![]() The announcer called for an impromptu Intertribal dance, where everybody dances all together and the joy and relief in the arena was palpable, even among the children. The feather was then returned to the dancer, who looked on the verge of tears himself, over prayers from each of the four veterans and hugs all around from the man’s family.Īnd then the party was back on. Afterwards, the whooping, clapping and drumming was deafening as everybody thanked the veteran for his sacrifice, both in war and in reliving a painful story so that the eagle feather could be restored to power. Its reservation in Central Oregon was established in 1879, and the confederation’s constitution was adopted in 1937. Throughout the telling, which was laden with emotion and halted more than once for tears, the man’s tribal members called out their support and encouragement. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs is made up of the Wasco, Warm Springs, and Paiute tribes, recognized by treaty in 1855. The response from the crowd was as moving as his story. The man with the feather was given a microphone and he told a heart-wrenching story first in Tiwa, the Native tongue and then in English of a good friend dying in his arms in Vietnam. Then the announcer explained that whoever feels called to retrieve the feather must tell a story from battle that he has never told before. Four times the veterans (from the Vietnam and Gulf Wars) laid their hands over the feather, before one of them finally picked it up. To retrieve the feather, four veterans and a number of tribal elders surrounded the fallen feather, chanting and singing and dancing.
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