Hummingbirds/Gambling/Healing

This is in response to the SA Forum question about  hummingbirds and gambling/healing. (btw, the first image of a hummingbird is in the Pueblo/Hopi style of my father's people--the others are from the Pacific NW traditions. For the Pueblo, hummingbird feathers are used in rituals for still born children and those who die after only a few days of life. They are associated with bringing rain, an important gift for those of us who live in the desert. Another story tells of a deaf man named Wind Dancer who was able to sing healing songs. When he died, he returned as a hummingbird. A more southern story said the hummingbird was created with the leftover scraps of what was used to create the other birds. The one who Created the hummingbird had sunlight bring out all the colors, but when the bird turned away from the light, it became the gray color of the original scraps. Interestingly, the hummingbird is only found in the Western Hemisphere, so there are no traditional European stories or fairy tales about them.)

A) In our Pacific NW Tradition (on my mom’s side we’re Sahaptin/Twana) the legends say long and long ago (and there are a number of Stories that go with this) the original (First) People broke the laws of Harmony. For example, one stole the spiritual Song of another. We’re taught we all are born with a Song, and part of becoming an adult is finding your own Song. Finding your own Song is a metaphor of becoming all that you can be.  A Song can be given or shared, but a Song must never be stolen. In one version of the Story, Crane steals the Song of Bear--in another it’s Blue Jay. In both cases, the Story ends with punishment--Crane ends up with burned feet and runs away to soak them in water, which is why you always see Crane trying to cool off his eternally burning feet in a river. In the Blue Jay version (more common the further south you go) the situation is similar, but if you look at a Blue Jay’s feet, they looked burned and charred, and a Blue Jay can only hop--it can’t walk like a normal bird.  This is why in the Twana language, calling someone a “Blue Jay” is to call that person a “thief.”
(The red/black image of the yin/yang Hummingbird is in a traditional Salish spindle whorl design, which is why there is a hole in the center--this is where the yarn would feed through.)

B) The analogy we’re taught is when Elders point to the poles that hold up the roof of the Longhouse (our spiritual center/gathering place). The Elders say “If the weight of the roof is evenly distributed, the structure is sound. But if you break a  Law (like stealing a Song) the Harmony is thrown off, and that means the weight of the roof is no longer evenly distributed, which means once you break one Law, it becomes easier to break another.”

C) Just so, when one Song was stolen, the First People began to steal other Songs. (You probably need to understand one of the concepts across the beliefs of so many Native People is a deep feeling we screwed up in a major way in our past. Most Native People believe we’re not originally from this World, but came from another. We were attempting to escape from an older place that had also lost its Harmony. When we arrived at this World, one of those who was “out of Harmony” (our term is literally  “Two-Hearted”--one who knows the Path of Harmony, but deliberately chooses not to walk that Path) had followed our ancestors. Some said, “Kill this person. We tried to escape Evil, but Evil has followed us into this new World.” Then an Elder said, “The fact you are willing to murder someone in cold blood means Evil has already entered this World.  It now makes no difference if you kill this person. Disharmony (a much more accurate translation in our language as opposed to “Evil”) has become part of this reality as well.”  In our oral history, we had such things as communication across great distances, conveyances that were not connected to horses that carried us where we needed to go, including across the sky--and we had deadly explosives that were of ash that destroyed all life. Because of our arrogance, the decision was made we would put aside the technology we once had in order to seek the Harmony. (Yeah, yeah, it’s a whole religious thing that makes us sound like sci-fi Amish, but it is as it is.)

D) And finally--we get to the Hummingbird connection. When the Harmony was lost, the First People began to fight with one another because of inequity. As a punishment, the Creator chose to withhold the rain. The world entered into a terrible drought. In the spring, the Salmon  People were to return to feed the First People, but the Creator turned them away. The First People were starving and they began to eat one another. Finally, they cried out to the Creator, asking for forgiveness. The Creator took pity on them and said, “I will give you a new game. It is called S’lahal (literally bone). Look to those you have murdered in your Disharmony.” That’s why the playing pieces are made of bone--traditionally of cougar bone or deer bone. The counting pieces are made of wood (the bones of the Standing People/Trees).  There are four playing pieces--two have a stripe around the center (males) and two do not (females). A player will hide two of the bones (one male, one female) in his/her hands, and the other side has to guess which hand hides the female bone. If that sides guesses correctly, they win that set of bones to their side. If they guess incorrectly, they have to give up one of the counting sticks (which are literally called warriors). The game continues until one side has won all the counting sticks.

E) The point of this--for us, gambling was a gift from the Creator to allow people to deal with conflict in a peaceful and non-violent manner. It became a way of settling disputes without ending up in warfare.

F)  We connect this with healing. When a “patient” comes to a traditional healer, the healer has four days to make a decision as to whether or not to accept the patient. It’s the idea not all healers are a match for all patients (and there are so many Stories that explain why. I guess the easiest way to understand it is one doesn’t just pass out aspirin to all patients--some will be allergic and would die).  The four day period is a time of fasting and prayer while the decision will be made if the patient will be accepted or referred to another healer. For us, the healer is literally betting his/her life against the life of the patient. It’s betting the ability of the healer is stronger than the ability of the disease to kill. We believe if the healer makes the wrong decision--he or she will die.  It is not a decision made lightly.

G) To capture a (live) hummingbird is considered a great blessing. A few feathers would be removed, and then the hummingbird would be set free. We believe to capture and not harm a hummingbird in this way greatly improves an individual’s success in gambling/healing, since for use, gambling and healing are the same thing. I want to stress, “gambling” for us isn’t connected with for example, Casinos--it’s ultimately about Life and Death. The Bone Game (S’lahal) is a metaphor for this gamble.

Here are two illustrations. In the first you can see the two sets of male/female bones on either side. This set is made with beaded counting sticks/warriors. You’ll notice the larger stick at the bottom of the image.  In English this is called the King Stick or the Kick Stick--like the  King in chess, the game isn’t over until this Stick is captured.

In the second image, the person on the left is holding a set of bones, while the person on the right is pointing at the hand that is believed to hold the female bone.  I should probably mention this is one of the rare situations where direct pointing is permitted. In many Native societies, one points with an open hand or by jutting out the lower lip. In a Hunting Society, the only time you point at something is when  you’re going to kill it.

Hope this helps :)