SANDRA SPEIDEN is no stranger to the spirit of adventure, and she also has a strong sense of the spiritual interconnections of the universe.
However, she had no clue as to what was ahead when she somehow was led to an American Indian ceremonial pipe at an estate auction in 1986. That impulsive purchase would lead to a two-week, 300-mile winter trip by horseback across South Dakota 16 years later.
Speiden, 66, and her husband, Bill, 68, are retired dairy farmers living in Orange County who still farm on a small scale. Sandra Speiden manages an online used-book dealership, cares for their riding horses and is involved with American Indian issues. Bill Speiden uses his oxen in events depicting their role in the development of our country and writes a weekly column in Town & County, "Lewis and Clark This Week."
With an appreciation for tradition, history and heritage, Sandra Speiden became convinced that the pipe, believed to have been owned by the legendary Lakota leader Sitting Bull, should be returned to his descendants in the tribe.
Detective work on the computer gave her the name of the great-great-great-grandson of Sitting Bull, Ron McNeil, the president of Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, N.D., who goes by the name his grandfather gave him, "Ron His Horse Is Thunder." She decided to attend the powwow sponsored by the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington in September 2002, with the hope he would be there. This indeed was the case, although she was undecided and a bit apprehensive as to how to approach him. Her hesitancy about meeting him was eased when she had a very clear dream, the night before, about finding him to be a warm and gracious person with whom she had an easy conversation.
That dream did come true. McNeil was so very appreciative of her wish to give the pipe to the family that he invited her to bring it to the Standing Rock Reservation near McLaughlin, S.D., and present it on Dec. 15, 2002, prior to the Lakota Nation's annual two-week-long Big Foot Memorial Ride. He also invited her to be included on that trip.
The memorial ride was initiated in 1986 and was intended to continue for four years, to end on the 100th anniversary of the death of Sitting Bull and the infamous Wounded Knee Massacre. Its purpose was to bring closure to a grieving process that had never been allowed to take place. But urging by tribe members' children has made it an annual event to honor and preserve their history and heritage. It now is called the Oomaka Tokatakiya Future Generations Ride.
Sitting Bull, the most respected leader in the history of the Lakota Nation, was killed Dec. 15, 1890, in his cabin on the Standing Rock Reservation by U.S. cavalry forces, a measure taken to control perceived dangers posed by the tribe.
The Indians fled in an attempt to reach Red Cloud's reservation in Nebraska, 300 miles to the south. When they reached Wounded Knee, S.D., the pursuing troops caught up to them and began to disarm them. One tribal member, who was deaf, misunderstood the order to relinquish his rifle, and in the ensuing scuffle it discharged. This precipitated the slaughter of more than 250 of the nearly 350 men, women and children who had made the arduous journey from North Dakota.
The opportunity to join the commemorative ride honoring Sitting Bull and the Wounded Knee Massacre left Speiden feeling delighted and privileged. When she took home the invitation, her husband predictably and enthusiastically agreed to the venture.
After three months of preparation, which included conditioning both themselves and their two horses for open-country travel in weather that could reach minus 40 degrees with blizzards, they left Virginia, driving their pickup truck and pulling the stock trailer. Bill Speiden had fitted plywood panels over the trailer's side openings and tailgate to allow it to serve two purposes. The rear half sheltered the horses on the trip to and from South Dakota. The front half was nighttime camping space for the couple during the ride, while the horses stayed in portable corrals or at ranches along the way.
The horses--true heroes, or heroines, in the story--were two mares, Topaz, Sandra Speiden's 14-year-old Spanish mustang, and Dancer, Bill Speiden's 15-year-old Tennessee Walker. The support of their son Leith Speiden, who came along to drive the truck during the ride and take care of many sometimes onerous tasks and details, also was invaluable to the success of the venture.
The pipe was carried wrapped in a piece of flannel, along with a sprig of wild sage that is used by the Indians for ceremonial purposes. Formed of two interconnecting pieces that are joined only during use, it is made from a sedimentary rock called pipestone, found exclusively in southwestern Minnesota in an area sacred to the Indians where no one but they are allowed to quarry.
