On the cliff at Hat Point,
near Grand Portage
Ojibwe reservation's
harbor in northeastern
Minnesota stands a
400-year-old sacred cedar
tree -- Manido Giizhigance,
Little Cedar Tree Spirit.
The cold winds of her long
life on the cliff-edge of
Lake Superior have twisted
and bent that tree, but she
has bravely survived.She represents sacred powers. Her sculptured form is of great beauty and
inspiration. It is very annoying to Indian people that this tree has been called
"witch tree" by the state of Minnesota hustling tourists. Crowds of disrespectful
tourists come out to the edge of the cliff to see it. The tree has been vandalized
and its existence is threatened by the hordes.If you have ever tried to pray, quietly or perhaps with singing, alone or in a
group of Indian people, all at some natural sacred place for that sacred purpose,
you know the importance of quiet and openness to what is there. Of general
respect by everyone in the group. The only time I went there, with a family from
Nett Lake to pray for their brother, we were actually photographed and pointed
at by repulsive, noisy tourists. I never went back, it was somehow spoiled for me.
When I think of that tree, I can't help but feel it is spiritually dead, because for
us it was killed spiritually by those tourists, their silly babble, their cameras.Grand Portage Reservation has tried to protect it with blocked trails and
limited hours of visitation. The name given the tree by the non-Indian hucksters
-- witch tree -- is something like calling Notre Dame Cathedral "Our Lady of
Evil Temple of Sin". It is indicative of the way the dominant white society
regards everything Indian people hold sacred. If, anywhere near you, there is a
landscape feature: lake, rocks, mountain -- named Devil's Anything, you can be
sure this was once a sacred place to local Indian people.Red Cedar is very much alive spiritually. It has the power to help us by
purifying our own spirits, our selves. We pass around a shell or little bowl of
burning red cedar to purify ourselves for some ceremonies, like Pipe ceremony.
Everyone fans the smoke over their hair, face and heart, greets the spirit, thanksJuniper -- Tribes who use
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/food/juniptri.html (3 of 6) [5/17/2004 11:48:05 AM]