two, it was their ancestors that wiped out hundreds of Native people, " Byrd said. "
Ok, so not for nothing, I never killed anyone ... not Jesus, not "hundreds of Native people" ... nobody. My bloody ancestors were nowhere near Golgatha. There were somewhere up around Goth country freezing their tans off. And I am only 3rd generation American. My great grandmother came to this country thru New York harbor sometime around 1904. The only thing she wiped out was germs on the counter tops. I am sorry, but the sins of the father should not be visited ont he sons (as it were) and it makes me crazy angry when I get held accountable for events that happened before I was a twinkle in my daddy's eye!
Guess I had to get that off my chest. I respect their decision to do what they think they need to do in order to safeguard their future, but I find it really upsetting that they feel the need to make sweeping (and prejudiced) generalizations in order to do it.
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| One More Point, | May 22nd. at 4:02:27 pm EDT |
by Greenbird (alaska) - wc_xemail
Everybody's comments are right on. Made me think some more about myself and my own heritage. I am a true American, I have at least 6 different nationalities in my blood, one of them native american. I will never be fully accepted either as a "white" person, or as a "native". I am a mix of many cultures and traditions. I have experienced predujice from both sides, therefore I think I have a clearer vision of the pros and cons of this topic.
Unfortunately, Tribal cultures around the nation, and perhaps the world, are facing a dilema concerning what makes a tribal member, and/or one who is able to obtain the "certificate of Indian Blood", which intitles the bearer to BIA Indian Health Service benefits as well as tribal benefits. Many native households are no longer pure blooded. There are mixed children in the families, many of whom have different parents. How do you justify, in a family which lives on tribal land, that one child may be considered a tribal member while their sibling does not? Yet both are raised in the ways of the Tribe? Tribes struggle to maintain their culture and traditions, yet get stuck on genetics and how much percentage of red blood you've got in you're veins. I think this is self-defeating. If a child is raised in the Tribe, accepted by the Tribe, and is following the traditions of the Tribe, or if a person has been adopted by the tribe with the same conditions, then they should be able to take part in all tribal benefits and ceremonies, regardless of the color of their skin.
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| Too Them I Say.. | May 22nd. at 3:41:35 pm EDT |
by Nodicia (Portland, OR) - wc_xemail
Good for you for wanting to keep your cerimonies sacred! However, there will still be those who try and use those traditions to make money, but hopefully, with education, they wont take advantage of so many people.
Another thing to think about: Most "white" people in America whose families have been here for a while usually have some Native American in them. I have a little bit from three tribes, Powhatan, Cherokee, and, you guessed it, Lakota! But I have no desire to practice any of their spiritual traditions. I'm mostly white, and I have my own cultural traditions. If only other white people would realize that not too long ago, the peoples of Northern Europe were tribal, and then Rome came..
One thing that does bother me though is thinking that because we aren't of the same cultural or ethnic heritage we wont be able to understand eachother, like the story of the old woman on the reservation that another person told. Just because we're white doesn't mean we're stupid or unable to understand the pain of another person. Just because the government did something horrible doesn't mean all white people are evil... The actions of a few should not reflect on the many, and we cannot be responsible for the actions of our ancestors. People war, people commit genocide, people are greedy, and that goes for ALL people. Native Americans are not above war, genocide, or greed, as tribes have done that to other tribes...
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| I Feel For Everyone.... | May 22nd. at 3:01:58 pm EDT |
by Branwen Meadow (Lanoka Harbor, NJ) - wc_xemail
It is a sad thing indeed. While I do understand and agree to keep all rituals and ceremonies separate, it does not erase the fact that people who are non-Native will also feel a sense of not belonging. What they need is someone to help them to understand why Tribes have made this decision. Perhaps even help them in some other way.
I am not Lakota, but I am part Blackfoot Indian. Part of me does have blood on my hands from all the wars. Part of me does not. Simply because of my Indian blood.
In my opinion, this should have happened a long time ago. There's a reason why it hasn't. As soon as we all realize that reason, and are able to understand, only then can we truely move forward.
Blessings to All,
Branwen
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| Difficult Situation | May 22nd. at 2:59:20 pm EDT |
by Heather (Northern Virginia, US) - wc_xemail
The Lakota tribe's desire to maintain its cultural/spiritual integrity is
understandable but will be difficult for tribal elders to control. The
individuals who are making money from selling ceremonial tools and rituals
may not be easily swayed by tribal ethics or the will of their elders today.
I wish everyone involved the best of luck in sorting out this serious and
fascinating issue.
I am of mixed race myself--Choctaw relatives on my mother's side of the
family. There are those who will never accept me because of my mixed
heritage, but that doesn't make me any less than what I am. I can't
wish my race away just to make someone feel more *culturally* or
*spiritually* comfortable. However, I can't just waltz onto the
reservation and declare myself a member of the Choctaw nation either.
Common sense has been the best approach thus far. I've learned a lot
about the tribe by doing research about it and keeping a respectful
distance from the sacred.
Blessings,
Heather
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