Unlocking the Power of Ceremony: Embracing Intentionality and Cosmology
Ceremonies are themselves fractals for the nature of reality, as we learn about our place in the Universe
In a recent conversation with a friend who organizes rites of passage experiences for adolescent boys, I gained insight into the significance of understanding the purpose of ceremony. He shared a challenge he's been facing with the younger generation of boys participating in these rites: a diminishing respect for traditions and a reluctance to follow established protocols.
At the time of our conversation, I had already written and prepared a post titled "Indigenous Principles Revisited" for publication last Sunday. However, our discussion prompted me to consider delving further into the topic in another post, recognizing that ceremony is frequently misunderstood in our society.
Ceremony holds immense importance among indigenous cultures, as their way of life revolves around it. And yet in Western culture, ceremonies play a larger role than we often realize. Graduations, marriages, funerals, wakes, and memorials all serve as significant ceremonies. As mentioned in Sunday’s piece, we also hold many de facto ceremonies throughout our lives — their informality having a lot to do with why they’re so misunderstood.
For nearly a century, Native American ceremonies were outlawed in the United States by congressional order. It was the ultimate breach of our constitutional right to freedom of religion, as they were forbidden from practicing their traditions while Christians enjoyed the freedom to practice their own faith.
Yet, Native people persevered in secrecy. Many ceremonies were raided, sacred objects destroyed, and revered spiritual leaders were arrested. Consequently, the knowledge of conducting these traditional ceremonies was lost as the elders who held that wisdom passed away. However, following the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act many of these ceremonies were revived and reintroduced in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Black Elk, a respected Lakota elder, played a crucial role in preserving indigenous traditions by traveling the country teaching the Lakota sweat lodge ceremony to other tribes. However, over time, people began associating the modern version of the sweat ceremony solely with Lakota tradition, without fully comprehending its historical context.
Having been trained in the Navajo tradition, I discovered numerous differences when compared to the Lakota version. These disparities sparked interesting conversations over the years, as newcomers to our ceremonies often assumed we were following the Lakota tradition. For instance, our lodge opens to the East, while the Lakota lodge opens to the West. The Lakota lodge strictly prohibits crossing the "heart line," which extends from the lodge door to the West through the altar and fire, whereas we encourage people to leave their footprints throughout the entire area. These distinctions highlight the complexities and nuances that exist within various indigenous traditions.
The point being that while much has been lost, much has been retained, and the perpetrator of the loss of so many North American Native traditional ceremonies is related to a lack of understanding of the importance of ceremony by Western Culture. If Western culture had placed greater value on its own ceremonies, it might have appreciated the richness of indigenous cultures.
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