Keeping the flame alive
By Louise Van Poll
Native American culture includes a heavy emphasis on the oral tradition for passing on teachings from generation to generation. During her workshop “Legends of the Flame,” at the 2015 Churchwide Gathering, Danelle Crawford McKinney used this tradition to lead participants through a spiritual exercise.
As Danelle talked about the cultural value placed on sharing knowledge, she also shared some of the Dakota beliefs about the natural world and exhorted everyone to take better care of Mother Earth.
“She is our mother,” Danelle said. “The rivers are her veins. She feeds us and takes care of us and we must take care of her.” Specifically, Danelle asked Presbyterian women and men to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline and join the Native Americans in fighting against oil fracking.
The group’s spiritual journey began with a circle. “We come to the circle and share. The circle binds us together and helps us to be strong,” she said. The circle was for the Cycle of Life ceremony. The ceremony followed the Dakota circle that is made up of four quadrants. Each segment included Native American history and traditions, scripture and music.
The Cycle of Life began with a celebration of birth, the special connections created and the miracle of each individual. “You have a purpose,” she exclaimed.
It moved into the quadrant representing the teen years. “This is a time of hardship,” Danelle said. “A time of struggle, but this hardship also puts you on the path to healing.”
Next came the adult years. “There is a lot of learning here,” she continued. “You are caring for the younger generation and caring for the older one. This is also a time of loss.”
She spoke about losing loved ones and the Dakota tradition of cutting one’s hair to signify distress. As a person’s hair grows out, it signals that the time of mourning is passing and it is time to move forward. This is also the time of life when you learn to stop looking back and look to the future. Danelle also called this the time to stop looking for someone to blame and begin doing something to make a difference.
And the last segment of the cycle is old age. “The Creator was there at the beginning and will be there at the end,” Danelle said. “This is the time when you will be remembered for your legacy. What do you want to be remembered for? You are a legend. A legend of the flame to someone whose life you have touched and shaped. This is a time of celebration of who you are.”
Danelle concluded the ceremony and workshop by giving a gift of braided sweet grass to each participant. She explained that Native American tribes use this to alleviate distress either by burning it or by inhaling the sweet aroma.
“Pray for our children,” she entreated. “We have a high incidence of teen suicide, alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence and despair. We must find a way to reach out to our young people and decide what legacy we will leave them.
“Pray also for Mother Earth. When you see this sweet grass, remember some woman cut our Mother’s hair and braided it because she is in distress.”
Danelle is a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Oyate tribe and is the first Dakota woman to be ordained in the PC(USA). Her Dakota name is Running Woman, which she was given in part by her participation at PW activities.
