ECU students experience Native American tradition

The sweat lodge is a Native American tradition rich in symbolism which participants believe cleanses and facilitates spirituality and healing. The tradition of the lodge has been maintained to the present and is still used today.

Essentially, a sweat lodge ritual is a ceremonial sauna where participants pray, meditate or play music.

There are several roles when the lodge is held, that of water pourer and fire keeper. Water pourers douse hot stones, often granite or soapstone to make steam that heats the lodge. They also direct the lodge ceremony.

"The 'job' of the water pourer is to connect energetically with the participants in the lodge so that if there is a problem it can be dealt with. To lead the ceremony, it takes years to learn the protocol. In the protocol there are definite musts involved in each round," said Nancy Pocklington, a water pourer for the tradition.

The role of fire keeper is to tend to the fire while others are in lodge and they deliver the hot stones into the lodge. The fire keeper's name is also symbolic in nature.

"The fire keeper is in charge of the energy of the fire. The fire is important because it creates the Spirit Trail into the lodge. This trail brings in the healing energies needed, and when the door is opened after a round, the energy from the Lodge flows back out to the fire taking all the prayers to Creator and transmuting the negative energies that may be shed during the round," Pocklington said.

There are sweat lodges all over the world, varying from tradition to tradition.

"In Ireland they have lodges made of stone. In South America the women who pour lodge sit on little cane chairs," Pocklington said.

Above all, the lodge is a purification ceremony, often fulfilling the function of cleansing before another ceremony.

"It is done before many other ceremonies to cleanse and purify so that you bring the best to the ceremony. There is always prayer," Pocklington said.

Sweating in the lodge detoxifies the body and also provides the possibility of a spiritual experience.

"You really can't avoid the cleansing of the body. You may also have a spiritual experience. A lot depends on how open you are, whether you've been 'good' and refrained from drinking, caffeine and drugs for a week; however anyone can have a spiritual experience no matter what," Pocklington said.

Some ECU students attended a sweat lodge in Tuscarora, NC on Saturday, March 22.

Danielle Bryan, senior Religions and Psychology major at ECU, found the experience intense.

"It was an assault on your senses. A physical and a mental challenge," said Bryan.

"I don't think it would be something that I would do on a regular basis. Its too intense to endure regularly."

For more information about the sweat lodge ritual, visit welcomehome.org.

This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.