Chapter 24: Wedding Bells and Birds

Ava convinced Sheila to leave her alone with Udit for a little while. The two of them had some issues that still needed to be resolved that were best addressed in private.

Martha entered the kitchen a couple of hours later. She looked at Ava and Udit sternly for a moment before she said, "You two need to settle up your differences or take them someplace else. I need to get dinner ready."

Ava smiled at her and said, "I think we've resolved everything between us that can be resolved."

Martha returned her smile and a tension seemed flow out of her before saying, "Well, that's a relief. I was afraid we'd have a new round of the Indian wars."

"We could use your advice on something though," Ava said.

Martha sat down and asked, "Advice is free. How can I help you?"

"We've been talking about the weddings on Sunday," Udit said.

"We were thinking that it might be appropriate to hold a cleansing ceremony tomorrow night for BB and Sheila," Ava said. "It's traditional for both our tribes."

"Neither of them have lived with their people for many years," Udit pointed out. "We're not sure if they would want to follow their peoples tradition. Especially after the damage I've caused to our relationship."

Martha chuckled and patted Udit's hand. "You haven't damaged anything, Udit. BB might get mad at you but he doesn't love you any less." She cocked her head as she looked at him and said, "You know. For a high power Shaman, you sure can be dense sometime. I guess you can't help it though. You're still a man."

Ava laughed and said, "Well said, Martha. That's the same thing I've been telling him. I don't know BB well enough to know how he would take a suggestion of a cleansing ceremony though."

"BB wouldn't be offended," Martha said confidently. "I doubt if Sheila would either but the only way to know is to ask them. Besides, Udit committed himself to train both of them. That would probably include all ceremonies wouldn't it?"

Ava and Udit nodded and Martha said, "Then, this should probably fall under the training curriculum so let's ask them."

Suiting action to words, Martha went to the door and call out, "BB, Sheila, we've got a question about your wedding. Could you come in here please?"

A few moments later BB and Sheila entered the kitchen followed by Pete and Susan. "What question?" BB asked. Seth stepped into the room to see if there was a change in plans.

Martha looked at Ava and Udit in expectation. Both of them looked hesitant and searching for the correct words to ask their question. Martha snorted and turning back to the soon to be newlyweds said, "They wanted to know how you would feel about a cleansing ceremony before your wedding." She looked back at Udit and Ava before shaking her head in exasperation and turning back to the couple. "Udit is concerned that he damaged his relationship with you, BB. He's afraid he no longer has the right to ask that of you because of the damage he's caused to the relationship between the two of you. Both of them feel the two of you have been away from your people so long that you may not want to follow their traditions. I've told Udit that he may make you angry with him, BB, but you would never stop loving him. Now, I have something to say about this subject."

BB chuckled and said, "You always have something to say about everything, Martha."

"I'll take no lip from you young man," Martha warned, but she was smiling. She grew serious when she said, "You've both said you want Udit to train you. My understanding is that your training will be a combination of ritual and exercises in how to control your thoughts and mind. I'm assuming this Cleansing is a ritual and can be considered part of your training. If you are going to be training to help and protect my baby then I'll accept no half efforts. Do you understand?"

"Yes Martha," Sheila said.

BB simply nodded at Martha before looking at Udit and saying "Grandfather, I may get angry with you but I would never turn away from you or reject your advice. I love you. I simply wish that you had been more open with us, with me. I knew you were training me before I left and I'm glad that we're going to start again. I thought I knew what you were training me for, but I was wrong. You were training me to be your replacement, weren't you?"

Udit sighed and said, "Yes. You are, were ... no, are intended to be my replacement. The hardest things for an apprentice to learn are in the earliest lessons. John," he glanced at Ava in sympathy, "had that training later in life and it was much harder for him."

"So, how much ground have I lost? Will I still be able to learn enough, um, skills to help Sean or my own children?" BB asked.

"You could. It should be easy for you because you already love Sean and knowing you may be learning for your children helps too," Udit replied.

BB nodded and, after a glance at Sheila's nod, said, "We would be honored if you would perform the cleansing ceremony for us."

"It would probably be more appropriate than a bachelor party," Pete said with a nervous laugh. "Those things never made much sense to me anyway. I mean, if a guy wants to get married, why is he partying in memory of what he's giving up? It doesn't make sense. Um, ah, would it be appropriate for Susan and I to join you in your cleansing ceremony? I mean, we're not Indian and I don't know if it's acceptable for non-Indians to be cleansed or whatever you call it."

Susan nodded and said, "We are having a double wedding. It doesn't feel like it would be complete without, you know, preparing for the wedding the same way too."

Ava smiled at Susan's and Pete's rambling and said, "A cleansing isn't a blood rite. It involves the spirit and if your spirit leads you to the cleansing then it is appropriate."

Udit nodded at Ava's statement but his eyes never left BB. "It would be my honor to conduct the cleansing," he said quietly as he bowed his head.

BB bowed his head in return and formally said, "I look forward to continuing my training with you, Grandfather."

Udit stared at BB intently for a moment before glancing at Seth and Martha. He nodded and said, "I don't believe you ever stopped training Brandon and I think you've had some very good teachers. I will teach you what I can, but I'll probably learn as much from you as you learn from me. There are many path's to a goal. Mine isn't the only path. It's just the path that I know. I believe that you will be stronger because you've followed your own path to reach your goal."

So, in addition to everything else that had to be done before the weddings, BB and Pete had to gather dead wood from the forest, by hand. They had to chop it into suitable sizes for a fire with an ax. Nothing mechanized could be used to gather or prepare the wood. Sean and Lightning went with them to get a better feel for the forest around the ranch, and to protect the men.

