of the Jasper Herald
LINCOLN CITY (October 20, 2009) – Members of Rockport-based Cub Pack 105 laughed and fed pears on sticks to five buffalo herded near a fence.
But they and the rest of about 60 visitors to Buffalo Run Farm, Grill & Gifts on Saturday quickly settled down when Rock Blanchard began to speak.
Coming from Richland City to support a blessing of the buffalo, Blanchard, who is descended from the Chickasaw tribe, told onlookers that buffalo were always important to the survival of American Indians. He said that killing buffalo was a major part of the method European-descended settlers used to kill native people.
As Blanchard spoke, the three women from Spencer and Warrick counties who were performing the ritual were lighting sage, sweet grass and cedar on fire in an abalone shell.
Hatfield resident Becca Fisher, who is of Cherokee descent, paced back and forth solemnly across the soggy ground. She used bound turkey feathers to wave smoke from her shell toward the still buffalo.
Mary Burch, descended from the Cherokee tribe, prayed to ask the creator god, often called Grandfather, for blessings and his favor.
“We seek his face in everything,” said Burch, of Boonville.
The women began this ritual last year, at the farm owners’ invitation when the buffalo on the farm became ill during a summer drought. Burch said the women continued the new tradition this year because they have a spiritual connection in the place, and they invited visitors to experience the ritual with them.
“We would like them to remember the buffalo and to understand that they are a representation of the old days and the old ways,” she said.
The women said the buffalo turned east and remained standing that way through the ceremony last year. They did the same a short time after Saturday’s ritual.
Biblical and Cherokee prophesy say that Jesus will return to Earth from heaven from the east, so it was a sign of blessing that all the sacred animals turned in that direction, Burch said.
The women believe in the creator god, Jesus and the Great Spirit as a trinity.
Karen Hilborn, of Chrisney, pointed out to visitors when the buffalo turned. Hilborn said a woman in her family five generations ago was a medicine woman in the Delaware tribe.
Cubmaster Mike Wiseman, of Rockport, said he brought seven Cub Pack 105 members and families to witness the ceremony as part of a camping trip so they could understand the ritual. He said media portrayal of American Indians often gives the incorrect impression that they are savages, and he wanted the boys in his charge to see for themselves what the culture is like.
After the ceremony, Hilborn sang to children and explained to them the American Indian belief that land can’t be owned.
Other American Indians conducted demonstrations and had booths that featured items such as wooden and stone jewelry, and they talked to visitors about the skills involved in creating such works.
Tracey Dargon, of Dale, listened to a man with a booth featuring tools and arrowheads as smoke, ashes and the smell of burning wood curled up from the fire near her.
Dargon, who is descended from the Cherokee tribe, knew some of the people who participated in the ceremony from going to powwows in the area, and she visited when she heard about the blessing.
“I thought it was brilliant. It was great,” she said. “It’s nice to have those things around.”
Contact Amber Coulter at acoulter@dcherald.com.
