This last weekend I was blessed to go to the Tuscarora reservation near Niagara Falls and do a couple of sweat lodges led by Tahwehdahqui. Tahwehdahqui was named by Onondaga Clanmother Freida Jacques and means 'He who believes'; his mother, Agnes, says he couldn't stand anything but the truth. He was born and raised on the Tuscarora reservation and is married to a Seneca woman, Tina. They have four children and three grandchildren, all of whom were present. His parents and sister were also there. One of his brothers or cousins came for a sweat, and another Indian American man was there, too. The other twelve-twenty or so participants appeared to be European Americans who'd been coming to the land to sweat with Tahwehdahqui for two to twenty years.
I wanted to ask a million questions of all the Tuscarora family there, but instead chose to relax and engage at whatever level they wanted to connect. Everyone in the family was wide open, loving, friendly, and available to talk about anything. Still, I felt it was just an honor to be there, camping and sharing food together, sweating together, so I didn't do any in depth interviews that would feel more formal.
I did ask Tahwehdahqui about why he opened the sweats up to white people. He said the man he'd learned under told him never to turn anyone away, that anyone who sincerely wanted to pray should be welcomed. So he's never charged and he's never turned anyone away. He says that some folks of the Tuscarora nation have tried to kick him off the land for letting whites come and sweat with him. But he says every person who's come to attack him has walked reflecting on their own issues. The Sunday I was there was a Strawberry Ceremony for the Tuscarora. I asked about this ceremony, about the songs, about what happened there. He said 'I can't tell you those things, those things are just for Tuscarora and other Indians.' I told him I really appreciated the sacredness of the tradition and containment of the ceremony to hold only the Tuscarora and Indians. I also said I was Cherokee and Quapaw mixed with white, but not raised traditionally and with no papers. He said if I showed up at the Strawberry Ceremony they would call my nation to check if I was for real. He said he could bring someone in if he felt it was right, because the Tuscarora respected him. He also said that if someone was married to a Tuscarora person, had chosen to fully live by and respect Tuscarora tradition and culture, and to live on the reservation, they could probably come if they were not Tuscarora. I told him I understood this and wasn't asking to go, more just wondering about the boundaries...in other words, why was it ok for whites to sweat on the land, but not go the Strawberry Ceremony.
I asked his mother Agnes the same question. She says she feels great about white people coming to the reservation to sweat and pray, that its a good thing for everyone to do. She also says the Strawberry Ceremony is not for whites, that its like church and you have to be part of it to really get it. I asked about why there is a ceremony for strawberries...why not for every plant and fruit? She said its because the strawberries were the first berries to come forward, and that they also have a maple water ceremony.
I told Agnes that I had been there at the reservation thirteen years before when I was newly pregnant with my son, but didn't know. I had sweat. She said the reason women are told not to sweat when we are pregnant is because the baby doesn't have a choice. Her daughter said also its because its too cleansing while pregnant.
I asked Agnes about her births and she said that she had a tendency to bleed after her births. Though the hospital had given her medicine to contract her uterus and stop the bleeding, she still needed to come home and drink strawberry tea. 'Strawberry Tea?', I asked. Apparently the whole strawberry plant-roots, leaves, and flowers-are added to boiling water and steeped to make a light colored brew which strongly contracts the uterus and stops bleeding. As a homebirth nurse and herbalist I find this very interesting.
The weekend was interesting culturally in that I enjoyed seeing the mix of Indians and whites coming together to learn and grow and pray. We laughed and sang and ate together. We shared stories around a sacred fire, and all worked together to prepare the lodge and the stones.
It was really encouraging to see the mix of peoples from a variety of classes, beliefs, and cultures communing in this way, united in respect for the transformative nature of sweat lodge and Tahwedahqui's wisdom teachings. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude that Tahwedahqui and his family were so willing to share their land and wisdom with everyone. I was particularly enchanted with Tahwedahqui's three year old granddaughter who took a warm liking to everyone, told everyone she loved them, gave out hugs and presents of plastic toy cakes and asked lots of questions to anyone who wanted to try and answer them. When her grandfather gave a talk on the Hawaiian healing practice of H' opono 'pono that is changing his life, she wandered around the circle under the hawthorne berry tree, plopping into people's laps and looking deeply into their eyes. Her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother kept her supplied with fresh pineapple and strawberries for her adventures.
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