Distinctly Montana Magazine

joe Shelton Ladle used for spooning water on rocks therapeutic, and spiritual effects. And here in Montana, which enjoys a privileged relationship with its old ways, the traditional sweat lodge, as well as medical knowledge, is vividly alive. More than 200 years after Bratton's experience, two sweat lodges sit nestled into the hills of USDA land just outside of Bozeman. The spot overlooks the Missouri River basin, a confluence of waters that has always been sacred to Native Americans. At the bottom of the low hill sits the Lakota-Sioux lodge, and about 20 feet up the path is a Crow lodge. They look similar, although the Crow lodge opens to the east and is skirted by a fence. I am told by Crow lodge-keeper, Shayne Doyle, that this is because the Crow ceremony is performed nude, and the partition keeps the participants from prying eyes. He also hands me a tin can in which rattles some sage, which is thrown on the fire. On a bench lies a small wooden ladle for pouring water over the hot lava rocks. Lava rocks have been piled up further down the hill. Doyle tells me that sometimes members of other tribes will come and grab some for their own uses, in exchange for remembering the locals in their prayers. He tells me the Sweat Lodge ceremony is for the community. Shayne Doyle holds a Masters Degree in Native American Studies and has many years experience at teaching. He grew up on the Crow Reservation and has spent more than 25 years as a Plains Indian-style traditional singer and the keeper of a sweat lodge. His expertise on the subject is hard-won, since the only way to learn to keep a lodge is to learn it from someone else, who has learned it from someone else, so on. As an oral tradition Doyle estimates that it remains more or less unbroken since the first Paleoindians arrived on the continent 12,000 years ago. Before I talked to Mr. Doyle, I was cautioned that "knowledge is not always viewed the way as you may be used to, such as in a school setting where you can just find it in a book, or go talk to someone who has the knowledge. Private Crow sweat lodge Blackfoot lodge being prepared. Photo courtesy of Gallatin Pioneer Museum Why shouldn't a remedy and practice, which was nearly universal among the indigenous peoples of North and South America, prove an effective and useful one? Lakota-Sioux lodge www.distinctlymontana.com joe Shelton 57

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