We very much want to incorporate Eric's Native heritage into our getting married and neither of us knows a lot about how, much less what we could incorporate within the (NY) prison constraints- Anybody got any suggestions? I wasn't sure whether to put this here or under weddings but any help would be appreciated. thanks y'all:rolleyes:

Edit: I just googled this topic- WITHOUT any refereence to prison- and the first place it brought me was PTO!!! LOL

Cherokee weddings include blankets------one for each of the two parties, which are then taken and the one blanket is wrapped around them both at the end. You'd just have to figure out what you wanted to incorporate and then run it by the minister or whoever is performing the ceremony. I don't think you could do an actual Cherokee ceremony in a prison. Do an internet search on Cherokee weddings and see what you come up with that you could use. Try going to http://www.cherokee.org and http://www.cherokeebyblood.com and you should get some information.

Thanks toi! actually the first thing Google took me to was a thread on the subject that had been answered by you...I am hoping we can incorporate blankets and at least that wonderful blessing about not being lonely anymore and sheltering each other. Do you know, if we find our own officiant will they let us bring that person in? or does it have to be someone on some pre-approved list of theirs?
By all that's holy in any culture, I am so excited on every level about marrying this man that my heart leaps up. I wish I were a virgin...in some ways I feel like one.

anyone know about Navajo wedding practices???

Have you done an internet search, Deb? I'll do one later to see what I can find. I know the Navajo have some of the most beautiful family values in the world. They even build their homes with the spiritual values of family in mind. I'll see what I can find for you, and you do an internet search too.

haswtch, I don't know if they'll let you bring in your own officiant or not. Some prisons do and some don't. You'll just have to ask them. Some prisons just allow a civil service kind of wedding. Most don't let you have all the bells and whistles, but NY seems to have pretty liberal rules, so maybe you'll get lucky on that.

In the matter of Indian wedding ceremonies I suggest that you contact the nation/tribe of the person to be wed and ask for guidance. There is too much crap on the net so a good piece of advice from an elder or holy man would be the very best and appropriate in respect to the traditions and the ancestors.
Walk in beauty

The two links I gave are for the Cherokee Nation and the other is a website owned by a man who is enrolled Cherokee. They're reliable sources of info. I wouldn't give anything that was just "internet crap", just for the record. I agree that another really good source would be as WinyanTsumanitu suggests, but I know haswtch may not have contact with or know how to contact the holy people so that's why I gave those links.

If you go to http://www.500nations.com you can find contacts you need as well.

I am happy to hear that it is run by a enrolled member although being enrolled doesnt mean the person have the knowledge but you seems to be a sincere person who knows what you are talking about but there are so many people out there ready to take advantage of others and I for one would not at all like to see it happen.
May you all walk in beauty
Mitakuye Oyasin - all my relations

Thank you both. There aren't a lot of actual tribal resources in this part of the world, nor will the prison probably allow us much beyond the standard utilitarian wedding. Then too, Eric is just part Native although he identifies emotionally and spiritually with that part more than the European part. I do promise that whatever we do we will proceed with love and reverence toward each other and toward all elders, because that is who we both are in any case.

What WinyanTsumanitu says is correct. That just because someone is enrolled doesn't mean they know and follow tradition. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of websites on the internet that claim to be Cherokee, but don't have accurate information on them. The three I've given should give you a start in the right direction, though.

I'm glad WinyanTsumanitu has joined us here. She seems very solid in her knowledge, tradition and sincerity and I would trust anything she tells you.

Kola

I am deeply touched by your kind words and honored to be at help to anyone.
walk in beauty and stand tall.

Haswch. Maybe I missed it or something (friday ya know) but what tribe is your man from? I think that is very important. Every nation has its own practices.

He has Iroquois blood on his fathers side. When most of the native people left this area, some chose to stay and were helped by the Quakers in "purchasing" land that never should have been stolen in the first place, and for generations it was something you didn't speak of, being part Indian. And there was a lot of intermarriage. So it is hard for people around here to really connect with their roots in that department.

I would try finding an elder woman of the Iroquis nation to help you find the traditional ways of his people. Good luck.

The Cherokee are an offshoot of the Iriquois, so many of their practices are probably the same or similar.

Mitakuye Oyasin

I am a tlazcalteca living in lakota country
but what is our country
we have all been shifted around
and each have walked a trail of tears
in our own right
and each has shed blood
in our plight
and so I borrow these words from my cousins
mitakuye oyasin.

**just something I thought up just now...

beautiful thank you! Long shot- you know anything about the Lenape?

beautiful thank you! Long shot- you know anything about the Lenape?



My mother told me Lenape were in the NJ area.

beautiful thank you! Long shot- you know anything about the Lenape?
My husband Little Fox is Lenni Lenape Turtle Clan out of New Jersey. Some of your questions I may be able to answer.

Betty Price Cherokee Amber Leaf