Around the Sacred Fire: Native Religious Activism in the Red Power Era PDF
Preview Around the Sacred Fire: Native Religious Activism in the Red Power Era
AROUND THE SACRED FIRE This page intentionally left blank AROUND THE SACRED FIRE Native Religious Activism in the Red Power Era A Narrative Map of the Indian Ecumenical Conference JAMES TREAT Palgrave macmillan * AROUND THE SACRED FIRE Copyright© James Treat, 2003. Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-1-4039-6103-7 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2003 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™ 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS. Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgraveis a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-73098-8 ISBN 978-1-137-05175-2 (eBook) DOI10.1007/978-1-137-05175-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. Design by Letra Libre, Inc. First edition: January 2003 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 As with any generation the oral tradition depends upon each person listening and remembering a portion and it is together- all ofu s remembering what we have heard together that creates the whole story the long story of the people. Leslie Marmon Silko, Storyteller If an arrow is well made, it will have tooth marks upon it. That is how you know. N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain I have not cared to pile up more dry bones, but to clothe them with flesh and blood. So much as has been written by strangers ofo ur ancient faith and worship treats it chiefly as matter ofc uriosity. I should like to empha size its universal quality, its personal appeal! Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul oft he Indian Every day is a reenactment of the creation story. We emerge from dense unspeakable material, through the shimmering power ofd reaming stuff This is the first world, and the last. Joy Harjo, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky CONTENTS Prologue "All This Religious Squabbling" 1 Contexts Chapter One "Spiritual Revival for Indians" 13 Traditional Movement • Unity Convention • Intertribal Solidarity • Spiritual Revolution Chapter Two "Disharmony and Religious Feuds" 37 Cherokee Prophecy • Action Anthropology • Cross-Cultural Education • Ecumenical Personality Chapter Three "The Churches Must Listen" 61 Anglican Missions • Indian Work • Hendry Report • Clerical Activists Chapter Four "About Saving the World" 89 Rochdale College • Indian Studies • Ecumenical Conference • Buckskin Curtain Conversations Chapter Five "Modern Indian Religious Life" 123 Steering Committee • Crow Agency • Interreligious Organization Consequences Chapter Six "These Hills and Mountains" 173 Stoney Country • Ordained Chief • Indian Park • Sacred Fire Chapter Seven "Dissatisfaction Evidenced by Some" 201 Growing Concern • Crash Course • Battle Royal • Liberation Process Chapter Eight "This Sacred Event Interrupted" 229 Ideological Investment • Divine Disapproval • Elaborate Representations • Numinous Encounters Chapter Nine "To Implement Meaningful Change" 257 Personal Transformations • Impending Obsolescence • Tarnished Reputation • Lingering Embers Epilogue "Teachings from This Fire" 291 Acknowledg;ments 307 Notes 309 Index 373 Sharing, the great Indian tradition, can be the basis ofa new thrust in religious de velopment. Religion is not synonymous with a large organizational structure in In dian eyes. Spontaneous communal activity is more important. Thus any religious movement of the future would be wise to model itself on existing Indian behavioral patterns. This would mean returning religion to the Indian people. Vine Deloria, Jr., Custer Died for Your Sins We should have started something like this a long time ago. We have almost let all this religious squabbling smother our spiritual power and destroy us as a strong people. Andrew Dreadfulwater, Indian Ecumenical Conference PROLOGUE "ALL THIS RELIGIOUS SQUABBLING" I HAD COLD FEET. MY BOOTS HAD BEEN WET ALL DAY, soaked through by the dew still heavy in a thick carpet of summer grass. Morning sun had given way to overcast and the smell of rain; a light breeze tumbled down the eastern slope of the Rockies, filling the Bow River valley with the exhalation of glaciers. Waiting for dinner to be served, I stood next to the open door of my rent-a-car organizing my things and my thoughts. Fog covered the Kananaskis Country to the west and shadows moved across the clearing as thunderclouds jockeyed for position above my small, leaky tent. We were nearing the end of the second day of the Indian Ecumenical Conference, an intertribal gathering being held once again in 1992 after a hia tus of several years. Stoney Indian Park in western Alberta had been the home of the religious encampment for over two decades, since the second annual meeting convened there in 1971. The Stoney Reserve at Morley is an idyllic setting in late July, full of natural drama. Traces of the forest, of weeds and wildflowers, of scattered campfires hung in the air as I jotted down some notes on events of the day. A herd of bison grazed in the meadow at the lower end of the valley. Mosquitoes scouted my neck and a streamliner sounded a crossing in the distance, every noise muffled by the moist atmosphere. Children played among the evergreens and white poplars that enclose the camping area, a plateau overlooking the river with room enough for a circle of tipis sur rounded by other transient accommodations-canvas cabins, nylon A-frames, pickup truck campers. I could practically taste the fresh buffalo steak being grilled in the cookhouse nearby.
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