The title of this post makes it sound like I'm going to tell a really neat Crow Christmas legend, but, anti-climacticly, it's just about Secret Santa at school. Anyways, we are doing Secret Santa with the staff, and I got our wonderful Crow Studies teacher, Frances. Each day you are supposed to leave a small token, like a candy bar, card, bottle of their favorite soda, whatever, and at our staff Christmas party on Monday we will give an actual gift and reveal our Santa identities.
Well, I thought it would be really cool to do something in the form of puzzle pieces that at the end of the week come together to make something neat. I came up with the idea of creating a Medicine Wheel (an important symbol in many Native American cultures, sometimes referred to as the circle of the universe) and leaving a piece each day, so it will build to become a full Medicine Wheel that she can hang on the wall. Incidentally, after planning and preparing the whole thing, I found out that it's not actually part of the Crow tradition at all; despite first encountering it at Crow Fair, it's found only in neighboring tribes' cultures. I briefly panicked, but decided to still go ahead with it, presenting it as the tool for prayer and reflection that it is, not specific to Crow tradition but nonetheless a beautiful symbol to be shared across cultures. I found comfort in thinking of it as how we have rejoiced in making and hanging prayer flags, even though we are not Tibetan.
Anyway, I was/am really excited about the idea and have enjoyed learning about the traditions and meanings behind it as I go along (through which I've also learned that above all, every Medicine Wheel is simply a path to be personalized, as they are a guide for introspection, and bear only whatever meaning or symbolism that the individual needs it to be. Perfect/transcultural.)
I'm writing a prayer to include each day that goes along with some traditional teachings of what each color/direction represents. I began with the East (yellow) today, as that's the direction in which you enter sacred spaces like stone Medicine Wheels or sweat lodges: the direction the sun rises from.
Here is today's prayer from the East:
Creator of All things,
you have made all that we can and cannot see.
You planted the sun in the sky,
drawing it up from the East
to mark a new day.
The Old Man, Isaahkaxaalia,
shines upon all that you have created.
In this way that each sunrise lights the earth,
we pray in search of
illumination of our minds.
Help us to seek knowledge and truths,
that we may contribute to a just and compassionate world.
Isaahkaxaalia, you light the way through
your model of wisdom.
Let us start each day
as a new beginning,
reopening our minds
to the tasks that surround us,
as eagerly as the earth reopens its womb to
birth new life at Springtime.
Let us be close to all Grandmother Earth bears,
that we may be close to your spirit.
Aho.
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