This was my first time to a public smudging ceremony in many years. I myself have done a different form of smudging ceremonies ever since a dear friend gave me my first smudging fan. My last public one was back in the late 2000s while a student at CSU in their Native American club. To me the talking ceremony was the most beautiful part of the experience at this event and I found myself crying. It was really cathartic to let out some of the emotions that had been building for awhile out.
Something happened though near the end that really disrupted the ceremony. A volunteer came up to the ceremony, and instead of quietly joining in and/or standing in the back watching, he came in talking about how he was like Mr. Happiness or the like for the VA. He then proceeded to hand out cards and showed a picture book full of pictures of himself and other people. He was also braging about being recognized at some museum and in Washington. He basically took over a religious ceremony to brag about himself. I will give the woman props for handling it as well as she did. I don't know if he did this because it seemed less formal to him because it was outside, but if any one did something in a Christian church like this, people would be upset.
Any time you are attending a religious ceremony, be it your own or trying to learn about others, please be respectful.
For example, I am not Catholic, but my two best friends in Texas are and they like going to a Latin Mass. My first trip down to Texas with them they gave me and our other friend that was with us the choice to stay behind and chill or go with them. I was super curious because everyone talks about Latin being a dead language, yet there are people that still study it and use it for religious purposes. To me that is not a dead language. I wanted to see the language in its full life. I also convinced our other friend to tag along. My friends told me to just do what they did. Sounded easy enough. For those that have never attended such a ceremony, it is full of up, down, and knee positions. I personally think that it could contend with any gym's leg workout. The only thing we did not join in was Eucharist, AKA Holy Communion, since we were not Catholic. Me and my other friend were holding each other up as we left because of how weak our legs were. We were not prepared physically for the experience.
The next time we were in Texas and Latin Mass was on the schedule my friends said that I could just stay seated this time. (By this time my list of disabilities had grown and they were aware of how I was impacted by them). They said that the disabled and elderly were not expected to do all of the positions. This time I got to just focus in on the beautiful ceremony and witness the impact that it had on those around me.
What is the point of me telling you this story? My point is at no time did I interrupt the proceedings. I was there to watch and learn. I participated the first time to the best of my abilities by going with the flow using my friends to guide me. If I hadn't known anyone there I would have sat in a back corner and just watched, but never interrupt. Maybe it's my training as an anthropologist or just the basic respect for people that I was taught as a child. Even when I have participated or watch religious ceremonies linked to me personally, I never tried to disrupt, even when I didn't agree with how the religious leader was doing something.
Many religious ceremonies/events today are public because most religious leaders want to have outsiders to have some understanding of what they do in the hopes to reduce the hatred that is out there for people that are different from you. They are also always hoping to expanding their following. I say attend these events when you have time or to even go to other religious ceremonies that match your religion but are lead by someone different to expand your understanding of people. Watch and learn, but don't interrupt.
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