Starting at a beginning.
Before first contact there were thousands of thousands of tribes throughout
Indian country. Each tribe had their own ways of celebrating their own
ceremonies and their culture. After this country started buying our land and or
souls with Plastic Cards, there are still about a thousand tribes of our people
left. However, it does not really matter if a tribe sold their land or souls or
not, each one that is left still has their own ways of celebrating their
ceremonies and their culture so, enough of this tribes demanding that their way
is the only correct way to celebrate a ceremony! We are now starting to sound
like all of the European religious organizations that we profess to hate!
I was invited to a east
coast gathering and a feather dropped from a regalia, the place went quiet. The
head veteran started towards the feather and a guy in the west lifted up the
rope walked into the sacred circle, picked up the feather and stuck it into his
pocket, walked back to the west lifted up the rope and walked out telling the
drum and the MC that it was not an Eagle feather, his tribe only respects the
Eagle feather! This was not a Plains Indian gathering this was an East Coast
traditional gathering and the feather was from a Bird of Prey! (Gray Horn Owl
very sacred to my people)!
I will give you a few ideas
of a (The Feather Dance) the most confused dance out on the internet to date!
The Iroquois Great Feather
Dance
Welcoming in the new year
for the Iroquois during the Midwinter Ceremony also meant giving thanks to
their Creator. One ritual carried out solely for this purpose is the
"Great Feather Dance."
Dancers of the Great
Feather Dance dress in traditional tribal regalia and dance to two singers that
sit face-to-face. Using rattles made of turtle shells, the dancers move to the
rhythm, honoring and giving thanks to all the Creator has bestowed on the
Iroquois people during the past year.
The Great Feather Dance,
which is a joyous tradition, is held on the eighth night of the nine-day
festival.
Is this dance wrong? No!
The Ojibwa Dropped Eagle
Feather
If you see a feather on the
ground anywhere, please don't touch it or move it. Tell the nearest dancer
about it and he/she will notify the arena director. If the feather is an Eagle
feather and is outside the dance arena, then it is picked up by a veteran with
an Eagle fan and transported to a suitable spot on the dance arena and set back
on the ground. The arena director will be trying to find the owner. A special
ceremony to retrieve the feather is then performed. The feather's owner's tribe
will take precedence as to how the ceremony will be performed, due to the
varied ways each tribe performs this ceremony.
In the Ojibwa way, four
veterans are required. They dance around the feather and the one to pick it up
is a wounded combat veteran, preferably. In the Ojibwa way, a dropped Eagle
feather must be given away to begin in a new life. In all cases it is given to
the veteran who picked it up. The owner, with proper respect, gifts the four
veterans with the help of relatives and friends. The drum that sings the
special song for the retrieval of the dropped Eagle feather is also compensated
by the person who dropped the feather.
In the case where a number
of feathers are dropped, by the same person, in a bunch, a spiritual leader
will be called to say a prayer over them before the pickup ceremony.
In the American Indian way,
it is believed there is a reason for everything. In the case of dropped Eagle
feathers, the person who dropped the feather may only have been picked to be
the messenger, or signal of something not being right (if that is any
consolation) such as misrepresentation by an individual claiming to be other
than what he is, or somebody using drugs or alcohol secretly. There is also the
possibility of medicine being used wrongly. In any case, the spirits will let
you know.
During the ceremony to pick
up a dropped Eagle feather there will be no picture taking of any kind allowed.
It should be noted that
powwow practices vary from region to region in United States and Canada.
Sincere thanks and
acknowledgment to the American Indian Education Committee of the Minnesota
State Board of Education who sponsored those who wrote the Ojibwa content of this
unit.
Is this dance wrong? No!
Is it wrong that this tribe only calls the Eagle feather in their land
sacred? No!
The Eastern Woodland Native American Traditional Feather dance.
This blog is only about an
Eastern Woodland Native Traditional Matriarch tribal gathering, taught to me by
elders now ancestors.
The first dance that should
be discussed is one that has gotten out of hand in many gathering, The Feather
dance.
When a feather from any
bird of prey drops to Mother Earth, in one of our ceremonies, that feather now
belongs to our Mother!
Also if this feather drops
at a gathering, from a dancers Regalia or any other reason, we must do the
following.
Every warrior at this
gathering must go to this feather, the head veteran and four of his/her
warriors control this sacred ceremony while the rest direct all dancers
including themselves around and away from the ceremony!
The traditional MC and
drum, keep things moving as if nothing happened, this is very important to
remember!
If it drops where there is
no dancing every warrior at the gathering circles with their backs to the
feather. Do not touch or move this feather, it is not yours it now belongs to
Mother Earth, we must ask for its return.
The first person protecting
the feather and if possible the person that lost the feather dance in one spot
at the head veterans discretion or until a veteran shows up, unless or until
called to the feather.
If this ceremony becomes a
show, the gathering is polluted and must be canceled!
No one except people
involved with the ceremony are allowed to see this very sacred ceremony, NO
RECORDING, EVER.
The reason for the above is
simple, the bird of prey is our brother/sister and a helper/protector that was
on a mission, hence we protect their covering (feather).
If one of your veterans
falls do you make this into a spectacle?
One would hope not.
Is this dance wrong? You
bet your little booties it is not wrong and this American Native is getting a
little tired of some pomp's "native" coming to one of my traditional
gatherings and bullying my people into his or her way of doing OUR ceremonies,
culture and gatherings. It no time has a member of my family ever told another
family how to celebrate your culture, ceremonies or gatherings, if they do they
will no longer be a member of my family. Go home and do your dance your way?
Is it wrong that my people in the east call all Bird of Prey Sacred? No!
What this person is saying to us is, “ This government, the same
government that raped, abused destroyed and assimilated gave me this plastic
card allowing me to be a government style Indian”!
