"The answer to mayhem is simple. It's the pipe.

Before a ceremony at the State Capitol Tuesday, Ona Kingbird, a Red Lake Ojibwe, a teacher and an elder, talked only in general terms about the sacred pipe she was about to light in honor of those who died on the tribe's northern Minnesota reservation less than 24 hours earlier. It would be a sacrilege to explain in great detail the meanings of the pipe, she said.

'But my people will understand the ceremony,' Kingbird said. 'The pipe brings us close together. It unites people in well being. All our differences are set aside.'"

Get the Story:
Doug Grow: Turning to the sacred pipe for healing (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 3/23)
pwlat

Relevant Links:
Red Lake Net News - http://www.rlnn.com
Red Lake Nation - http://www.redlakenation.org
Red Lake High School - http://www.paulbunyan.net/rlschools/hs.htm

Related Stories:
Shooting at Red Lake Reservation leaves 10 dead (3/22)