Mountain Man Wedding & Rendezvous

[Many Feathers]

Thought I'd post this link to those who wanted to see more of the wedding and this years rendezvous. I'll try and explain a few of the attached photos here for you as well.

1st photo is the presentation of the Spirit stick I made for the Shaman. My son in law (Whistling Otter - Ben) brought it out to Two Hawk.

2nd photo is Two Hawk's acceptance of the gift.

3rd photo is Two Hawk preparing the smudge fire which is created from a birds nest, symbolizing renewal and new beginnings.

4th photo our wedding Tipi

5th photo after the wedding we are looking at one of the gifts given us. It was a lock of hair from each one of another family we have grown close too. This is a very special gift as it represents a part of their soul in honoring us. The locks of hair were wrapped in beautifully tanned piece of leather, and placed inside a hand-made wooden box.

 

[Many Feathers]

Wedding

In the first photo of this set, Two Hawk is explaining that he is about to smuge us, and that it is a purification prior to his ceremonial chanting.

In the second, he drops the lit birds nest onto the ground where he will stoke the fire with bits of twigs that the unmarried (usually children) have gathered.

In the 4th photo, Two Hawks has begun the chant of acceptance and purification,
bringing in the smoke from the fire and making an offering to the four winds.

 

[Many Feathers]

Wedding

In the 1st photo of this set, the Shaman has wrapped our bonding feathers about our wrists, much like the exchange of rings. Mieke and I had already performed the blood bonding prior to the wedding, these feathers contain the stains of that ritual.

The shaman now wraps us within the marriage blanket, a sign of unity, committment towards one another.

It is here that he pronounces us simply...."Wed"

 

[Many Feathers]

Camp life

1st photo....wedding day. Having a chat with my daughter Brandy (Little Star) and my son Britton (Grinning Fox) talking about the ceremony to come.

2nd photo...part of the day long shooting contest.


3rd photo is Mieke's (Heart Keeper) oldest sister Hati. There mom is off to the side in the back ground. She was so sweet...wanted to wear something of the old west, so loaned her a non-period vest to wear, but she loved it.

Love this 4th photo. In it I am explaining to a group of "flat landers" as we call "tourists" what the tokens, symbols and feathers I am wearing all mean. I really enjoy explaining what it means to be Shoshoni. Afterwards I posed with many of them for pictures...always a good time.

This last one of this set is Mieke (Anna-Heart Keeper) lol...with her niece who can speak a little English. So wasn't always having Anna to translate for me. We'd managed to borrow a buckskin dress for her to wear, put some feathers in her hair...and she was tickled pink to feel more apart of the whole experience.

 

[youngleo]

Beautiful pictures.

 

[MCPW]

Beautiful pictures.

Agreed!

 

[SimGuy]

This is cool....Very, Very Cool!

 

[Beam_of_lite]

A Beautiful Day made even more special shared with friends and family..just delighted you are sharing these pictures with all of us

 

[Many Feathers]

Few more photos...

Camp life and some of the interesting characters who were there.


1st photo (and wish I'd taken one prior to selling off most of our jewlry!) But this is a little of what was left after the first day. We made around 100.00...so not half bad for the weekend in sales.

2nd & 3rd photos of the camp lay out

4th & 5th in the shoot out. My son Jeremy (General Lee) beat me this year.

 

[Many Feathers]

More

Just a few miscellaneous camp photos

 

[Many Feathers]

more

1st photo. One of the traders, 1/4 Cheyanne Indian. Goes by the name: Indian. LOL

2nd photo...mountain man stew. You name it...its in it.

3rd photo. My lap dog <Meadow> getting warm by the fire

 

[Many Feathers]

More

Last photo is one of several very nice buffalo hides. Wish I'd had the 650.00 for this one. Would make a nice rug in my den!


Well...hope you've enjoyed these. Tried to post a wide variety without too much duplication. For fun...am going to do a few in the old sepia format and see how they turn out.

 

[DiJiT]

Fantastic Pics MF

Glad you shared them with us.

It looks like you all had a really great time.

So your son beat you in the shootout this year......and didn't your daughter beat you last year?

Must say I loved seeing the sights of all the people and things around the camp.

The jewelry has always fascinated me.....and I actually wouldn't mind being a camp dog if that is what was being served.

 

[Mign]

Hey Many hun, love the pics the wedding pics were great and beautiful and the pic with your kids great family... keep the pics coming....glad to see you on here again...

 

[hongluobo]

wonderful shots, wonderful time, wonderful wedding, wonderful location...

so many wonderfuls for a most wonderful couple

makes me uh.. sorta.. full of wonder

am looking forward to the sepia treatment...

thanks so much for resizing and sharing all these...

