Um - well to get back to that article
Think I understand most of what is being said here - that traditions take generations to build (why they are traditions ) but can be almost destroyed in one generation of mixing other stuff in there , so they need to be protected , and also people’s body’s , minds , hearts and souls need to be protected from people posing as spiritual leaders who are not who they say they are , and who don’t know what they pretend to know .
But , I also feel a bit confused when I read some parts of this article . I hope this dosn’t sound too stupid .
For example ; many non native people get invited to ceremonies or cultural activities by native friends or even elders . Sometimes it would even be rude not to participate. When ceremonies end , often there is a give away of a braid of sweetgrass , and I have seen non native/ slightly native people get given these sweetgrass braids , often by good elders. I have heard native people talk about smudging being a ceremony , so I would guess if an elder gives a braid of sweetgrass to someone , it is OK for them to use it to smudge . ?
What gets confusing is this article makes it sound like non native/ mostly non native people shouldn’t be having anything to do with native religion , and when it says this , this article seems to be contradicted by the actions of a lot of seemingly good elders .
Another bigger example ; Once I heard about a non native person ( friend of a friend ) who was given a pipe by a native elder , and this person felt funny about accepting it , but it seemed rude not to. I later heard some native people say this was a good elder , who did this . So was this person wrong to accept this pipe , and if so , what should they have done ?
Is there a polite , respectful way , to refuse some activities , assistance , or gifts ? Is this the right thing to do ?
Once I went to a reserve to visit some people I knew there , and as soon as I got there, an old woman came out of her house and grabbed me by the arm and said she wanted to teach me all this native stuff . My friends got me away from her , and told me she was just a foolish old woman who was desperate for attention , and I should ignore her , but if I didn't have anyone there to rescue me , it would have been hard to know what to do . ( I can imagine PODIA’s without any known living relatives on reserve could be really vulnerable to these sorts of experiences )
So I feel confused , when I read that by accepting things that seemed to be freely shared , I have participated in genocide against native people .
I could see that for some people these words would hurt and seem unfair , even though there is a lot of truth in them .
What is the right thing to do , when someone who is native, or even who seems to be a native elder , wants to share something from their culture ?
When is it OK to accept this and when is it not ?
If it isn't Ok , how can a person side step this without being rude?
(if I want to post again , I will try and figure out a user name, and register , as I can see having too many ”guests” could be a bit confusing. )
