"Throughout our lives, we find ways to mark and measure our progress in life — to look back at our journey. That time for me is my annual retreat into prayer, where I separate myself from the pace of worldly living and attend Sundance.
This year’s Sundance was wet and rainy. It rained off and on for most of the ceremony. The contrast from last year to this year is plain. Last year, the temperature at the Sitting Bull camp near McLaughlin, S.D., reached 118 degrees, said someone at the camp who keeps track of things like that.
Yet we knew the rain and thunder have their messages, too.
On the first night of the Sundance, the lightning was so bright and the thunder was so loud and vicious that I nearly sat straight up following one exceptional burst. The storm crept into the Grand River valley in the middle of the night while the camp slept. That rainstorm would set the pace for the rest of the ceremony."
Get the Story:COLUMNIST DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: Sundance ceremony offers food for the soul (The Grand Forks Herald 7/23)
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