The stem, representing the backbone of the people, is drilled out with reeds and sand. The pipe Sandra Speiden bought has a wood stem inserted inside the pipestone stem. Oral history of the tribe tells that the pipe was given to the Lakota by White Buffalo Calf Woman, along with seven ceremonies to accompany it, so the Indians felt it was particularly appropriate for a woman, Sandra Speiden, to return the one she had purchased.
At Sitting Bull Camp on the evening of Dec. 14, the Speidens brought the gift pipe to the powwow that preceded the start of the ride. Before an audience of 80 or more people, Sandra Speiden presented McNeil with the pipe. She began by saying:
"Ron, in the spirit of healing, and in memory and in honor of a great leader, I give this pipe to you that may have been Sitting Bull's. Gen. Thomas Rosser met and recognized Sitting Bull in Canada in 1881, and gave him some food. In return, Sitting Bull gave him a headpiece.
"In 1984, Barbara Rosser, Gen. Rosser's granddaughter, was going into a nursing home and an estate auction was being held that included possessions formerly owned by her grandfather. Attributed to Sitting Bull at that auction was the headpiece, as well as a necklace and the pipe.
"I have never before, nor since, purchased an Indian's personal possession because I am not comfortable, for a number of reasons, with the idea of doing that. But something made me go to that auction; and the pipe spoke to me.
"Since that time, I tried to find a descendant of Sitting Bull so I could gift the pipe back to the family, and complete its circle."
She ended the presentation by saying, "One of the wonderful things about this whole experience has been the expanding circle of involvement and good thoughts. It is my hope that this may be an example to be followed. It is a particular pleasure to gift you with the pipe because you, yourself, are a leader."
Immediately afterward, McNeil's mother, Ina McNeil, who lives in Long Island, N.Y., held an honoring ceremony and giveaway. Much to Speiden's surprise, she was presented with a quilt and two matching throw pillows.
It was not until later than night that she had a chance to unfold the quilt and discover, to her amazement and awe, that Mrs. McNeil had given her a handmade star quilt. The giving of one of these quilts is a high honor; Speiden had no idea that she would be honored to such an extent.
Various beliefs and legends address the custom of creating a star quilt. Not all the quilts have the same design. The one Mrs. McNeil gave Speiden has pastel colors, perhaps symbolic of the dawn.
The next morning, the riders gathered at Sitting Bull's grave site beside the Grand River near McLaughlin, S.D., for a prayer circle ceremony that included a custom called smudging. A small, tight, hand-held bundle of sweet grass or sage is lighted and the smoke is wafted across the faces of the riders and horses as a purification and protection rite.
After a lunch prepared by Ina McNeil and her sister, Della, the riders left Sitting Bull Camp to begin the arduous 14-day trip. Speiden was thrilled to find herself and her husband riding with superb horsemen, former members of a mobile, horse-based culture who were back in their element.
The initial group of 31 riders was about equally made up of adults and boys and girls age 8 up to late teens. Some of the youngsters were riding bareback, and all were riding hard to keep up on their little ponies, which were only about 3 feet high. The young people were counseled by the elders to pay close attention to the route, since they would eventually be responsible for leading the ride.
The first two days of the trip crossed the Standing Rock Reservation; then the riders traveled for six days across the Cheyenne River Reservation. The next three days would be across nonreservation land until they reached the Badlands on the Pine Ridge Reservation on Dec. 25, then on to Wounded Knee, with arrival planned Dec. 28.
Generally, the riders left around 10 a.m., stopping for several short rest periods and an hour for lunch, traveling an average of about six hours a day. Every fourth day was a day of rest. Most days, the group traveled at least 25 miles, with the two hardest days clocking 35 and 40 miles.
The first leg of the trip took the riders down the frozen Grand River, and by the end of the day, 28 miles had been covered in 41/2 hours, traveling either at a fast trot or slow canter. "Ron hadn't been exaggerating when he told me they rode fast," commented Speiden. "I had been expecting maybe 10 or 12 miles that first half-day."
It was well after dark when they came into the town of Timber Lake to stay for the night, and when Speiden got to the trailer, she sank to her knees in pain and exhaustion.
"I put my head down on my arms, unable to move, or even help take care of the horses. I had been congested over the last few days but pains in my midriff made it clear there was more to it than that," she says.
