Common Threads- Indigenous Spirituality

 We are visiting Ancient Echoes a museum and interpretive center in Herschel Saskatchewan where you can learn about the life of the Plains Indigenous people.Our guides Dave and Sue Neufeld take us for a long hike and we stop to learn about different stone formations that were important in the cultural and religious life of the Indigenous people who erected their tipis around Herschel in the 1700s and 1800s. This arrangement of stones was for a vision quest and Dave Neufeld invites Dave to try it out. He says it is very peaceful and surprisingly warm lying spread-eagled on the ground even though the day is freezing cold. During a vision quest, a person spends a period of time out alone in nature fasting and praying and waiting for a vision that will give their life purpose and direction. Our guide Dave Neufeld points out the correlation with Biblical stories where prophets had visions that provided direction not only for their lives but for the lives of the people of Israel. There are also many Biblical characters who fasted and prayed before making major decisions. Dave Neufeld says it is too bad that when the Christians had initial contact with Indigenous people they didn’t search for the similarities between Indigenous spiritual practices and Christianity rather than focusing their attention on the differences. It might have saved a great deal of heartache. While Dave is lying in the vision quest space Dave Neufeld gets out a drum he has made and drums and sings a beautiful song in his strong voice. 

Chorus: We are all one people

We all come from one Creator way on high

We are all one nation under one great sky

You and I 

We are all one people

We are all one nation

We are all one color in her eye. 

We are all one color if we try. 

Other posts………..

Common Threads- The Bahai

Common Threads- A Buddhist Monk

 

Ten Abandonded Places

My friend Michelle, who lives in Hong Kong often posts photos of abandoned places she comes upon in the city. Another Facebook friend Jim from Pennyslvania, takes photos of abandoned buildings. Jim and Michelle inspired me to look back through my photos searching for abandoned places  I have photographed.

I was visiting Herschel Saskatachewan doing research for a novel in the fall of 2012 when I photographed this abandoned barn

This is only one of many unfinished and abandoned homes I photographed in Jamaica in January of 2014

On a trip to Savannah Georgia in 2006 I photographed this abandoned house

I chaperoned a student trip to Cambodia in 2011 and photographed this abandoned temple in Angkor Wat

Of course the buildings in Pompei Italy were abandoned for good reason as I discovered on a 2010 trip to Italy

While biking in Yangshou China in 2005 I photographed this abandoned house

We drove by this abandoned windmill in 2011 in Ukraine. It was built by Mennonites.

In 2013 we visited the abandoned cliff dwellings of the Salado people built in the 1300s in the Tonto Forest area of Arizona

In November of 2010 we visited Bangkok and I photographed this abandoned graveyard overgrown with weeds

 

Other 10 Posts

Ten Things I’ll Remember About the Ballet Going Home Star

Ten Favorite Things About Arizona So Far

Ten Remembrance Day Images

Ten Things About Tulum

A House Built From Grain Elevators

Herschel Saskatchewan was once home to three grain elevators. When the elevators were about to be demolished Herschel resident Dave Neufeld stepped in and arranged to buy the lumber for a nominal fee. He and his wife Sue used the salvaged lumber to build a Retreat House where they host families, conferences, and groups of hunters each year. The house is beautiful. The kitchen area has handmade cabinets and is sunny and warm. 

All that gorgeous wood from the elevators has been reused and recycled.

Elevator salvage was used for studs, sheeting, joints, rafters, floors, ceilings, walls and mouldings. The house has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. This is just one nook in the spacious loft. There’s a huge sunny porch for eating. This building in the back yard houses a hot tub. David has made several interesting items using wood that has been shaped and formed by the movement of the grain in the elevators. This is a cross and he’s also made a clock. A sign on the mantle at the retreat center said it was built because of the need to……
*reuse and recycle
*rescue elevator lumber which was destined to be burned
*show local citizens you don’t have to take all your money out of the community when you retire because there are ways to invest in your community
*provide accommodation for visitors
*establish a quiet center for retreat
* bring people into the community during a time when many are leaving

Other posts about our visit to Herschel Saskatchewan

What Am I Doing On A Birthing Stone?

Dave’s Vision Quest

How a Great Plains Grizzly ended up in Scotland

What’s a Buffalo Jump?

On the Back of a Turtle

Dinosaurs in Saskatchewan

Discovering A Grandfather Rock

History Told in Pictures

Discovering a Grandfather Rock

My vocabulary certainly expanded when we stopped to examine a stone filled with ancient writings at an Interpretive Centre in Herschel Saskatchewan. Here’s some of the terminology I discovered as I explored the history of these messages from the past. 

