TheBanyanTree: Walking to the Tree - 3

[sash]

It is an interesting aspect of these ways that it is very difficult for me
to write about them.  The words that have always flowed seem awkward and
even the rhythm of the typing keys drives the thoughts and stories from my
mind.  Still, now that there is the distance of 2 weeks, I will try to
capture some of the moments from Sundance. - sash
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No time traveller in a Dell Amazing Tale novel ever felt the intense
otherworldliness of this day.

It was such an early morning.  Numpah walked through the camps, drumming
and singing an honoring song to the just rising sun.  I started water to
boiling for tea and had breakfast just ready when the rest of our
ti-osh-pa wandered out of their tents.

There were more of us now.  Two of Sweet Medicine's women pullled in as we
were eating.  Strong Horse had arrived in the very early morning.  Zinkala
had stayed up waiting for the other women dancers to return with the sage
- a mission that kept them out until almost midnight.  They returned
exhausted and without enough sage to dress the buffalo skin and encircle
the tree.  The stones had been in the fire for hours and had to be used in
a lodge, so the helpers took a sweat for them so the dancers could sleep. 
Zinkala would have to lead a group back into Portland to collect the
remaining medicine, but not until after the tree arrived in camp.

Today, all preparation was focussed on the tree.  As my family ate, I
prepared dozens of sandwiches for the men to take with them.  The tree had
been found on a neighboring farm - just 45 minutes away.  The property
owner was honored and would attend the feast after the dance.  She had
prayed with the elders and allowed her property to be smudged.  These were
good signs.

So the men would travel to the tree.  There is much ceremony in the taking
of the tree - from the young girl's blessing and prayer all the way to the
'planting' in the arbor.  The work is not easy.  The tree is prepared for
cutting and the surrounding area cleared.  The tree is never allowed to
touch the ground - not for an instant - so there must be a clear area. 
Ropes are used to lower the tree as it chopped.  Finally, held upright by
the remaining "hinge" of bark, the men transfer the tree from its cradle
of ropes onto their shoulders.  The 40' tree is trimmed of lower branches
and prepared for transport back to the Sundance ground.  Once there, it is
again carried by hand, with more ceremony and prayer, until it reaches the
arbor.

But before all that ceremony, there were still many things to prepare back
at camp.

Ed asked me to make his robes - the prayer ties that would go up in the
tree.  He hadn't found the time and they needed to be ready and waiting
when the tree arrived in camp.  Zinkala was adding a ribbon to her dancing
dress, and she kept the smudge burning for me as I prayed.  She teased me
gently - some of my elders looked more wrinkled than others - and taught
me a song to honor the grandmother.  When we finished, she asked me to
help her prepare the regalia for the dance.

I found myself seated by a tipi, bundling sage into wrist and ankle bands
with bright red cloth.  Zinkala was working on the crown she would wear. 
Next to me was an eagle feather that I had just fitted with sinew and
ribbon.  The loop I had fashioned looked as if it grew right from the
quill.  It sat on a red cloth next to the little packet that held the
needle and sinew that would secure the feather to Zinkala's right arm
during the piercing ceremony.

I have no photosgraphs of this experience.  Nothing to show you what I saw
- the way I looked - the people and things athat surrounded me.  The
moment is burned in my memory though.  A moment that was completely
surreal and alien yet as comfortable and familiar as singing around the
campfire.  One of many mental snapshots that I can hardly believe I
actually
experiences.  This was not a Discovery channel special.  I was there,
doing these things, praying these prayers, loving these people, and
learning these ways.

We chatted about the people in the other camps.  We discussed the work yet
to be done on the arbor and strategized about her trip for sage.  We were
calm and patient in our work, but we were vigilant and alert - one ear
turned to the main encampment - knowing that soon we would receive the
call that the tree was on its way back to camp.

When the call came, all other activity stopped.  We stepped into our best
clothes.  For me, a simple brown skirt and a white on white embroidered
top.  For many in the camp, that meant their ribbon dresses and shawls,
fancy beaded jewelry and hair feathers.  I proudly put on my new moccasins
and into my medicine bundle I tucked the moccasins that Ed has STARTED to
make for himself.  The moccasins that I had managed to finish that day.  I
would be surprising him with 'shoes' that he could wear in the arbor.  I
knew that he would be pleased.

My shawl felt so awkward.  It was loaned to me by a member of our
te-osh-ba who couldn't be at Sundance.  It as a traditional shawl and I
would carry it around my shoulders any time I went in or near the arbor. 
It was black and red with long fringe of black, white, and red.  Beautiful
but made of a synthetic fiber that would NOT stay on my shoulders.  I know
that I looked striking in it - sometimes you can just tell - but I know
the effect was diminished by wiggling and tugging at the shawl while also
holding 2 sets of robes and my medicine bundle.

Dressed in our best to welcome the tree, we lined the road that lead from
the parking lot to the arbor.  We could hear the drumming before we could
see the procession.  Just as they rounded the corner, we heard Sweet
Medicine (who walked beside the top branches of the tree carrying a smudge
pot that billowed cedar and sweetgrass).  She was calling to us -
ululating in a high clear voice.  We all responded - the drumming got
faster - and then the tree was there.

The connection I felt to her was immediate and intense and I felt tears
streaming down my face as I clung to the prayer ties that I had prepared
to place in her branches.....

To be continued