The Cascade
Published 4 days ago
The search for what “Indianness” really means
I was 12 years old when the chief of our tribe, Chief Hidden Wolf, came from our Peepeekisis reserve to cleanse and welcome my grandparents’ totem pole with sacred ceremony. We sat in a circle and took turns smoking the pipe (of which I was not allowed to participate), and afterward he showed me how to replicate the shape of a wolf paw with my knuckles in the still-wet cement that would soon harden to hold the pole upright. I was in awe of his reverence, and he shed an awareness on my life, and the relationships I fostered, with new meaning.