360: Mindfullness: A Rant: February 3, 2006

I honestly believe that one of the most important traits for us (as 2 leggeds) to have is MINDFULNESS... So many times I go to ceremony, and I become ashamed of our actions and I wonder "what would the Elders think"? We see, yet we are blind, we hear, yet we are deaf, and we talk, but our actions speak differently.

I was recently at a ceremony where i watched the firekeepers, walk away to chat w/ friends and leave that Peta Wakan (sacred fire) unattended...the stones left uncoverd to become cold, the wood to fall to the side and burn...to heat only the air.

I sat at the fire to hear someone complain that many times the Vegetarians have nothing to eat at the feast... How can this be? Do not they bring food to share, that which is their preference? I am a carnivore...I bring food that I prefer to eat. I do not eat rice, beans, pasta or bread......but I do not impose my dietary standards on any other person who brings food to share. Later at another ceremony, someone else asked the kitchen helpers..."Can't we have more veggies to eat?" When asked what she had brought to contribute...she replied "Nothing"!

I was told in lodge (by a woman of Apache descent) that one of my songs...was not sanctioned by Pope John! If I remember my history correctly, I'm not sure that any of our songs have been sanctioned by any pope, nor have our ceremonies been. In fact, I remember quite distinctly, that those from across the ocean...they did their best to perpetrate a genocide upon our people from the tip of S.A. to the tip of N.A., and up until Jimmy Carter (who signed the Native American Religious Freedom Act) we were not even allowed to worship in our native ways.

What is going on with us? Why do we ask to have more ceremonies but refuse to provide for them? Why do we not bring wood for that Peta Wakan, blankets for the lodge, food for the feast, our own plates & utensils? Why do we walk across the Canka Wakan (Sacred Pathway) between the fire & the altar & the Initi? Why do we not humble ourselves as we enter the Initi? Why do we no longer make those tobacco ties & robes as offerings? Why do we sing & drum louder than the singer offering the prayer and change the words to include Ay ya, ay ya, yo? Are we now singing to Old MacDonald?

When we gather sage (or any other medicine): Do we make that offering of tobacco & water? Do we pick-up the trash along side the medicine? Do we take it all, and leave nothing for others who have shared this sacred site with us or for those who will come behind us in need of this same medicine?

Sadly, i think we have lost our minds...we are losing our ways.... What we are doing now would shame and sadden our Elders who have taught us a more honorable way. It is up to us, as carriers of that Cannunpa to teach those whom we invite to ceremony, the ways as We Were Taught Them...the RESPECT that goes with these ways. We are here to carry on these traditions as we were taught, no dilution, no short cuts, "NO Mickey Mouse" (as Wanbli Cekela would say)! This taking the easy way out...causes chaos....the Oyate Wakan (Spirits) must think we are particularly rude & disrespectful.....

Mi Takuye Oyacin