This past Saturday, my housemates and I were privileged enough to attend our first Lakota ceremony. One of our co-workers invited us to her grandson's Name Giving ceremonies. A Name Giving, as I have come to understand it, is when a Lakota person receives their Lakota name before their family and friends, before their entire tiospaye (extended family, the closest thing to which I have encountered in American culture is that of ridiculously large Italian or Greek families - the Lakota idea of tiospaye takes it to a whole 'nother level, where every first cousin is referred to as 'brother' and 'sister' and where aunts and uncles are seen as 'mother' and 'father.' While this has broken down to some degree with the onset of historical oppression and modernization, as well as family trauma resulting from alcoholism and addiction, it is still an extremely prevalent idea.)
For the name, a holy man prays with it in order to bestow it upon a person, or, the name is handed down as a generational thing. The name has significant meaning for the person, and makes a sort of demand on the person whom it is bestowed, adding responsibility and a sense of how the person is to relate and act in relationship with their tiospaye.
When we got to the ceremony, I have to admit, I was a little conflicted. I am a HUGE nerd when it comes to stuff like this. I am obsessed with Native rituals and ceremonies, and truly find them to be such powerful and rich traditions. At the same time, I felt pretty awkward. Besides my housemates and the priest who has lived here for close to 12 years, I was the only white person in the room and stuck out like a sore thumb. People looked at me with surprise and confusion, unsure of who I was and whether I had stumbled into the room by accident.
We all moved out into the courtyard where we stood around the medicine wheel, a sacred Lakota symbol that represents the four directions, four stages of life, and a number of other aspects of Lakota philosophy and worldview. See below if interested!
(http://www.yosemite-gifts.com/Medicine_Wheel_of_the_Lakota_The_Four_Directions_p/1632-medwhl.htm)
The person receiving the name sat in the middle of the wheel while we all prayed with the holy man, facing each of the four directions, as well as directing prayers to the sky nation and Mother Earth (any MidWest Jv's, remember the prayer we did in mass to the directions). Then the drums started. Drum circles and the singers play a large role in many Native cultures, and the Lakota are no different. It is an amazing experience to hear the drums pounding, symbolizing our own heart beat as well as the heart beat of the universe, to hear the men yelling in what sounds like the most natural and passionate prayer I have ever heard. It gets into your soul, into your bones, and helps you remember where you come from in the first place, what you're made of and how you're connected to everything.
It is a very powerful thing to be a part of, to be invited to participate with the people in something they hold so sacred, to participate in an intimate act for a person I have never even met. To make it even more incredible. the Lakota have a history of Give-aways, which is when a person or family goes through a ceremony (whether it is a name giving, or because they have lost a loved one and are mourning, or because they have completed vision quests), it is they who provide food and gifts for all who show up, not the other way around. Imagine it this way - after graduation, instead of receiving all of these cards and gifts and money, not only do you throw a party for everyone, but you also give all of the people who helped you get there gifts. Pretty powerful.
What was even more powerful was when we heard the people saying that they would like to present a gift to the JV's.
Uhm. What?
I have not ever met this person in my life and have known his grandmother for all of two days, and I am being presented with a gift? Granted, I recognize that we are completely riding on the coattails of the past JV's and the mission that we work for, but still. It just seems like too much. It is humbling, truly. it makes me wonder how I, who have so much in my life outside of JVC, can still manage to believe I don't have enough to share.
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