Lac St. Anne Pilgrimage

Dee and Cal are camping at the shores of Lac St. Anne tonight, the site of the largest annual spiritual gathering of Native people in Canada.

"A long-established annual meeting place for Aboriginal peoples, this lake became a Catholic pilgrimage site in the late 19th century. Since 1889, First Nations and Métis people have traveled here in late July to celebrate the Feast of Saint Anne. This saint, widely revered as the mother of the Virgin Mary and the grandmother of Jesus, embodies the grandmother figure honoured in many Canadian Aboriginal societies. Lac Ste. Anne is an important place of spiritual, cultural and social rejuvenation, central aspects of traditional summer gatherings for indigenous peoples."

Between 30,000 and 40,000 people are expected to attend this year (July 18-23).

Bear Butte

Crazy Horse was still a teen (then called by his childhood name, Curly) when the Great Council of Teton Lakotas (Souix) took place at Bear Butte in the summer of 1857. It was here that he began to see the Lakotas as the same proud people as in the old days and to feel the power of their unity (Sandoz, pp 98-100). And it was here that Curly underwent an Inipi, or a purification ceremony, and had a great vision on the inclines of Bear Butte, which his father interpreted as meaning that Crazy Horse would one day be a great warrior (see Pluralism Project link below).

Violating a treaty of 1868, George Custer led an expedition to the Black Hills region in 1874, and according to custom he camped near Bear Butte. Custer verified the rumors of gold in the Black Hills, and Bear Butte then served as an easily identifiable landmark for the rush of invading prospectors and settlers into the region. Indian reaction to the illegal movements of whites into the area was intense and hostile. Ultimately the government reneged on its treaty obligations regarding the Black Hills and instead embarked on a pogrom to confine all northern Plains tribes to reservations. Incidentally, by taking Highway 79 to Rapid City, Dee and Cal avoided the Black Hills towns of Lead, Central City, Pluma, and Deadwood on US 85/385 that were the focus of the gold rush.

"The sacredness of Bear Butte as a religious site for the Lakota and a myriad of other native groups cannot be disputed. Legend and history, as well as the determination of the Lakota to defend Bear Butte today demonstrate the importance of mountain. The battle to protect Bear Butte is shaping up to be a battle between religious rights and property rights, coupled with the perceived need for economic development in South Dakota. Unfortunately, controversies involving the infringement of the religious rights of the Lakota have caused clashes between natives and those who do not see Bear Butte in the way of the Lakota and other Native Tribes." (The Pluralism Project)

I love reading Sandoz while Dee and Cal are traveling through this region.

Anselmo B. Smith

This morning I was reading about the "TINY" town of Bingham, where Dee and Cal spent last night (Wed). The population is said to be twenty, give or take a few, but it may have been as high as 200 in the 1920's. Surfing from this page, I clicked on links to Ashby, back down the road where the trikers stopped for a break yesterday, and Whitman. This then brought me to Hyannis. Hyannis, NE was named for Hyannis, MA, home town of the civil engineer who surveyed the Nebraska town, Anselmo B. Smith. End of story, except for the fact that Mr. Smith shows up in the histories of a number of Nebraska towns, including one named after the man himself, Anselmo, NE. Dee and Cal rode through this town between Broken Bow and the National Forest on Monday.

In the town of Anselmo, NE there happens to be St. Anselm's Catholic Church, nicknamed the Cathedral of the Sandhills. The church, of course, is named for St. Anselm. No one else may find this remotely curious, but it seems like a strange coincidence that the church named for a late 11th century cleric in a town named for a 19th century surveyor should have such similar names.

Incidentally, Anselmo B. Smith also platted the metropolis of Kearney, and one source I found indicates that he may have surveyed the city of Lincoln for the state.