Remember the words Eastern Woodland!
A proper lodge in our area is a round or long house,
depending on the size of your clan (Tribe).
It must be made from tree parts, the tree, limbs, and
bark not blue plastic.
In times gone by our ancestor used animal fur, dear
and moose skins, please do not kill animals just to hold sweats!
A modern lodge looks good on the outside if you can
use bark, clay and hay, do not forget the vent at the top.
The following is on my sachemuncas website.
I have never written about a Sweat Ceremony before
because I was taught that our Sacred Ceremonies are just that, Sacred!
There is a certain book about sweats that was written
by a non Native from New England which is pretty vague and really not about my
People.
The book is honest and up front, I believe, and did
explain a lot, in general.
The author states that he got permission from all of
the People written about in his book and does not go into anything sacred?
But, what is missing in all of this, is the
Traditional way that my People and many other New England people did their
sweats.
After reading this book and with much prayer and
permission from Creator, I am writing about my memories of the Traditional
Sweats of my people.
Please keep in mind that up until the late 90’s my
People were a small, close knit tribe and outsiders paid little attention to
our village.
There have been very few Traditional Sweats in New
England since my grandfather, the Sachem, passed.
Now, Indian country is inundated with many casino
Indians and they all want to get on board the money train.
At our sweats, there was an alter, a pond, and a lodge
and they all overlooked the Pequot River.
At least once every moon (13 moons) we would have
sweats to clean our minds and bodies from bad spirits.
Before first light on the day of the sweat, our Sachem
(my grandfather) and the elders would work on the alter getting it ready for
sunset.
The alter, which was about 20 feet from the lodge
opening, was scrubbed clean and then prayers were offered asking permission
from Creator to have this sweat, the pathway and lodge was cleared and cleaned
by the clan mother’s.
The fire pit was cleaned, cleared and prepared by the
fire keeper and his assistants.
This fire pit (along the side of the path) was a hole
in the ground with large boulders, so that as the fire gets white hot the ashes
will fall away from the sweat rocks.
The sweat rocks are placed onto the fire and removed
just before the ceremony and placed into the lodge pit without allowing ashes
into the lodge.
There are a number of types of sweats done by my
people, but, for now, I will only talk about a men’s sweat.
Because the sweat lodge is some distance from the
village, there is no privacy problem.
At the set time of the ceremony, men one by one, kneel
at the altar to ask forgiveness and permission to sweat, which is extremely
important.
You should not leave the alter until you are sure that
you have a clear mind and clean spirit, Creator will know.
Next, everything is placed on the alter, keeping only
comfortable clothing to be decent while walking the path to and from the lodge.
The Sachem or leader is first, followed by the elders
and the rest of the warriors and guests.
Next, the fire keeper brings in the hot rocks and
closes the hatch, which always faces the Traditional direction.
The sweat can last for hours, up until whenever.
At the end of the sweat, one by one, depending on the
time of year, everyone came out, went into the pond or Pequot River and
finally, into the Longhouse for a hot shower and a warm pot luck meal.
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