Smoking Ceremony, Art Lesson, Laughter

Thursday, 08 July, 2004 by Cheryl W. Colan

Elhaz: Safe & Sacred

Today’s word could be many things: blessing, renewal, healing, sharing, laughter, bonding. But I choose an old Anglo-Saxon word, Elhaz, which is the name of a rune used to symbolize both protection and sacredness.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I awoke feeling tender, the wounds of yesterday still a little sore. At least everyone slept better. The two sisters chose to sleep indoors in the children’s area, and move their sleeping bags back out in the morning. For those of us who tried one more night outside, the heaters didn’t do much for us, but the thermal pads and hats made all the difference in the world. We slept through the night and were warm enough, and all of us woke feeling better.

The dance troupe gave another performance, and I got much better photographs this time. If I had any doubt before about the response of nature being a coincidence, it is completely gone. The butterflies came out again during the butterfly dance. The cranes responded to the crane dance. It was mysterious, magical and joyful. I danced in the friendship dance at the end again, and took photos of the dancers after their performance. I even got to pose in a photo with Aaron, the troupe leader.

Smoking Ceremony

I didn’t know it, but sometime earlier one or more of the Native students suggested we smudge our tent to help alleviate some of the negative energy. Roger did not feel comfortable conducting Native American ceremonies on Aboriginal land, so he went to Davina, the community center coordinator, explained our situation, and asked what the protocol would be. Thus it was that after the dancing, two of the dancers came back to our tent with everything necessary and performed a smoking ceremony for us.

What they call smoking is similar to what I know as smudging. Smoke from smoldering sacred plants or herbs is directed to areas in need of purification. In our case, each person was cleansed, and then our tent was cleansed also. Before starting the ceremony, Aaron came into our tent and explained that the Aboriginal ancestors are very curious and probably came to investigate us, but that they meant no harm. He said that, just in case, they were going to perform the smoking ceremony to let their spirits know that we were their welcome guests and to protect us from harm. He asked us to wait inside the tent until they were ready, and then come out one at a time.

As we waited quietly I felt very honored and touched that they would do this for us. For me at least, positive feelings began to flow as I listened to their chant and the sounds of their preparations. Before long a sweet smell wafted into the tent. We were all called to line up and go to them one by one. When my turn came I thanked Aaron and told him I felt honored by this gift.

There was a smoldering pile of leaves in front of me, and care was taken that the smoke from them wafted my way. Aaron stood before me bright-eyed, still in his dance regalia, holding in either hand the leafy ends of two branches, which he shook down either side of my body as if cleansing my aura while he spoke in the Butchulla language. When the branches reached the ground he gave them a good smack onto the earth. Then the other young man stepped in front of me and anointed my forehead with moist white clay. Aaron gently held my head in his hands, still speaking Butchulla, and blew a puff of air past either side of my face, then over the top of my head. I was released.

Broken down on paper, it is so simple. The psychological impact was very strong. It was a powerful cleansing, and I felt both protected and pure. Safe and sacred.

After all of us had been cleansed, Aaron and his assistant went inside and smoked the inside of our tent, and also used the leaves to cleanse it in the same manner they had cleansed us. When they came out they instructed us to leave the clay on our foreheads until the next time we bathed, and to leave the leaves by the door of our tent until they had smoldered out and morning had come. He assured us we would all sleep well that night, no worries.

Later, some of us went into town to buy cheap shoes to wear clamming. As we walked around the store, all with white clay on our foreheads, we got a lot of stares. It was a bonding experience.

Art Lesson

After our evening meal we were visited by Ted, an Aboriginal artist who makes and carves traditional weapons and tools. He spent quite a bit of time with us, telling us about Aboriginal history and culture, including their methods of land management and tracking and managing their own gene pool. He also gave us an art lesson, explaining the basics of all Aboriginal designs. He presented four basic elements: the dot, the circle, the wavy line and the hash marks. Then he went into how various combinations of these are used to create Aboriginal art work. He had wanted to give us a boomerang demonstration and a chance to throw them ourselves, but the sun had already set. And worse, we were exhausted, practically falling asleep on him. So we called it a night, very grateful for Ted’s sharing, and hopeful that we might see him again before we go.

A Good Laugh

After we all got ready for bed, we were lying there in our sleeping bags when things got silly. Two of the guys got ski masks instead of caps for covering their heads against the cold. They had taken to calling them ninja masks and put on quite a performance for us displaying their “ninja superpowers.” Once we got started laughing we couldn’t stop, and had a good 45 minutes of hilarity. It was really a beautiful end to a blessed day - a day that brought us together as a group, brought us a feeling of safety again, and showed us that we are indeed sacred, to this community we’ve entered, to each other and to ourselves.