This part of the story combines memories of this long-ago experience (forty-seven years ago) with help from Google, Wikipedia and friends. My aim is to describe this grand Native American ceremony respectfully and vividly. Feel free to share my stories on social media as you wish.

It is a sacred and private affair for the Arapaho people. One they had performed annually long before Anglo-Saxons were here.  I write about it with discretion and respect and yes, some shame as I consider our history with Native Americans.

I have no pictures to share. The Arapaho discourage photography of any aspect of the ceremony. People knowledgeable in the Arapaho ways have counseled me that it would be wise to gain the trust and approval of tribal elders before describing the ceremony in more detail than I do here. I will visit Ethete this summer with that goal in mind. Trust building takes time.

The Arapaho are reluctant to share details of their cultural ceremonies for fear that their traditions will be at best misunderstood or at worse abused or misappropriated. Understandable, given the fact that our government systematically suppressed their cultural practices for centuries. Historians consider the time from 1870 to 1934 as the Dark Ages for American Indian Religious Freedom. During this period, the attempts to abolish American Indian religions reached their peak. In 1883, Henry M. Miller, then Secretary of the Interior, reported that in his opinion the religious practices of the American Indians were heathen and the US government must end those practices.

He said, “they must be compelled to desist from the savage and barbarous practices that are calculated to continue them in savagery.”

So much for the country founded on the notion of religious freedom.

How would you react if people from another country came into your church and shut it down? Outlawed your religious observances. Destroyed your sacred icons. Separated you from your children. Called you savages?  Would you be suspicious? Would you be angry?

In these days, the Arapaho prefer, for the most part, not to talk much about the details of the ceremony but carry it on in their way and time.

See https://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/2063 for an expanded discussion of the suppression of Native American cultural and religious practices.

The Sundance ceremony is usually held in July. It begins with a vow or pledge by a tribe member made sometime in the fall or winter. The vow is about a real-life experience for that person that urges them to call for the ceremony. The reasons for the vow are many and varied; sickness in the family, community issues, fertility, giving thanks, hunting success, courage in battle, etc.

If you would like to drill down into the subject of the Arapaho Sundance Ceremony, I recommend a landmark paper written by ethnographer George A. Dorsey (1868 – 1931) It is available for PDF download at the Library of Congress at https://www.loc.gov/item/04007725/

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Nothing better than a hot shower. We didn’t get many on the road. Thanks to Father Duncombe, we are now as clean as a baby’s leg, or a whistle if you prefer. How clean can a baby’s leg really be?

Off we go with the Episcopal priest to the Sundance ceremony site on the Wyoming prairie, near Ethete. One can see the Wind River Mountain Range to the west and southwest, extending for a hundred miles, containing forty peaks over 13,000 feet. Gannett Peak is the highest at 13,804 feet. Gannett Glacier, the largest glacier in the American Rocky Mountains flows down its north slope. The Continental Divide runs through the center of the range with the Shoshone National Forest on the east side and the Jim Bridger National Forest to the west. A part of the range is in the Wind River Indian Reservation. These granite mountains, home to more than one hundred and seventy-five glaciers and many cirque lakes and headwaters for the Snake, Missouri, and Colorado rivers, contain grizzly and black bear, elk, moose, deer, wolves, and many other wildlife species.

The town of Lander (population 7,000), headquarters of the National Outdoor Leadership School www.nols.edu/en/, is to the south, Riverton (population 10,500) to the east, where the Big and Little Wind Rivers, draining from the Wind River Mountains, come together and Fort Washakie (population 2,000) to the west, named after the before mentioned Shoshoni chief and where some say Sacagawea was laid to rest.

It is late in the day when we arrive at the Sundance site. The sun is near the horizon, wispy clouds glow red, the western sky ablaze.

George looks at me incredulously and exclaims, “Can you believe this is actually happening? We are at an Arapaho Sundance celebration!”

We are about to get a first-hand look at a great Native American cultural tradition, a celebration of life, rooted in hundreds, if not thousands, of years of Native American history.  A tradition practiced by most Great Plains indigenous people.  It includes dancing, singing of songs and telling of stories passed down through many generations, a sacred fire, praying, fasting, drumming, and feasting. An Arapaho Sundance Celebration.

What could be more beautiful? More organic? More natural?

People are busy outside the lodge. They move about engaged in a variety of tasks. Laying out blankets and food, moving firewood about, visiting. Whispering reverently. People smile at us cordially. We are unobtrusive. The only white people here.

Elders in ceremonial dress, leggings, robes, braided hair, earrings and necklaces. Some with ornate, feathered headdresses and shields. Women garbed in colorful ankle-length dresses adorned with beadwork, some in knee-length leggings and moccasins. Children are moving about quietly. Little boys bare to the waist.

Gestures of good will. Laughter. Handshakes. Hugs. Back pats.

The exquisite sound of drumming from within the lodge and joyful singing. Now the sunset dance begins.

We visit the site often during the next two days and watch in wonderment as the celebration unfolds. Each day gives us new images and insights into this marvelous affair.

An overwhelming experience. We are very lucky to have gotten to know Father Dumcombe and to have been his guests at St. Michael’s Mission.

The day after the celebration we say our goodbyes to him, and head out early, bound for Yellowstone and more adventures, more stories.

Farewell, Father Duncombe.

Next up. Go West Young Man. Chapter 3. Father Duncombe.