Eagle Dance

Meredith waited quietly by the fire. A drum was beating hypnotically. The women sat down.

The men entered the room, dressed in eagle kachinas, and formed a circle around Meredith and the women. They spread their arms as they moved, displaying wide wings. On their backs they wore decorated shields depicting the sun and rain. They beat on skin drums.

Shaman Far Heart was the most glorious of them, bowing and chanting, and praying to the sun.

Pray for Light

The shaman spread his eagle wings toward the sky and bent in a great sweeping bow, his magnificent eagle head nearly touching the ground. He chanted, "Father Sun, give us light!"

The other eagle dancers, also opening their wings, bowed low and chanted, "Oh, great Sun, give us rain to nourish the earth. Send us wind to cool and refresh the earth." 

Great Chant

The men danced around the fire stamping, bowing, twirling and beating on their drums crying, "Father Sun, give us pure rain to drink and pure wind that we may breathe freely. Give us pure light and warmth that does not burn our bodies. As it was in the days of our fathers, so let it be again."  

The shaman prayed and was joined by the dancers, their kachina heads bobbing and swaying. For Meredith, every motion, every sound was magnified. She heard the great chant rising majestically enough to reach any deity in the skies.  

She was reminded of her own father, who had disappeared in the prime of his life. She wished he could be with her now.

Nature's Sorrows

The dance ended.

Meredith was deeply shaken. The dances brought heavy longing for her lost parents. The chants had only deepened her awareness of the pressing dangers to the earth, of the pollution that could destroy the delicate web of life. Meredith had devoted her life to a study of these threats, but never had she felt them so keenly. It was as if she had taken on nature's sorrows as her own.

She gathered herself together and made ready for the healing ceremony.