Duane Champagne: Finding new ways to protect sacred sites

Wednesday, January 16, 2013  

"We have tried treaties. We have tried court cases. We have tried state and federal legislation. In all cases, the results have been mixed.

How should Native Americans best attempt to protect sacred land?

For many Indians, the entire world is full of sacred purpose and being. But even within such contexts, there are certain especially important places where the creator or spirit beings brought people into existence, and the present world into order. These are the places to be revered, remembered and continually honored.

All this was taken for granted before colonization. As the incursion pushed northward, westward and southward, many Indian peoples were removed from their sacred origin lands and forced to live in new territories away from their most sacred places.

The tribes did what they could under the circumstances. Tribal communities often gathered their sacred bundles, moved to their newly assigned locations, and continued to seek protection of the creator through ceremonies and prayers. Even as they continued to be separated from their ancient locales, sometimes by hundreds of years and hundreds of miles, they continued to honor those points of origin and understand their attachments to them."

Get the Story:
Duane Champagne: The Challenge of Protecting Sacred Land (Indian Country Today 1/16)