The Power of the Circle
By Clare Farrell

On April 2, nearly 70 participants gathered at the Turtle Effigy at Higinbotham Woods, New Lenox, IL, to pray for the ancestors.

In a most fitting way, the site was chosen across the road from Potawatomi Woods, the 117-acre site recently saved from development with Midwest SOARRING's essential help (see Wings 19, p. 1). A winding trek to the site from the roadside was reminiscent of the long walk already made and still ahead down the road toward reburial of the ancestors. Participants created a large circle that linked hand-in-hand, and Joseph Standing Bear passed smudge as Clare Farrell beat the drum in solemn cadence.

Two persisting needs impelled this Vigil for the third year in a row: land for reburial in Illinois, and Native representation upon inadvertent discovery of unmarked burials.

David Lee Smith, Repatriation Officer for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, offered the first prayer, giving thanks to the Creator, and then asking forgiveness for those who had dug up ancestral remains and put them on display. Midwest SOARRING works with the Winnebago tribe in an effort to find land for reburial.

Larry Many Hats Jacobs, of the Mohican Nation, Cindy Bloom of SOARRING, and several others prayed in succession in this vital appeal to the Creator. For the two previous years, the Prayer Vigil had been held at the Capitol Building in Springfield, with the resulting passage of Senate Resolution 0108 in support of SOARRING's work. The greatest need from this time forward, however, will be prayer, so that the goals can be reached soon.

Beverly Morse-Jacobs passed tobacco to all participants to offer in prayer, and then the group left the turtle effigy to journey to the near-by New Lenox site where SOARRING's efforts began 6 years ago. There, the group prayed at the rock that marks the gravesites of three Miami ancestors excavated in 1993 in order to create the Sanctuary Golf Course. The Vigil ended with a feast at Heritage Hall, Immanuel Lutheran Church, in Mokena.

Original Honor Guard, who had stood at the New Lenox site in 1994, as well as recent members of Midwest SOARRING and local citizens, had gathered for the Vigil. The words of Ed Dugan who prayed that day, expressed the united purpose of every participant: "…make our journey on the red path of life, one of respect, honor and caring, so when the sun sets in our lives, we may walk the path of the milky way to the other side, so we can be with our relatives and with you, who created all things in the sacred circle of life…"