When somebody is sick, when somebody needs help, there are different ceremonies for different purposes for different     illnesses, and the medicine men are trained in these very ceremonies to conduct these ceremonies to keep people healthy and strong and happy. It brings the families and the communities together for 1 day, 2 days, 5 days. The longest ceremonies we have is, two of them left today, they’re 9 day ceremonies. And in these times there’s a lot of interaction, a lot of social activities, dancing and then of course the counseling to try to help the younger generation. The Elders counsel the youth and everybody, how to live and how to act and how to behave on the individual basis as well as collectively. So all these things are brought together, different portions, different aspects of life so that one lives and the family lives, the community lives in harmony and in balance and in peace. This is what I was born into at that time. (more…)