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If
tears could build a stairway,
And memory a lane,
I’d walk right to Heaven,
And bring you home again.
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Don
Coyhis finishes up the Wiping of the Tears healing ceremony
at Ground Zero. Two Port Authority police officers were
among the participants.
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What better place to forgive the unforgivableto
set the seeds for a National Forgiveness Daythan at Ground
Zero, the site where the World Trade Towers once proudly stood
as major New York City and US landmarks. Twenty-five participants
came to this sacred site to join the Sacred Hoop of 100 Eagle
Feathers in the Wiping of the Tears Ceremony. Coordinators
Rosemary Richmond and Ali El Issa helped organize this gathering
to honor the site, the loss of life, and to help Don in this
ceremony of forgiveness. One could feel the powerful medicine
of the Sacred Hoop in a place that represents so much pain
in the American consciousness.
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Sgt.
Hardy and Lt. Kevin Devlin greeted the Wellbriety
Movement and welcomed the participants of today’s
Ceremony at the temporary memorial for the Port
Authority Police Department World Trade Center.
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Don
Coyhis, in red, left, shared the Story of the
Sacred Hoop with those gathered for a Healing
Ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City
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Hoop
Carriers. Noemi Valera (center, right, black jacket,
hand in air) and Emily S. (center, left, black
jacket with white hood under it) They held the
Hoop in the Center of the Circle for the Wiping
of the Tears Ceremony. They also carried it the
two miles to the American Indian Community House
after the Ceremony.
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Sgt. Hardy and Lt. Kevin Devlin of the NY &
NJ Port Authority Police Department had the honor and heavy
responsibility of helping to explain the unexplainable. For
them, as for so many New Yorkers, the pain was immediate,
as it was tied to the loss of their friends and co-workers.
“I spend more time with my co-workers
than I do with some members of my family, so the loss was
deep,” said Lt. Devlin. Devlin and Hardy oriented the
gathering in front of the temporary Port Authority memorial
on a cloudy, rainy day.
With the Hoop at the center of a circle on the
visitors platform, Don Coyhis facilitated a special Wiping
of the Tears ceremony with the purpose of freeing spirits
still clinging to the site, so they might complete their Journey
to the Spirit world. Another purpose of the ceremony was to
heal wounds for everyone connected to what took place at the
World Trade Center location on September 11, 2001. The Elders
who guide and teach us put four gifts into the Sacred Hoop
Unity, Healing, Hope, and Forgiving the Unforgiveable. All
of these gifts are needed by individuals, families, communities,
and nations. Today, we witnessed the power of the Fourth Gift—Forgiving
the Unforgiveable—as the tears were wiped during
the Ceremony led by Don with the assistance of Marie Camon,
Emily S., Noemi Valera, Brooke, Ali El-Issa, and others.
Following the Ceremony, the Sacred Hoop of 100
Eagle Feathers was carried north through the streets of New
York City to the American Indian Community House. Once the
Hoop was placed in the center of the hall, the walkers and
additional participants joined Don in a blessing of the food,
prepared by members of the American Indian Community House.
Twenty-five participants listened to Don describe
the story of the Hoop and the Journey we are now on, which
focuses on the healing of Native men and children. We were
honored to have present at this event Ali El-Issa and his
son Maeh-Ki, husband and son, respectively, of Ingrid Washinawatok
El-Issa (O’peqtaw-Metamoh, Flying Eagle Woman) to whom the
third journey of the Sacred Hoop in 2002 was dedicated. That
Journey’s purpose was the healing of Native Woman and Children.
The documentary video of the Third Journey was shown to the
circle of people gathered at the Center.
Because of the emotions of the morning ceremony,
the power of the Hoop, and the desire to learn more about
the gift of forgiving the unforgivable, Don recognized the
need to lead the group in a circle of healing. By the end
of the closing ceremonies, twenty-five people had become a
community focused on healing and forgiving the unforgivable.
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Don
Coyhis, left, Ali El Issa, center, and Gramma
Marie Camon, assist with the Sacred Pipe as part
of the Wiping of the Tears Ceremony at Ground
Zero
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A
feast prepared for the visit of Hoop Journey IV
to the American Indian Community House in New
York City. We thank you all so much for honoring
us with good food and good hearts!
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Thank
YOU, America!
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Our day in New York on April 17 was remarkable.
It was not certain that we were to be admitted to the Visitor's
platform to perform a ceremony. "I
think it was a miracle that we got into Ground Zero,"
Don Coyhis said later. "We couldn't
have asked for anything more." The American Indian
Community House in New York City tried through official channels
to get a permit for the Indian ceremony for a number of months,
but to no avail. It took the on-the-spot sympathetic Port
Authority police lieutenant and some help from Creator to
let the Native ceremony take place inside Ground Zero that
morning.
The seeds of a National Forgiveness Day were
sown that morning. The Ceremony at Ground Zero focused on
the Hoop's fourth gift: Forgiving the Unforgivable. As a result
of the Native American Hoop Ceremony at the 9/11 site on April
17, White Bison plans to dedicate each following April 17
as a Native American Forgiveness day. "We
are going to declare April 17 to be a national forgiveness
day," Don said. "Every April
17 we will be encouraging circles of different communities
to get together and come together to forgive. We would like
to encourage churches and groups of all colors to start to
use that forgiveness for personal, family, community and nation-wide
healing."
Stay in touch with White Bison to learn more
about National Forgiveness Day as we approach April 17, 2004.
And keep reading about Hoop Journey IV as it winds its way
up the East coast to Maine, and then turns westward once again.
We thank the staff and friends of the American
Indian Community House and the Flying Eagle Woman Fund for
hosting us in New York. Special thanks go out to Ali and Maeh
Ki El Issa, Executive Director Rosemary Richmond of AICH,
Albert Sinclair, Rowena, Joyce Keeler, Kathleen Tarrant, and
Daia Stager (White Raven) for their help.
Vette Middleton
Richard Simonelli
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