A group of about 50 local citizens and Sesqui visitors gathered at the Jaycees Pavilion in Lake Park in Winona early this morning for a Native American sunrise ceremony.
As we gathered in a large circle, one elder sang a song and then another, holding a plate of burning tobacco called a smudge pot, went from person to person so that we could each use our hands to prayerfully ‘bathe’ our hearts and heads in tobacco smoke. A third elder stood in the center of the circle and said prayers to the four directions (north, east, west and south). See this page for more on the practice of ceremonial smudging.
Then an elder went around the circle for each of us to briefly smoke a peace pipe. (Background on that practice here.)
At the end, everyone went around the circle in a line to greet and shake the hands of everyone else in the circle.
We were asked to not take video or photos till the handshaking at the end.
