Originally Posted by
Ma'ake
Hey Orange.
I was lucky enough to be invited, actually it was through work. I work for a healthcare research organization, and we do genetic testing and research on various types of cancer. There was a family on the WindRiver reservation in Wyoming who had a particular type of cancer that is strongly genetically based, so we were referred by a local physician to follow up and provide testing for the extended family - find out who had the genetic mutation (and therefore needed to be on an accelerated screening regimen) and who did not.
Because Native Americans have frequently been on the short end of the stick with regard to interactions with the larger society (even from academic researchers, who in the past have studied them, published their papers, gone on to notoriety, while the Native Americans basically got nothing in return), our Special Populations Outreach Director felt it was important to get the "blessing" of the tribal leaders before we engaged them in doing research and treatment for members of this family who had been plagued by this cancer.
(I'm not a clinician or researcher, I was just the pilot for this trip to Fort Washakie, in a small plane.)
Anyway, so in the sweat lodge there were four of us from SLC, one tribal leader who is a descendent of Chief Washakie, and maybe 5 or 6 other folks from the tribe who had come to receive some blessings, inspiration, etc. I know they have a few scheduled religious ceremonies, like the Sun Dance celebration, but I got the impression these sweats occur on kind of an ad hoc basis, at least among the Eastern Shoshone.
You've probably seen a sweat lodge, but for those who've never seen one, the lodge we entered was a dome-like structure, with about 4 feet of headroom, maybe 15 feet in diameter, fully closed off, like a super-duper sturdy tent that has had several layers of tarps laid over the top. It was a dirt floor, with a pit in the middle. Before we arrived, the tribal leader and his family had been heating up a number of rocks in a fire. They were very hot by the time we arrived, and they started to put some of the rocks into the pit in the middle of the sweat lodge.
It was January, probably about 10 degrees outside or so, and we went into the house and changed into gym shorts and t-shirts, and then entered the sweat lodge and scooted around the outside of the pit, with just a tiny bit of light from the outside (it was night) to help us avoid bumping into each other, or worse, touching the rocks in the pit. Then the tribal leader came in, and had one of his helpers shut the entrance, and it was pitch black.
He welcomed everyone, and was very generous in explaining to the three non-Native Americans among us what the purpose of the sweat ceremony was, etc. Essentially, it is a time to commune with The Creator, to ask for help, to express gratitude, and to support each other. The rocks in the pit were called "grandfather rocks" because as the Earth was created, the rocks were created before us, and it was explained as human beings we are related to everything around us, the other animals, the trees, the grass on the plains, the mountains, the Earth itself, etc.
We went through multiple "rounds", where the tribal leader would offer some words of gratitude, of wisdom, would speak, for example, about how we were all created for a purpose, and we will all return to the Creator, but that life is difficult, and there are many questions to which we don't have answers, and so on, and then there would be some chanting and then they would start to sprinkle water onto the hot rocks, which formed steam, and before long the lodge was really, REALLY hot, uncomfortably hot, and you could very quickly feel yourself sweating profusely, even though it was colder than the balls on a brass monkey just outside. After about 10 minutes of sweating, and contemplation, they would swing open the flap door and let the heat out, which was always a huge relief, because even if you laid down to get out of the heat as much as you could, you were starting to think you might just die in there.
Each round lasted maybe 45 minutes or so, and after a few rounds, the tribal leader said it was time for everyone to have a chance to speak, if they wished, and it became kind of like a fast & testimony meeting. The other people in the lodge who were Shoshone would speak about struggles they were going through, or things they really appreciated, or whatever was on their minds, and instead of saying "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen", the closing statement was "all my relations", meaning all of the things each of us are connected to in ours lives, other people, animals, places, The Creator, etc.
One of my coworkers was LDS, a very nice lady, and at first she was reluctant to participate at all, I guess because this was a religious ceremony not of any Christian tradition. (Jesus was never mentioned, only The Creator) Midway into this five hour sweat, she decided to come into the lodge and participate, and by the time it was her turn to speak, she was very moved, and tearfully said she was so thankful to be able to feel everyone else's spirit and the love that was in the lodge, and so on. What she said was pretty much what everyone else was thinking, it was a bonding experience and an inspirational experience like none that I've been a part of. It was a moving experience for everyone, lots of tears and crackling voices.
Anyway, by the time we were done, it was about 10p, and we were pretty dehydrated, so we drank a lot of water, ate some food and drove back to the airplane to fly back to SLC. Everyone was spent, and nobody said much, but we all looked at each other and knew we'd just been through something we'd never forget.
I remember as a kid thinking about the Native Americans, the "Lamanites", and wondering what they'd done in the pre-existence to be plagued by the problems they faced, and their brown skin, etc. We were taught that they were unrighteous, and as Spencer Kimball noted, their skin would become lighter once they began to become more righteous. (I realize that's not what is taught now, but that's pretty much the teachings I grew up with.)
Anyway, after being in the Shoshone sweat lodge, flying back to SLC I was thinking "these people have a very strong, genuine understanding of their place in the universe and a rock solid faith in the Creator. They aren't to be pitied - they are to be admired. Nobody has anything on them, in terms of religious or spiritual authenticity." Certainly Native Americans have struggles, pretty much like everyone else has struggles. Europeans and Africans have the benefit of having been around alcohol for maybe 10,000 years, we used it as a preservative, and found out there were other "effects", as well. Other populations don't have the liver enzymes to metabolize alcohol like we do, and there's definitely a strong effect, not just with Native Americans, but other groups, like Polynesians, some Asian groups, etc. That's just their biology. Everyone and every group has issues. That's part of the purpose of life.
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