Authors note - This is the first I have written about my experience at the Sundance. I share it now because I feel that people should know about the ceremony, but also should know of the sacredness involved in it.
Chapter 15 -
Jack and Erika followed Will and
Lena out to the Sundance the next morning. Jack went with the expectation of
being an "outside observer" sort of like when he had attended other
religions ceremonies. When they first arrived, the dancers were just getting
ready to go into the circle again. Will told them that when the dancers were
dancing, it was respectful to stand with them, to encourage them and pray with
them. So the two outsiders stood politely for the first dance, as a good
Lutheran and a good Catholic should.
The dancers danced to the four
directions singing and praying at each cardinal point, then moving on. Will
pointed out his sons, and his grandson - who was participating in his first sun
dance. His daughter was there too, she was one of the gatekeepers. There were
about 25 sun dancers, around a half dozen 'red sash' wearers - kind of the
officiants, and four women - one for each gate at the cardinal directions. The
dance area was about 250 feet in diameter.
A circle of posts with coverings ringed the area at that distance,
creating a sort of booth effect where spectators could be in the shade. This
encircled the Sundance Tree, a special tree that had been ceremonially chopped
down, brought to the circle and erected in the center at the beginning of the
week. Inside that circle, about ten feet or so, was a cloth wrapped sage circle
going all the way around, about as big as a wrist, wrapped in the appropriate
colors for the directions. At each gate were two sticks marking the door, tied
with ribbons of the appropriate color for the direction as well.
The dancers were dressed in
"robes", essentially fabric wrapped around their middles running down
to their ankles - long straight skirts. The colors and stripes on them were
personally meaningful, but there was a lot of red - the color of honor. They
all had red wrapped sage bundles making anklets, bracelets and crowns, some of
which had eagle feathers sticking up from them. They all had eagle bone
whistles on lanyards around their necks which they blew on in rhythm with the
drums as they danced. Some danced barefoot, some wore moccasins. Again,
personal preference.
The young cottonwood tree, about eight
inches in diameter in the center of the circle, was draped with ribbons of the
four colors, plus blue and green. There were also buffalo rawhide cutouts tied
to the tree. One in the shape of a man, representing all of humanity, and one
shaped like a buffalo, representing all of the gifts from that animal and all
of our animal/insect/bird brothers and sisters. There were many coils of ropes
attached to the tree. These were for the sun dancers when they pierced.
Jack was one of a few wasicu's in
the crowd (white people) but he did notice a red headed white guy was in the
circle as a sun dancer.
As the dancers rested between
dances, they had the chance to talk and learn. Will and his wife Lena were
excellent teachers. The first lesson was to listen and watch. Most questions,
Will told them, could be answered by just doing that.
As the Sundancers prepared for the
next dance, a buffalo robe was brought out and spread out under the tree. They
took one of the coils of rope down and extended it out to where the sun dancer
would be dancing. Then the one to be pierced came in with a medicine man and
they made their way around the circle. When they reached the entrance again
(the West) they stood to the side, and as each Sundancer entered, they shook
hands. The rest of the dancers spaced themselves around the circle and the one
to be pierced went to the buffalo robe, along with the medicine men and the one
doing the piercing, in this case, one of Wills sons.
After prayers at the tree, the
dancer lay down on the robe and was pierced. They used new surgical scalples,
so the medic in Jack was OK with that.
Then they slid pegs through the holes and attached the rope to the pegs.
The dancer rose and walked out to where the rope was taut. Then he danced. Four
times he danced in to the tree and prayed against it, and four times he danced
back out to where the rope was taut. On the last time out there would be calls
of encouragement and women would make the tremelo. The dancer would lean back
until the pegs tore free from his chest.
It was really powerful to see.
Profoundly powerful. Jack was moved to tears the first time he saw it, and had
a lump in his throat every other time.
The dancers also pierced for the
buffalo skull drag. In this case the same procedure was followed, but the
dancers back was pierced and attached to a train of six buffalo skulls. The
dancer would then drag the skulls around the outside of the circle four times.