 

[Crazy_Jezabel]

I'm sure I'll sound dumb saying this, but I didn't know that the Native American culture was still practiced. I think that's pretty cool.

The pictures were nice to see.

Is your wife also have Dutch origion?

 

[Many Feathers]

Actually...

Fantastic Pics MF

Glad you shared them with us.

It looks like you all had a really great time.

So your son beat you in the shootout this year......and didn't your daughter beat you last year?

Must say I loved seeing the sights of all the people and things around the camp.

The jewelry has always fascinated me.....and I actually wouldn't mind being a camp dog if that is what was being served.

I took 1st in the shoot last year, my daughter took 3rd. (Smaller shoot at the fall affair) but even so, that some of the older Mountain Men hated being out done by a cute little Indian girl, let alone an old(er) Indian.

And love camp food...always tastes good out of doors for some reason.

 

[Many Feathers]

Thanks Mign!

Hey Many hun, love the pics the wedding pics were great and beautiful and the pic with your kids great family... keep the pics coming....glad to see you on here again...

Not a permanent thread though...just temporary. Easier way to let people see the pics that wanted to.

 

[Many Feathers]

Hey Hon!

wonderful shots, wonderful time, wonderful wedding, wonderful location...

so many wonderfuls for a most wonderful couple

makes me uh.. sorta.. full of wonder

am looking forward to the sepia treatment...

thanks so much for resizing and sharing all these...

It really was...had a great time, great people...great experience. Some of the Sepia's turned out so well, we're probably going to have several blown up and then framed.

 

[Many Feathers]

Oh yeah...

I'm sure I'll sound dumb saying this, but I didn't know that the Native American culture was still practiced. I think that's pretty cool.

The pictures were nice to see.

Is your wife also have Dutch origion?

It's still practiced on all levels, though this weekend affair as it is several weekends during the year is just a time for get-togethers with old friends and those who still appreciate the old days and enjoy the reinactments.

And yes...Anna (Mieke Meeuws) is from Holland. Her entire family flew over from the Nederlands to attend the ceremony. I've actually picked up a bit of dutch, even harder to learn for me than Shoshoni. LOL.

 

[Crazy_Jezabel]

It's still practiced on all levels, though this weekend affair as it is several weekends during the year is just a time for get-togethers with old friends and those who still appreciate the old days and enjoy the reinactments.

And yes...Anna (Mieke Meeuws) is from Holland. Her entire family flew over from the Nederlands to attend the ceremony. I've actually picked up a bit of dutch, even harder to learn for me than Shoshoni. LOL.

I'm actually glad that I found out that the Native American culture is still practiced. When I watched Dancing with Wolves I was that that cutlure seems to be a lot more peaceful. I still don't quite understand all the rituals that I've read about, but just like the Budhist it seems to be a very peaceful and practice.

I moved from New Jersey to Holland almost 3 years ago (It'll be 3 years on May 11th). The Dutch language is a VERY HARD language. I'm still learning the language. I can understand and read it for the most part, but I still can only speak at the minimum. I still get nervious when it comes to speaking the language.

I still feel kind of stupid not knowing that the Native American culture was still practiced.

 

[Galene]

Beautiful photos, thank you for sharing them MF!

 

[Mign]

Not a permanent thread though...just temporary. Easier way to let people see the pics that wanted to.

awwwww ok well shoudl be perm hun..

 

[DiJiT]

I took 1st in the shoot last year, my daughter took 3rd. (Smaller shoot at the fall affair) but even so, that some of the older Mountain Men hated being out done by a cute little Indian girl, let alone an old(er) Indian.

And love camp food...always tastes good out of doors for some reason.

oops...got confused

Well If I ever do another sculpture of you or any Native American theme I'll have to make sure it is a good one so I don't piss off such good shots LOL. (That pic you posted of your daughter from the last Rendezous scares the heck out of me)


They say the measure of a meal is the effort it takes to get it.

I can imagine that makes that stew taste GREAT!

 

[RhymeFairy]

.

This last one of this set is Mieke (Anna-Heart Keeper) lol...with her niece who can speak a little English. So wasn't always having Anna to translate for me. We'd managed to borrow a buckskin dress for her to wear, put some feathers in her hair...and she was tickled pink to feel more apart of the whole experience.

This is beautiful MF ... She looks sooo happy. Thank you for sharing all these wonderful pictures and part of your heritage.

Miss you too. All is well, just a bit erratic, lol. Happy to see you posting and loving these pics ....