Crane Mask
Everyone enjoyed the special spring food, especially the elk roast and the smoked candle-fish roe with steamed cat-tail greens and sweet fern roots. A seafood and berry stew filled the belly of the life sized feast-man dish set up with other bowls and wood planks on the dance platform near the fire. There was more delicious food than anyone could finish. The last dish was a large amount of blueberries mixed with spearmint herbs and candlefish fat.
In the late afternoon when the people had eaten their full, the whistles of the Crane-people could be heard approaching outside. A drummer’s beat began and a lone grandmother sang the welcome song when ten dancing bird-people entered the low lodge door accompanied by flutes and tambourines. One of the bird-people dressed in eagle mask and two Herons moved directly to the platform above the fire and danced in place, while the other seven with various bird masks spread out around the room, stepping like a long footed water birds among the people, lifting their heads clicking their beaks together and crying out with hoots.
Each girl heard her name called by the eagle, “Nahi Come!” – “Uma-kwee come!” The three lead bird-people each held a basket of wild cherry petals, which they sprinkled on the heads of each girl called up to stand before the people. The cheery petals turned the initiate’s shredded cedar bark hats pink to the delight of all. Uma-kwee noticed that her father Se'akwal looked especially pleased and winked at her with approval.
When the quest party arrived at the Sky Ladder Falls camp that evening, the girls were surprised to see that more women were already there, making the huts comfortable for the next days and nights. Lamps lit the doors at every tent arranged in a circle around a central fire that burned bright and welcoming. Dancers dressed in Crane-people regalia took the girls by the hands and led them to a broad, flat rock like a dance platform facing the flames of the fire that glowed yellow and red and filled the camp with orange light that flickered with the laughter of the women.
The girls sat on special mats and were given staffs decorated with feathers and beads. Each initiate kept the Crane staff for their time in the Sky World Camp and continued to wear the cedar bark hats until the last day when closing rites required that the head covering be tossed into the fire and the staffs put away in a carved box for the next camp. Then with great ceremony, before returning to the village, each girl put on her woman moccasins – elk leather shoes, bleached white and decorated with tiny blue and yellow shell beads in the design of flowers and birds.
“Now you will walk in the way of the mothers and grandmothers of old and follow the songs of the bird-people forever upward until the end of your days,” went the words the closing ceremonies. “Afterwards you will ride on the wings of Eagle-Ghost to the fields of the dawn to dig roots in the sky world on behave of your people always.”
For the next few days, with the roar of the falls in the background and under a blue sky filled with passing white clouds that seemed to skim the camp, the elder women told stories for all to hear about the mysteries of the sky world. The storytelling was permitted this time of year because they spoke on a sacred spot closer to heaven. For the first time Uma-kwee learned of the veneration that Duwam'ha women give to Cedar Bird that flies from the breast of Wonderful Doer to help the people. The stirring of Cedar Bird enables women to pray for healing, nurture children and advise men in leadership with wisdom and gentleness.
Continued
In the late afternoon when the people had eaten their full, the whistles of the Crane-people could be heard approaching outside. A drummer’s beat began and a lone grandmother sang the welcome song when ten dancing bird-people entered the low lodge door accompanied by flutes and tambourines. One of the bird-people dressed in eagle mask and two Herons moved directly to the platform above the fire and danced in place, while the other seven with various bird masks spread out around the room, stepping like a long footed water birds among the people, lifting their heads clicking their beaks together and crying out with hoots.
Each girl heard her name called by the eagle, “Nahi Come!” – “Uma-kwee come!” The three lead bird-people each held a basket of wild cherry petals, which they sprinkled on the heads of each girl called up to stand before the people. The cheery petals turned the initiate’s shredded cedar bark hats pink to the delight of all. Uma-kwee noticed that her father Se'akwal looked especially pleased and winked at her with approval.
When the quest party arrived at the Sky Ladder Falls camp that evening, the girls were surprised to see that more women were already there, making the huts comfortable for the next days and nights. Lamps lit the doors at every tent arranged in a circle around a central fire that burned bright and welcoming. Dancers dressed in Crane-people regalia took the girls by the hands and led them to a broad, flat rock like a dance platform facing the flames of the fire that glowed yellow and red and filled the camp with orange light that flickered with the laughter of the women.
The girls sat on special mats and were given staffs decorated with feathers and beads. Each initiate kept the Crane staff for their time in the Sky World Camp and continued to wear the cedar bark hats until the last day when closing rites required that the head covering be tossed into the fire and the staffs put away in a carved box for the next camp. Then with great ceremony, before returning to the village, each girl put on her woman moccasins – elk leather shoes, bleached white and decorated with tiny blue and yellow shell beads in the design of flowers and birds.
“Now you will walk in the way of the mothers and grandmothers of old and follow the songs of the bird-people forever upward until the end of your days,” went the words the closing ceremonies. “Afterwards you will ride on the wings of Eagle-Ghost to the fields of the dawn to dig roots in the sky world on behave of your people always.”
For the next few days, with the roar of the falls in the background and under a blue sky filled with passing white clouds that seemed to skim the camp, the elder women told stories for all to hear about the mysteries of the sky world. The storytelling was permitted this time of year because they spoke on a sacred spot closer to heaven. For the first time Uma-kwee learned of the veneration that Duwam'ha women give to Cedar Bird that flies from the breast of Wonderful Doer to help the people. The stirring of Cedar Bird enables women to pray for healing, nurture children and advise men in leadership with wisdom and gentleness.
Continued
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