November is an important month for the U.S. because it is the month of Thanksgiving, Native American Month, and, most importantly, the month of the pastor’s birthday. Okay, 2 of those 3 make it an important month. Regrettably, my birthday doesn’t make the cut.
In light of my connection to Native America, I wanted to see that our parish once again join in contemplating certain themes within this people’s spirituality and ritual practice. But first—a reflection on what at first might seem to be unrelated observations about the elections that just occurred.
As one political party mourns its loss in the presidential election, the other party rejoices that it received what some call a “mandate” (i.e., an overwhelming expression of support) from the voters. Neither response is grounded.
Those who think the new administration has been given a green light to chart new courses—is not at all what the final tally shows. As of this writing, Mr. Trump received 49% of the votes (less than half of the votes cast) and VP Harris got 48% of the popular vote. Just as Mr. Trump won his first term with FEWER votes than his opponent, so this year’s tally was the closest finale in 25 years. That’s no mandate. The only thing we can conclude is that the country remains split. It seems the only mandate given by the American people is for us to remain “a house divided against itself” (Matthew 12: 25). Doesn’t this make us a sad lot?
Just as mistaken was the losing party when it thought IT would receive a “mandate” because their opponent had long been known for corrupt business practices for which he was fined. He was, moreover, a felon (over 30 counts), a convicted rapist (the judge’s word), an adulterer in 3 marriages, and guilty of many sexual assaults (his admission on the radio). His opponents also falsely assumed that the voting public would remember that he left the presidency with a 34% approval rating—the lowest of any outgoing president since the 1920s. Moreover, since the economy was the best since Kennedy’s presidency, the losing party couldn’t help but think that victory would be theirs. After all, the man’s own sister (a Federal judge) even said he had no values. What thinking person would vote for such a candidate? Obviously, the losing side miscalculated what type of person the electorate wanted to represent America to the world.
Differences of opinion are common. They exist in all areas of life. In the case above, some wanted one candidate while some wanted another. People everywhere seek leaders who offer them better living conditions or more prosperity or an end to war or plagues or civil strife. We even resort to war and killing others when having conflicts that we refuse to settle in some amicable, non-violent way. Essentially, Jesus came because we were unable to live in a manner that our Creator intended for us to live. Theoretically, we who are Catholic accept Jesus as our leader and role model. Practically, we are humans who are given a variety of other humans to serve as our leaders. We mistakenly place our trust and future in them—only to realize that no leader matches the Lord’s leadership—as in the historical scene that follows.
When thinking of people voting and the topic of American Indian religion, I was reminded of a movement that swept through the American West at the end of the 19th century. Namely, a charismatic Paiute Indian named Wovoka convinced many different tribes that the Son of God was going to have a “Second Coming” (a topic taught within Christian theology that Indians had learned about in terms of Christ’s return.)
Wovoke preached that if people danced a certain way, the earth would swallow up White people, the dead would arise, the buffalo would return, and the old ways would be restored to the way things were before the reservation period. “Ghost shirts” would deflect bullets, and a new earth would arrive in the Spring of 1891 when the prairie flowers bloomed. As many tribes did the dance, the Navajo of the Southwest wanted nothing to do with it. They had deep-seated beliefs related to the dead that made them tell Ghost Dance visitors to go elsewhere and not remain near them.
A political appointee with no knowledge of Indians and no competency to be the reservation superintendent at Pine Ridge called Washington to send in troops to keep the peace should hostilities arise. The arrival of troops probably made the Lakota/Sioux think the White people feared the TRUTH of this 2nd Coming. What resulted was a confrontation of the Cavalry with a band of men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek that saw many of those Lakota killed. When the Spring flowers bloomed and life continued as before, the Ghost Dance ended.
Be we Lakota Ghost Dancers or modern-day voters, we seek a better life. When choosing leaders, we are Navajo and Lakota. We make different choices, and we live, or die, with the results. We are blessed to have Jesus as a role model for the choices we make. In this weekend’s gospel, Jesus cautions us to not guess when the “2nd Coming” will take place. The important thing is for us to live one day at a time—until God calls us to our heavenly home—where the Spring flowers bloom all the time.
As we gather on Sundays, or at any Mass, I’m reminded of our sacred gathering being like those celebrated in Indian country. Instead of “burning incense,” Native people will do what’s known as the “smudging” ceremony. The 4 sacred herbs of sage, sweet grass, cedar and tobacco are burned and wafted toward those in attendance who gesture as if washing themselves from head to toe with the smoke. The one leading the ceremony makes a circular journey around the group gathered—placing the sacred gathering within the circle symbolizing the Creator who, like the circle, has no beginning or end. As with our incense, so Native smudging smoke rises in the air—symbolically taking our thoughts and prayers to the Creator above.
Praying with a sacred pipe involved taking tobacco and putting a pinch in the bowl as one first faces the east, then south, then west, and north. One also aims the pipe stem upward and below—all of these directions being where special powers reside. It is their power, the power of the Creator’s gifs, that are invoked. Tribes in the western U.S. tend to being the pipe offering in the west, then north, east, south, above and below. The pipe offering widespread, but groups vary in how it is offered (grains of tobacco representing each person in attendance along with the many intentions they bring to the ceremonial prayer). Colors, too, are associated with the directions—the most common being white, black, red, and yellow.
People sometimes ask if Indians smoke peyote in their sacred pipe, and the answer is no. Peyote is a plant found in southern Texas and Mexico and is used only in ceremonies conducted by Indians who formally belong to a practice that was legally incorporated in 1918—the “Native American Church.” That name is a misnomer since it sounds as if ALL Indians belong to it.
Most popular among the Navajo but found among a number of tribes, the Native American Church includes the consumption of peyote during the group’s all-night service. Non-Indian Catholics find it difficult to devote 1 hour a week at Mass while peyote practitioners will spend 13 hours seated on the ground within a tipi—praying, speaking, singing, and consuming limited amounts of peyote. Being a hallucinogen that is illegal to possess, Native American Church people are very careful about who attends their meetings. When drug use became popular in the 60s and 70s, young people wandered into Indian country wanting access to Church gatherings. They were not welcome.
Instead of the service being some sort of drug fest, consumption for individuals might be like a Catholic sipping wine from the chalice at Communion. Alcohol’s effect on someone is undiscernible. My sense of a peyote meeting is that it is a profound prayer meeting—the religion being a mixture of biblical religion and some tribal traditions (contingent upon the tribe and group).
Among the Lakota, a phrase that ends all religious gatherings or prayer ceremonies asserts that “all are relatives.” This assertion may well have arisen after Christian contact brought new understandings within Native groups. Instead of a more parochial expression, one is asking that those gathered leave the gathering with that realization in mind and heart. The Lakota phrase technically says “All my relatives” (suggesting a more closed sense of belongingness). However, the phrase might also imply that “all ARE my relatives.”
That sentiment, expressed by Charles Darwin when first proposing that “all life forms are related,” reinforces what we now know to be an essential fact of life on earth (now proclaimed by Lakota in prayer). We are all relatives (so let us live that way).