Petroglyphs– comes from the Greek words petro-“stone”, and glyphein- “to carve”. Petroglyphs are pictogram-like images created by carving on the surface of a stone. The petroglyphs on this rock in Herschel are thought to have been carved with an antler. 

BP time- BP time is ‘before present’ time. It is a term used by archeologists and geologists who employ carbon dating to figure out how old something is. The petroglyphs on this rock were probably carved 9000 or 10,000 years BP. 

Grandfather Rocks-Grandfather Rocks  serve as reminders of the longevity of aboriginal peoples’ relationships to the environment and the past. All rocks have a “memory” of the earth’s past, so it is very important to First Nations people to honor that memory and the knowledge of the times that humans do not know.  The grandfather rock in Herschel is on high ground overlooking Eagle Creek. The area around the rock is considered to be a place of power. 

Monolith– the rock in Herschel is referred to as a monolith. A monolith is a stone that was put in position by people as a monument or for religious reasons.

Archeologists excavating around the rock

The monolith in Herschel was first excavated in 1990. David Neufeld our guide from Ancient Echoes told us the monolith is thought to have spiritual significance since various prayer artifacts were uncovered around its base.

Siouan speakers- the stylistic form of the language on the Herschel stone is associated with Siouan speakers. Siouan is a major family of languages that used to be spoken in the Great Plains area of North America.

Cupules- are circular man-made hollows on the surface of a rock.  The rock in Herschel has dozens of cupules carved into the flat panel facing east and there are many more on the part of the rock that is buried beneath the ground. 

Esoteric– the stone in Herschel expresses the esoteric aspects of the bison hunt- those aspects of the hunt only understood by the members of a particular First Nations group

Ribstones– are rocks with motifs that represent an animal’s  rib cage. Erin Dayle Schneider in her research paper notes that on the Herschel rock the rib-like divisions are easy to spot and are obviously the rib cage of the bison. 

Ringing Rocks– some rocks have a percussive quality and when struck sound like a bell or drum. Carefully aimed and repeated blows with a hammer- like implement may have created the cupules on the Herschel rock. Liz Byran in her book Stone by Stone suggests the stone monolith in Herschel may be a ringing rock that provided musical accompaniment for scared ceremonies. Apparently hammering right into the cupules could create the sound of thundering bison hoofs

As our guide helped us understand the petroglyphs on the rock in Herschel I added a whole new set of words and concepts to my vocabulary. 

Other posts about Ancient Echoes……

Saskatchewan Grizzly Ends Up in Scotland

What Am I Doing On A Birthing Stone

Dave’s Vision Quest

On the Back of A Turtle

Dinosaurs in Saskatchewan

What’s a Buffalo Jump?

What’s a Buffalo Jump?

Dave looks at a buffalo jump

On our visit to Ancient Echoes an interpretive centre in Herschel Saskatchewan we saw a buffalo jump.

Buffalo Jump in Herschel

A buffalo jump is a high cliff that the Plains Indians who once lived on the Canadian prairies used to hunt buffalo. The bison were herded over a cliff and their legs broke. Immobilized in the ravine at the bottom of the cliff they were killed by hunters waiting there. It is believed this kind of hunting began over 12,000 years ago and was practiced till the 1500’s. 

Artifact and bone discoveries near the Herschel buffalo jump site are evidence the bison were butchered and processed at a camp nearby. 

None of the bison was wasted. Every part was used.  

Dave and our guide Dave Neufeld walk towards the buffalo jump

Other posts about bison hunting…..
There Must Be 50 Ways To Use A Bison
Hunting a Bison is Hard
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Bison

Other posts about Ancient Echoes Interpretive Centre

A Saskatchewan Grizzly Lands Up in Scotland

Was North America Created on the Back of A Turtle?

Dave’s Vision Quest

What Am I Doing On A Birthing Stone?

Dinosaurs in Saskatchewan

Dinosaurs in Saskatchewan

Did you know there is a dinasour named after the tiny village of Herschel Saskatchewan? Yes this isolated pocket on the Canadian prairie was a tidal pool during the Cretaceious period when a shallow inland sea covered most of what is now Saskatchewan. Bodies of marine life would be washed into the pool during storms and left behind when the tide retreated.

Checking out some of the fossils at Ancient Echoes

On our visit to the Ancient Echoes interpretive centre in Herschel we learned thousands of  bones from shell fish, clams and snails- some hundreds of millions of years old, have been found in Herschel’s Coal Mine Ravine as well as the teeth and the bones of a large marine predator called the Mosasaur.

