Papoose Research Paper

When I was younger my mom would always refer to me as her “little papoose”. I remember this one time I asked, “What is a papoose?” All my mom replied with was, “You.” At that point in time I never understood what she was calling me. In fact, I always assumed it was her way of teasing me. Then, at the ripe age of twelve I traveled to Michigan to visit my dad for a summer. It was at this time I understood what it meant. As a child I realized I happen to be Native American. That is to say, I never grasped the concept of what being Native American was, but that is what my parents told me I was. My view on who I was a human being changed that summer in Michigan. It started with a humid day and wind that occasionally blew by to refresh my perspiring body. My grandma put me in a flowing skirt and dress shirt that day because we were going to a place that required dressing for our heritage. Even though I had not had a clue what my heritage was, I did what I was told. We traveled
We could not go outside until six because the warriors of the tribe had to get the fire going, so until then the people congregated while I settled with the idea of all of us sharing the same blood of our ancestors. Once we were outside there sat the magodadamuk, which is what we call the native sweat lodge in my tribe’s language. It was made of old military tarps and next to the lodge sat the fire. The fire was surrounded by stones from the shores of Lake Michigan. To begin, the first part of the ritual is called the water ceremony. During the water ceremony we are praying to what my people call the “Great Spirit”. We all line up before the fire and are blessed with sage. Sage is wafted from our feet to our heads and then in front of our faces as a blessing. We need to be in our purest and most vulnerable state before entering the lodge. This means releasing our bad thoughts and bringing only good thoughts into the sacred