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Johnston follows his dream
By Tonia Goertz
Recently, Bud Johnston, an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwa Indians, also known as Annishinabe and his friend Jim Tree, a Cherokee Indian from Hamilton, Mont. went to Australia for the Red Blanket Gathering. The pair went to Australia, to this particular gathering because “I was invited and Jim had a dream that we were supposed to go there and do something,” Johnston explained.
To understand what happens next, a bit of history about the use of the Pipe in Native American ceremony is required so Johnston explained, “Stone pipes have been used by most of the tribes of North America for thousands of years. The quarries here in Pipestone have been used for at least 2,000 years maybe even a lot longer. Some of the pipes have special uses, or are used for special things. Often pipes were used by Tribal people to cement relationships such as those created by treaties, or they might be used to ask for help in naming a child. Pipes are also used to ask for special help for healing of people or even other creatures or Mother Earth and often you would use a pipe just to say thank you for a gift from Creator.”
Johnston explained, “The black pipes are considered to be very powerful. The thunder or Thunderbird pipes are usually black. The ones we took to Australia were black ones. The black pipes fell out of favor hundreds of years ago because some believed them to be evil. That was when the Red Pipestone pipes really got popular.”
Johnston also set the scene of what was to come on their adventure by explaining, “Australia has been in a state of severe drought for several years and while I have a Thunderbird Pipe myself, we took Jim’s because it was his dream that started all of this. This trip was impressive. Between 300 and 400 folks showed up in the mountains near Brisbane, Australia for this gathering.”
In an e-mail sent from Australia during their trip, Jim Tree describes the outcome saying, “It is as if someone is running a movie with dramatic special effects. The first day I spoke to about 150 people, elders from home as well as here, and I explained that talk is cheap and anyone can claim to ‘feel’ the Thunder spirits come in, but I if these ceremonies are real, then real results should be the outcome.”
Tree went on explaining, “We did the first ceremony with the Thunder Pipe the next night, but it was just to be a blessing ceremony for five Pipes that were brought to us. As we went inside, we noticed that there was lightning far off to the west, nothing very unusual they told us, it always does that but no rain comes with it. As we set out all the Pipes and began to pray, the thunder came closer. When I unwrapped the Thunder Pipe, instantly we heard rain on the tin roof. We went outside and the sky was completely clear, the stars are amazing out there, but there was a nice gentle continual rain coming down. At the conclusion of the ceremony, just as I parted the Pipe, it stopped.”
Tree and Johnston both said that the next day they had many folks coming up and commenting on the rain, somewhat excited but still believing the events to simply be a coincidence.
Tree went on saying, “That third night was the first big ceremony with the Pipe and as I walked to the area of the fire, I looked up at the western sky and from horizon to horizon, a huge thunderbird made out of clouds filled the sky. The head of the bird was turned to the south and there was a cloud of ‘fire’ coming out of its mouth. It was dark by the time we got to the gathered people, and I started by telling them that the thunders were coming and in a big way.”
Johnston explained, “I had eaten some shellfish earlier in the day and was having a painful reaction so I was only able to talk for a short while. I explained about the Pipes and the power of these ways and then I had to go lie down missing the wonderful celebration that followed.”
Tree went on, “We had just finishing smudging everyone, I held the Pipe up to the west still in its bundle, and immediately there was thunder and it began to pour! We had to move everything inside a big arbor. I never got to even unwrap the pipe as a spontaneous drumming and dancing took off. First, our Native brothers from home taught several all nations dances then out of the dark came our aboriginal brothers with dieri dos’, all painted from head to toe. The dancing was amazing and the sound of the dos’ was far more than anything I have ever imagined about them, so many sounds and expressions. The rain poured all of that night, fog filled the mountains and rain forest.”
On the fourth night, Tree “did the actual singing of the thunders ceremony” and he filled the T Pipe and didn’t smoke it, but instead capped it with sage to carry it on a journey across part of the country to complete the ceremony, thus drawing the attention of the Thunders to that whole area.
Again, right on queue, “it rained, and poured again...did I mention special effects,” Tree asked.
Johnston explained, “The rest of the trip was similar, we performed ceremony, and it rained. I don’t think it was enough to reverse the drought, but we did what we could and it showed what the power of many people praying for the same thing can do.”
Beyond the explanation of the use and history of the Pipe in general, and on this trip specifically, Johnston wanted people to know and understand the fact that “For native peoples, the pipe is the tool they use to pray with, and they pray to the Creator. This is not very different from the ceremonies used in other religions, because just as a priest or other clergy is responsible for teaching the traditions of their faith to their followers, so too do those who carry a pipe have an obligation to teach their traditions, that is part of why we went there.”
He went on, “For many years, because we call God Creator instead of God, we have had people trying to save us, but we believe that there is just one Creator and our way of praying to him is by using the pipe. When you take a close look at our beliefs and those of other religions, there is truly very little difference, other than in the way we label things. This is why many churches on the reservations and in other areas with large Native populations have incorporated the pipe into their ceremonies alongside of the communion chalice and the Host.”
In the end, Johnston said, “This was one example of people putting traditional beliefs aside and working together regardless of faith, color, or nationality to try and correct, at least temporarily, one of the many environmental problems in this world. Until all people can set aside religious beliefs, politics and nationality issues and work together as one, the problems that we face, at least in my opinion, will not be solved.”
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