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Medicine Bag and Eagle Feather |
Lord Moon posted a photo:
OK this takes a story to explain, so I apologise in advance for the long post.
My mother is a culturally spiritual person. When I say that I’m don’t mean religious, but to an extent I do. Ever since I can remember my mother has been very much into Native American spirituality, to the extent that she gave each of us kids a animal totem/name. Myself, Bobcat/Lynx, my sisters White Wolf and Raven. After my step-fathers funeral she did a "corners of the earth" ceremony. And gave blankets to every woman at the funeral and knives to every man.
When I went to Desert Storm she sent me a "good luck/fortune" medicine bag. When I returned she gave me a "warriors feather." The feather was not a true "warriors feather" as it was not an eagle feather, additionally it’s since been destroyed by my cat. I still have the "good luck/fortune" medicine bag which admittedly I have added to with the ribbon my mom wore the whole time I was at Desert Storm, a small vial of sand from Iraq, and a Saint George, Patron Saint of Cavalry medal that I received from the 1st Cavalry Division upon return.
So to an extent I have accepted and inherited some of the spiritualness from my mother.
Also I’m part Indian, an eighth if I remember correctly, from both sides of my family, but different tribes.
When my mom married my step-father she started looking into Chinese culture as my step-father was into it. So now since my step-fathers passing we celebrate Chinese New Years in honor of him. My mom even gets my nieces and nephews traditional garb to wear….all four of them look cute as all get out, but a little out of place as they are all blond and blue-eyed.
So this gives you a little background
Way back before I can remember my mom made me a larger version of the "good luck/fortune" medicine bag. Made of rabbit fur and a beadwork flap the bore the image of my animal totem. It contained many an item I have since forgotten. I knew that my mom had the bag somewhere stored at her place and figured I would get it some day.
The beadwork bobcat you see in that frame all that’s left.. My mom had gone through some boxes and found the bag ripped apart and the contents gone. The beadwork flap still intact, all that was left. My mom went and got the beadwork flap framed, museum quality. Also the feather attached to the frame is a real eagle feather, to replace the one destroyed.
In the past my mom has given me cool and neat things for Christmas. This, hands down, I’m just floored by, words just don’t really come to mind.
More: continued here
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2007 at 11:12 am and is filed under Native Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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