At the end, the assistants (who were keeping the skulls upright and in line
during the procession) would press down on the skulls, acting as gravity brakes
for the train. The dancer would then pull until the pegs tore free from his
back. It was also a very powerful thing to watch.
In either case after the pegs broke
free, the dancer went back to the tree and the scraps of flesh left on the
wound were trimmed away, placed on sage, and wrapped in red cloth. Then a
sacred medicine was rubbed into the wound. It's a secret blend, but is a
coagulant, and stopped the bleeding immediately.
Contrary to what the movies show,
there really wasn't a lot of blood. Jack noticed a trickle or two, but was not
worried about anyone bleeding out from their wounds.
Will explained the thought behind piercing
very simply. In the Lakota culture, men have nothing in this world. Everything
they "own" really belongs to their women. Mothers first, then wives.
They just borrow their weapons or robes or whatever from the women in their
lives. Women have menstruation and childbirth. In this they already suffer and
bleed for the people, and from this comes life. Men have nothing physical to
give, so the Sundance creates a ceremony whereby they can give the only thing
they truly own, their flesh and blood, and bleed for the people, so that the
people can live.
Jack listened as Will explained
that the Lakota had no problems believing that Jesus bled and died for them.
After all, their culture had seen men bleeding and dying for the people for
many, many years before Christians got there.
For both Jack and Erika, it was
hard to just stand there and watch. Physically hard, as Jack’s back was pretty
messed up from the hospital drive on Sunday, and emotionally hard to feel like
a pent up Lutheran when he wanted to be supporting the dancers. So he danced,
too. So did Erika. Everybody else in the crowd danced as the Sundancers danced.
Soon he found himself dancing and praying for them, supporting them with his
prayers. He prayed for other things, too. Prayers for Mike and his leg and his
doctors and nurses. Prayers for everyone at Re-Member that week and every week.
Prayers for his family, especially his Mom and Dad. Interestingly, when he told
his Mom all of this later, she told him that Wednesday was the first day that
she had felt really good in years. She felt like her old self again, able to
get up and do things. She was nearly giddy with the telling of it, and she had
felt that way most every day since. Coincidence?
They had a 'doctoring dance' where
the women made trails of sage leading from the North and South gates in to the
tree, with the exit to the West. Will said that anybody with health problems,
or spiritual problems or just prayers to send up could go out and pray with a
medicine man at the tree.
Will knew about Jack’s PTSD from
conversations they had had during the year, and he suggested that Jack go into
the circle and pray. So he did. Barefoot at the gate, one of the dancers gave
him some herbs to 'cleanse' himself with, wiping it all over his body to be
pure enough to approach the tree. As he approached, he wasn't sure if he should
pray for all hundred or so of 'his people' or what. But when his turn arrived,
he placed his head against the tree, and as the medicine man covered his back
with the eagle wing, he knew who to pray for.
One of his first calls as a medic
was to a 3 month old SIDS case. He and his fellow medics had worked the baby
hard, but to no avail. It was pretty rough. So Jack prayed for him. He prayed
that whatever higher power there be would take that little boy and be sure he
was happy.
Jack was a little teary as he left
the circle, and near the exit - before the gate, the women were giving ladles
of 'spirit drink' - a wild tea that grows along the rivers there. It tasted a
little minty and sweet, and was very good. Then he rejoined the crowd on the
outside. It was very powerful as well. Even more so since the Sundancers were
helping others as they came into the circle. These guys had been dancing for
two and a half days, yet they were there to serve others.
There was more piercing throughout
the day, both skull dragging and chest piercing. Each time was moving, and
brought a tear to Jack’s eye. How many in the Christian faith would bleed for
their brothers and sisters? Their world? Bleed even for those that hate them?
He couldn’t think of any, with the exception of the few who are
"crucified" in the Phillipens (or was it Mexico). But even that is
looked on with some disdain from western culture.