In 1990, 1994, and 1997, paleontologists excavated the remains of three plesiosaurs. In 2005 Tamaki Sato discovered a new dinasour species in Herschel and called it Dolichorhynchops hershelensis. 

Plesiosaur Sculpture at Ancient Echoes

At the Ancient Echoes Interpretive Centre in Herschel Saskatchewan you can learn all about the life of the First Nations people who used to live in the area hundreds of years ago but you can also travel back in time millions of years and learn about the dinosaurs who once swam in this tiny prairie hamlet. 

Other posts about Ancient Echoes…….

Dave’s Vision Quest

A Birthing Stone

Was North America Created on the Back of A Turtle?

A Saskatchewan Great Plains Grizzly Lands Up in Scotland

Was North America Created on the Back of a Turtle?

Taking our places around the turtle effigy

“MaryLou stand here at the head.  Dave you stand at the tail.” On our recent visit to Ancient Echoes an interpretive history centre in Herschel Saskatchewan we encircled a turtle effigy and heard an aboriginal creation story involving the turtle.  Our guide placed us at key spots around the turtle so we could easily see its shape outlined with stones.

Our guide David Neufeld tells us the Turtle Creation story

An effigy is a stylized animal created out of dirt or rocks. There were once some 20,000 effigies on the prairies.  Turtle effigies were common since Plains Indians associated the turtle with long life, protection and fertility. Amongst many indigenous people there is a belief that the Great Spirit created North America by placing earth on the back of a turtle. Our guide David Neufeld told us a detailed and colorful version of that creation story. 

Because of that story our continent is sometimes referred to as Turtle Island. Who knows? The turtle effigy we saw in a farmer’s field in Herschel may have been used hundreds of years ago as a teaching spot to share the creation legend of the turtle. Those people of a distant time may have heard the story just as we did. 

Other posts about our visit to Ancient Echoes……..

A Great Plains Grizzly Lands up in Scotland

What Am I Doing on A Birthing Stone? 

Dave’s Vision Quest

What Am I Doing On A Birthing Stone?

I’m resting on a birthing stone that was used by women of the Plains Indian groups who erected their tipis around Herschel, Saskatchewan hundreds of years ago.  On a tour of Ancient Echoes, an interpretive centre in Herschel, our guide told us an aboriginal female elder who visited the site identified the stone as one women would have used while giving birth. 

The stone allowed women in labor to basically be upright with their backs resting in the gentle curve of the rock. Ellen Pearson a University of North Carolina history professor writes that in most Indian nations women did not give birth lying down. She says a bed of leaves was amassed beneath the standing mother as a soft place for her infant to land.

Prairie in Herschel Saskatchewan November 2013

The stone was a  comfortable resting place and the view it provided of the prairie was certainly very peaceful and lovely. I’d never heard of a birthing stone before. Perhaps it will be reinstated someday as helpful aid to women wanting to give birth in a natural way. 

Other posts about Ancient Echoes………

Dave’s Vision Quest

A Saskatchewan Great Plains Grizzly Lands Up in Scotland

Other posts about Plains Indians……….

There Must Be 50 Ways to Use A Bison

Killing A Bison Is Hard

A Saskatchewan Great Plains Grizzly Lands Up in Scotland

Because of this man, we know that there were once mammoth grizzlies on the Canadian prairie. 
My husband Dave is dwarfed by this statue of the Great Plains Grizzly Bear which we encountered on our visit to Ancient Echoes, an interpretive centre and museum in Herschel Saskatchewan.  There are no more great grizzlies on the prairies but thousands used to make their home there. The demise of the bison as a food source and the threat posed by the influx of European hunters forced the big bears off the prairies. 

This bear statue was made by Kim Epp out of Tyndall stone and a sign near it notes the Great Plains grizzly was once an integral part of the aboriginal sacred circle of creation. One in ten grizzlies had white fur and Indigenous people thought the white bears were spirit bears that had special powers. 

Our guide at Ancient Echoes, David Neufeld told us we know for certain there were great grizzlies in the Herschel area of Saskatchewan because a Scottish lord, James Carnegie the 9th Earl of Southesk shot one there on July 20, 1859. He recorded the event in his diary which was published fifteen years later.

The Earl went on a hunting expedition across Western Canada.  According to David Neufeld, the game trophies from his trip to Canada are still on display on the walls of Kinnaird Castle in Scotland. 

I checked the castle out on the internet and you can rent rooms there for about $500 a night and go hiking, shooting or fishing in the area. Perhaps you can also catch a glimpse of a Great Plains grizzly that lived over a hundred years ago in Herschel, Saskatchewan.