The Seven Came

It seemed a long way from the city to our long house. The excitement of the twin ceremonies was quickly wearing off. I wondered to myself why it was so much longer going home than going to the ceremonies. And I remembered the thrill of the New Year’s celebration and the solemn Friend’s Made ceremony. These two ceremonies impressed me more than the other five had. But I was young and this was the first time I was not watched closely by the women when we visited the town and the Council House. Uncle had been busy so I had a great deal of free time with the other new braves. I loved it. I hated leaving but I knew the cold moon months would soon be on us. So we were walking slowly from there to our valley where we wintered in the long house with two other clan families. I became tired but I remembered to keep moving so as not to hold the others up as we traveled.

The long house was a happy place. We lived close to many others as three large families shared this space. Around grandmother’s cooking fire was grandfather, an elder and a healer. Grandmother was a noted herbalist and made the medicines that grandfather used. Mother and Father and mother’s brother also gathered here with my cousins and myself. This year, grandmother’s sister also gathered at our fire. She seemed small and I was a little afraid of her. I called her “e-tlo-gi�?while others called her “Wind That Whispers.�?

The weather turned sharply cold that winter. We huddled around the fire. E-tlo-gi told stories of her childhood. She rapidly became everybody’s favored. She had time for all the children and showed us how to make thing that were important.

The weather turned very warm again. I was outside with the hunters. I wanted to learn the medicine of the hunt so I could attract game and help feed the People.

Then it was cold again, and wet. The rains came and the wind blew rain though the long house. When I awoke in the morning, it was often damp around our fire and also around the other fires. I had a warm rug, but getting out in the morning to go to water was still a teeth chattering challenge.

Sometimes at night I heard others cough. Then in a few days we were all coughing. Grandmother and grandfather were very busy with their healing medicines. What they gave me tasted strong. I did not like it, but my cough went away. At night I continued to hear coughing as I fell asleep. I awoke in the night to hear someone coughing. It seemed the medicine helped everyone except Wind That Whispers. Her night cough became stronger and stronger. It kept us awake. When I asked, everyone dismissed me saying that she would be all right very soon.

Then the women took her to the bake house. I knew that at night the elderly and the sick stayed there because it was very warm. I also knew that my grandfather favored the sweats. I had been taken there a few years ago and told to drink hot fluids as I was wrapped in a heavy robe and placed on a cot near the heat. Such was our ways, the bake house of the early morning became the sweat lodge of the night. E-tlo-gi was there for many nights and then with a sense of foreboding, she was brought back to the fire in our long house. And that night the sound of her breathing made me aware that she was laboring over every breath.

That was when the seven came. When I awoke there was an unfamiliar woman sitting beside E-tlo-gi. Grandmother was asleep on her pallet. I was told to be quiet and to go outside. It was strange. I wanted to know who the woman was and who had brought her into our lodge.

That night another unknown man arrived bringing food. He rekindled the fires and spoke briefly with my grandfather. Then he made a small lodge outside and with little ceremony went to sleep. She watched all day. He watched all night. At mid-day the next day, another woman arrived and moved to the bedside. Then a man and a woman. I was beginning to feel crowded. No one wanted to hear from me. I went to work with some of the other braves and we made a small lean-to from where we watched all the things that happened. Men and women continued to arrive until there were seven (four women and three men). They seldom spoke. They just helped day and night. They asked for nothing.

Even so, E-tlo-gi died. I was there. It was the first death I would witness. I will never forget the sound of her breathing. It became a rattle with coughs. He face was filled with pain. Our medicine had failed. This was the first of the deaths during this cold moon season. I wondered if she had seen herself lying down in the crystal when the crystal gazer brought them to us at Atahuna.

The Priest arrived. We were all asked to step outside. Two of the men stood guard at the door. The other was available to go for what ever the Priest requested. The four women brought cedar and water and prepared the body. There was great sadness over the lodge. We cried and mourned. Grandmother was distraught. The seven cooked our meals and brought them to us. On the seventh day after E-tlo-gi became “the Traveler�?Grandfather brought us together and started telling the stories that had made the Traveler known as a healer and a very good woman. Then he asked that we no longer grieve so that she could leave us. I had never thought of it before. If we continued, and she witnessed this grief, she would not be able to leave. She would become yet another of the ghosts wandering our camp and lodge. Letting her go on was one brave act. At least that’s what I remember grandfather saying.

That night the seven simply disappeared. I did ask grandfather who they were and why we did not know them. He gave me one word that I did not then understand. The word was “Gaduga.�?Now I know them for what they are, seven good people set aside to sacrifice for those who demonstrate any need. I have not seen them often and when I do its never the same seven. They take no gifts, ask for no thanks, just meet the need and disappear. They claim no distinction and do not admit that they are a part of the “helper’s society.�?Whatever they are, the were a great help during the week that E-tlo-gi walked away from her skin suit.

Our lodge sat outside the west gate for the next seven ceremonies. Our faces were streaked with black. No one asked us why. They knew. We were birthing the spirit of the Traveler as she returned to the Creator in the Night Land. There is no finer work than this, unless it is the work of the seven who come, stay, give, and leave.

No longer a boy, I will never forget them, just as I will never forget Wind that Whispers, my grandparents and parents, and all others who lived in our lodge. And especially, I will never forget the seven who came and who continue to come when there is a need.

Night Eagle ©
November 13, 2005