But as Jack watched these guys do
it, most with family and friends gathering behind them to encourage them as
they danced, it was obviously not done for 'show' or for emulating anyone else.
Each dancer was piercing for the people. All people, and the world.
Jack thought the whole thing was
thickly sacred. Heavily holy. If that makes any sense. Like the Sweat Lodge, it
was interspersed with laughter and chatter and irreverence, and that was OK.
Even the red sashes and Sundancers were goofing around a bit between dances.
Will went to the drum and sang with
them a few times. It was all wonderfully, informally formal. jack felt very
welcomed, and very much a part of it.
In between dances, there was a side
alter set up, sort of a narthex, with a buffalo skull in front of a red blanket
covered with sage. A pipe rested against the skull and a thick, foot long peg
was pressed into the ground near the skull. This was a place where the crowd
could come and give flesh offerings. They knelt on the blanket and sage and
held the pipe. As they prayed, the piercer (Will's son again) used a small
lance and a scalpel (all new, of course, and disposed of in a red hazardous
waste bucket after) and lifted a piece of skin from the upper arm and sliced it
away with the knife. No one did more than four. Some did less. It was, again,
individual preference. The wound was about the size of a pea, not terribly
large. The flesh removed was then placed on sage and wrapped in a red cloth.
These flesh offerings were then tied together into a chain and wrapped around
the stick. When the stick got full, it was replaced with a new stick.
Will explained that on the last day
of the Sundance, all of the flesh offerings from the dancers and from the crowd
would be ceremonially burned in the fire and all of those prayers would be
turned to smoke and sent up to Wakan Tanka. It was a powerful image.
There were 'firemen' who tended the
fire, and 'cedarmen' who danced with cans of smoldering, smokey cedar for
people to cleanse themselves with. After each round, one of the red sashes
would choose a dancer to move his pipe. There were two pipe racks near the West
gate. One for all the pipes to rest on at the beginning of the day, and an
empty one to receive the pipes after the rounds. Each dancer could choose to
have the crowd smoke the pipe out. Not an easy task when the pipe comes to a
non-smoker like Jack. But he had learned a little from the sweat, and didn't
choke this time. They used the bark from the willow tree to smoke. It could
only be collected between the time the trees start cracking and growing new
bark to the first thunderstorm. Then it it’s sacred again until the next year.
After the last dance of the day,
there were about 10 pipes left on the rack, so the remaining dancers went to
collect their pipes and do the processional around the hoop, and the red sashes
chose people from the crowd to assist. Erika and Jack were both chosen for the
last one. They gave each a stick of sage and escorted them around the outside
of the circle. Then they lined up across from the dancer and the dancer
presented them with their pipe in a sacred way, offering it four times. On the
fourth time they accepted the pipes, and were instructed to hold the pipe in
their left hand and the stem on the right, and to hold them together at all
costs. Then they were all taken to different parts of the crowd and helped
others smoke the pipes out. Jack was glad for this job, as it involved no
smoking for him. But he felt honored none the less for being chosen.
After the last dance, the oldest
woman there was brought to the tree for a special prayer by the holy men for
the elders. As she came out in her wheelchair, the dancers lined up to kiss her
and hug her and thank her for her wisdom and years, and for blessing the circle
with her presence. It was quite touching.
After all of this, there was supper
to be had. Will was doing a sweat for kids, and any newbies like Jack. It ended
up being about ten people, half kids. It wasn't nearly as hot as Larry's sweat
had been, and Jack was able to concentrate more on the songs and prayers. When
they finished the sweat, they joined in the feast. Good soup, fry bread, another
kind of bread called ga boo boo bread. Jack asked them if they were just
messing with the white guy by calling it that. But they laughed and assured him
that it was indeed called ga boo boo bread.
It was really an amazing day. Before
Erika and Jack left for the day, Will asked if they would like to come back in
August and do some backup vocals for his second album. It was a no brainer for
Jack. He knew he’d be back if at all possible.
