Tribal Members Gather at Medicine Bluff
On Thursday, June 20, Comanche Nation Historic Preservation Office held a National Day of Prayer for Sacred Site Protection event at Medicine Bluff in Fort Sill.
Comanche Tribal members gathered for a morning of prayer and telling of stories.
Those who wanted were cedared and explored the sacred grounds, including a hidden creek.
Comanche Nation Historic Preservation Officer Martina Minthorn said that during summer solstice, tribes across the United States offer prayers to protect their sacred sites.
“Across Indian country, a lot of people are facing desecration of these lands, and so we want to ensure that these places are protected for generations to come,” she said. “These places are a place of prayer, of healing, of vision, and so that's what we want to ensure that, you know, these places will be protected for generations to come.”
Minthorn said these places are sacred and holy sites.
“We want to ensure that they are protected. We want to ensure that we are having and giving access to these places, and so that the desecration of these lands are protected and kept holy,” she said. “And so, this is something that across Indian country we're facing with different Instagram, “Oh come to this location,” then they leave trash, or they write their initials on petroglyphs or, you know, harming those lands, and so it's taking away from the serenity of that location.”
The Comanche Elder’s Council partnered with historic preservation, while Transit provided rides to Medicine Bluff; Comanche Nation Police Department gave an escort. Prevention and Recovery picked medicine for the event as well.
Minthorn said Comanche Nation Chairman Forrest Tahdooahnippah, who was in attendance, helped build the relationship with Fort Sill. Their Cultural Resources Department and police also participated in the event.
“It was just good to see us coming together as a tribe, to work as a tribe, to be able to bring all these different entities together,” she said. “We're thankful for the language program. They offered our prayers in Comanche.We sung some songs. We heard some Native American church songs. It was good to see the young people there with their kakus, their elders and everything, just everybody full circle. So, it was just beautiful to witness that sun come up, and for all the animals, the birds, everything coming to life, and just being able to witness that and just that peacefulness we all felt this morning. It was beautiful.”
The event takes place annually, and historic offices nationwide organize their events.
“So, they'll be doing an event in Washington D.C. at the United States Capitol, and so bringing awareness to all these different sites,” Minthorn said. “And so, this is just an event that we plan throughout the year and when we start picking our medicines because that's what we give out to everybody that comes. So, we have to go and harvest these at a certain time. And so, we're thankful that we can have the help and then preparing them and then having our food. We have a fellowship meal every time we do just to break bread after we offer those morning prayers and songs. And so, it just takes a little bit of time, but definitely, we look forward to it every year.”
She said it’s a good time for renewal, looking ahead and changing for the better.
“We're thankful for the youth that are here, and I want these kids to witness what we're doing today,” Minthorn said. “And so, again, that's why we said prayers for the generations to come. We want to be able to hold on to our identity as Comanche people, to be able to know where we come from, know our history, understand our language.”
Comanche Nation Princess Bluesky Tosee and Comanche Nation Jr. Princess Arlene Schonchin were also at Medicine Bluff and performed the Lord’s Prayer.