Everyone gathered around a large fire in the field behind the ranch near dusk on Saturday evening, the eve of their wedding. The main participants were assembled near the fire. The non-participants were placed around the fire at the cardinal points. Seth was on the north cardinal point and Martha was on the south. Seth was carrying Sean on his backboard over Martha's objections. Udit pointed out that Sean was a man and needed to be on the north side of the circle so Martha gave in. Seth muttered that he should mark today on the calendar to commemorate the occasion of Martha losing an argument.

"I heard that," Martha called to him in mock anger.

"Good," Seth called back good naturedly. "You can mark the calendar for me."

Abigail was on the east point while Paul and Pappy were on the west.

Sheila and Susan were kneeling in the south side of the fire on a cleared patch of dirt. Avasa was standing directly behind them. BB and Pete were kneeling on the north side of the fire, also on a cleared patch of dirt with Udit standing behind them. Udit had explained the importance of the cleared ground.

"You must be in contact with the earth" Udit said. "That is the only way for the spirits to reach you and cleanse you."

Udit and Avasa started chanting as the rim of the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Their words were different because Avasa was chanting in Cherokee while Udit was chanting in Apache, but their chants seemed to be in counterpoint to each other. They were both adamant that it was the same chant. Udit said the chant was one of the many commonalities between Native American tribes.

Author's Explanation

I won't try to print the chant because the words were in two different languages. Also, the words weren't exactly the same between the two chants despite Udit's and Avasa's claim that they were the same. Both Avasa and Udit agreed the spirit of the chants was exactly the same even if some of the words were a little different. They also looked at my attempt to translate the chant into English and agreed that my translation captured the meaning behind both chants. I won't include all the chant because it be far too long for this book. The chant lasted from when the sun disappeared until almost midnight. Avasa explained the chant needed to end before the darkest hour of the night to prevent the evil of the night flow back into the cleansed spirits. I will include what I call one verse and one chorus of my translation. It was a verse that had the most similarity between the two language versions.

Come you ancient spirits,

to this mortal plane.

Come you ancient spirits,

and wash away our pain.

Come you ancient spirits,

to heal these righteous souls.

Come you ancient spirits,

so they don't pay the toll.

Come you ancient spirits,

defend these pure of heart.

come you ancient spirits,

protect them from the dark.

Find the darkness in these hearts.

Find the hurt that battles start.

Find the sin they try to hide.

Find the doubt they hold inside

All washed away by love in the light of the moon.

It is interesting to note the verses were different but similar between the Apache and Cherokee versions. The chorus' were nearly identical. Udit and Avasa claimed the chants were handed down through the generations and both could trace them back to great, great grandparents. Neither could account for the chorus being the same between their tribes. It suggested a commonality in the history between the tribes, but, that's for a different study.

Back to the story

The ceremony stopped about fifteen minutes before midnight. The couples weren't allowed to touch as they were separated, even for a kiss goodnight. That didn't prevent good natured groans of frustration and calls of, 'I love you, ' between the two couples.

The brides were escorted upstairs and the grooms warned away from the stairs to catch a last glimpse of their intended. Martha claimed that Sean, as a baby, belonged with the women. All communication between the upstairs and downstairs were via Seth and Martha.

The women talked and giggled for several hours before going to bed. I think they forgot that Sean, even though he was a baby, could understand and comprehend and remember what they were saying. The things that young Sean David heard that night probably helped him a lot in later years when he had to deal with female wiles.

The men talked for a few hours before they went to bed too. At first it was good natured complaining about being stuck downstairs. The early start on the morrow to finish the chores in time to get ready to leave for the church was the next subject to be grumbled about. Then the conversation moved to the pros and cons of married life.

Udit's wife was long dead and he never remarried, but he did have an opinion. "The most important thing is love, but nearly as important is trust. Both are necessary for a happy and successful marriage."

Seth was a little more calculating, or maybe it was cynical in his view of marriage. "Pick your battles. You can't win all of them so let her win the little ones. Then you'll have a better chance of winning the big battles."

Ben was more optimistic than Seth. "You aren't going to win any battles so your best plan is to talk to her, a lot. Make sure the two of you stay on the same wavelength so no battles need to be fought."

The funny thing about all the advice given to the brides and grooms that night, was the similarity. Of course, the brides and grooms didn't know that until years later when they compared notes about the night before their wedding.

The wedding morning finally arrived. The men finished the chores and were ready to go in plenty of time. Seth made sure that Pete and BB had plenty to do. Keeping busy was the best way to avoid a grooms second thoughts. The church didn't have a separate vestibule for wedding preparation so wedding parties had to stage and choreograph their arrival at the church. They had to arrive at the church ready to be married. The grooms had to arrive first, enter the church, and wait for their brides. Some married male parishioners claimed it was good practice for the rest of their married life. The men were scheduled to arrive just as the morning sermon ended.

Originally the wedding was planned to be an hour after the sermon was finished. Pastor Willis asked them which parishioners shouldn't be invited to the wedding. BB knew everyone that attended the church and he wanted them all to be there. Friends of Sheila, Susan, and Pete didn't mind attending the service first then staying for the wedding. Many of them didn't attend church on a regular basis and were a little curious about what a mountain church was like. The wedding couples changed their minds and decided to have their wedding immediately after the sermon. Most of the people they wanted to be on hand were already there.

The women were arriving in the Bronco. Martha, Sean, Abigail and Liz were in the front seat. Ava, Sheila and Susan were in the back. Martha stopped the Bronco down the road to wait for the men to enter the church. The superstition said the grooms couldn't see the brides. It didn't say anything about the brides seeing the grooms.

"Why are we doing this?" Sean asked Martha.

"It's tradition honey," Martha said with a laugh.

"I still don't understand," Sean said sounding a little frustrated. "What would cause a tradition like this? What is the tradition?"