She rode in the truck with Leith until Dec. 21, when the pain finally put her in the hospital in Rapid City, S.D., diagnosed with a large stomach ulcer. "While I was there, I slept under Ina McNeil's star quilt and could feel the prayers of the riders," she says.
Prayer is an important part of Indian life. Each day started with a prayer circle, usually led by Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader, who spoke of the need to pray while riding and help each other along the way. He emphasized the need to restore balance and be at peace, thinking good thoughts in order to counteract the pervasive sickness and strife in the world.
Successful treatment got Speiden out of the hospital on Christmas Day. Leith and Bill Speiden picked her up, and they rejoined the riders. The next day was a day of rest. Bill Speiden continued the ride the following day while Sandra Speiden prudently rode in the truck again, since it was the day of the tough 40-mile stretch through the Badlands. Support vehicles could not follow there and any injury to a horse or rider could have had severe consequences.
Fortunately, the weather was unusually mild during the trip, reaching the teens in the morning and warming to the 20s or 30s during the day.
Although there often was ice on the streams, it was possible to break through to let the horses drink, even if occasionally they had to go to their knees to reach the water. (Not an easy thing to do.) Generally, if the water is very cold, horses tend not to drink enough of it to suit their needs, so their supply had to be supplemented from water warmed in the truck.
The riders continued on their way Dec. 27, with Sandra Speiden again on Topaz, traveling onward with renewed enthusiasm, both of them eager and excited to be back with the group, which had swelled in size to nearly 100 participants.
Sweat purification, as well as prayer ceremonies, were held several times during the ride. A lodge was erected out of quilts and blankets thrown over a frame of poles; water was poured over heated rocks to create steam for the lightly clad people within. The Indians attribute meanings to all the elements--the rocks, the water, the steam.
Ceremonies also often include "the drum," an inclusive term for a group of men who sit or stand around a large drum and beat a rhythm on it as they sing.
When the riders reached the Wounded Knee Massacre site on the afternoon of Dec. 28, they were welcomed with a drum and honor songs, followed by a prayer circle, all in the Lakota language. The spiritual leader, Arvol Looking Horse, spoke of the history of the site. He urged the young people to become leaders and make sure another such event does not occur. Ron His Horse Is Thunder also spoke, and praised the youngsters for having made the ride despite pain and cold and hunger. He also gave credit to the horses, who, "hurting and wanting to cry, still carried their riders."
Supper that night was in an Indian school in Manderson. Sandra Speiden had wanted to hold an honoring ceremony and give-away during the powwow that night for what was termed "The Riders of the North," all those who had started at Sitting Bull Camp. Her gifts were 36 two-pound bags of Virginia peanuts, which were enthusiastically received.
Bob Gipp, a close friend of Ron McNeil's and chairman of the board of trustees at Sitting Bull College, who had completed the trip, also had a ceremony and give-away that evening, honoring the Speidens with the gift of a second star quilt. McNeil told Sandra Speiden that the couple would be welcome to join the Big Foot riders any time they wished to do so.
The next morning, Dec. 29, the anniversary of the massacre, brought mild weather. The riders first were smudged, then cantered up the hill to the Wounded Knee cemetery. A somber and moving ceremony, mostly in the Lakota language, was held at the site where descendants of the victims of the massacre, including Virgil Kills Straight, a descendant of one of the four male survivors, formed a receiving line beside the mass grave.
A white flag of peace was flying there, representing the one under which the Lakota band was camped when they were disarmed and then attacked. For many years, the Lakota have been trying to rescind the Medals of Honor that were awarded to 23 U.S. Army soldiers after that event.
Sandra Speiden sums up the adventure this way: "This experience gave me a deeper appreciation of the Lakota acceptance of history and their attempts to move on in spite of the immense problems--suicide, alcoholism and poverty--of a proud people, isolated on reservations, that had always lived a mobile, communal lifestyle.
"It was clear to me that the culture the Lakota are striving to preserve is worthy of preservation. Their view of all life as being interconnected, their strong spirituality, their desire to live in such a manner that balance is maintained, their thinking in terms of what benefits the group rather than what benefits only the individual, all these elements bear respect and support."
For the schedule of the spiritual/youth ride, check the Web site sittingbull.edu.
PATRICIA O. LaLAND is a freelance writer living in Orange.