Mountain Monday, um, I mean Tuesday

On Sunday, we had the opportunity to have our newest grand daughter, June Bug, blessed. Basically it is a formal way of announcing the child and introducing them to the church, putting their name on the rolls of the church and a chance to get together and celebrate a new family member.



Because we were at Girlfriend's family's house, I got to snap some pics of the mountains north of us. Here ya go:





And now, to finish the question and answer portion of this blog. (finally!)

From Melissa Is it considered offensive in your culture to compliment someone's spouse?
Melissa, my family all agrees that the lady you work with is a freak. No it is not considered offensive, she is just weird.

From Eliza
So...buried? Not put up on a platform of sticks in the sun or eaten by local scavengers? Coffin? Yes? No? I am sure you could do the traditional form of burial on the Rez, although no one does anymore. Everyone is buried or cremated. They still do the tradtional drum ceremony and wakes though for the most part. The wake is fascinating. Usually a couple of days. The body in an open casket, with a star quilt. Lots of eating, laughing and crying. I love the wakes, they are the best part.
premarital sex? Yes? No? Also, circumcision? Male? Female? Either? Ever?
No particular taboos about premartial sex, although traditionally, my people believe whomever you have sex with has a part of your soul, so you should be careful. Circumcision is not traditional, and only for boys, so it is a mix who does and who doesn't. Most of the babies are born in the hospital, under IHS, Indian Health Services, so whether or not a boy ends up circed would depend on whether IHS was doing it or not.
And if I, as a non-whatchamacallit (American Indian?), upped and killed someone (theoretically--for the moment the MIL and I are friendly...ish) and your mom said I could crash at her place could the feds came and get ME? Yup, the feds COULD come get you and probably would for a capital offense. You would be more likely to get away with it, if you were white,lived on the Rez, and committed a crime like beating your Indian girlfriend or wife. They would NEVER do anything about it. Not that I am bitter about it or anything...grrr.

From Jesse Louise I have always been intrigued by the spiritual aspect and the connection with nature. I am pretty much unaffiliated as far as religion goes and I'd love to hear more about native american beliefs.
As a christian and a Lakota, I have had no problems melding these two things into one in my heart. Both teach love, humility, taking care of others, a belief in a connection with those who have gone before us. Being a Lakota has given me a knowledge that we are all connected to each other, and the earth with us, and all that is on the earth. So it makes sense to me that we all are created from the same source, whatever name you choose to use, Creator, God, Great Spirit. Since my youngest childhood I have known that the Earth is alive and the animals on the earth are our relatives. Being Catholic was not a good thing for those beliefs, but funny how the LDS think the Earth lives and that animals have souls. I was at peace with that. Here is a link about the 7 sacred rituals to the Lakota. the 7 Ceremonies.
I am currently reading Joseph Marshall's The Lakota Way. It is a really, really great book, and good instruction in living in a good Lakota way.
Email me and remind me to do a whole post about Lakota Spirituality, okay?

I am going to save the last two questions for another post. Happy Mountain Monday, (Tuesday)!