Local trees harvested for Lakota purification ceremony

Keith Curley went hunting in northeast Nebraska recently, but not for animals; he was looking for a certain type of tree.

The Ganado, Arizona, man found what he was looking for Friday afternoon, Sept. 25, about three miles east of Clearwater along U.S. Highway 275.

Curley – a member of the Navajo Nation located in the American Southwest – and two members of the Lakota tribe of the Great Sioux Nation in South Dakota stopped along the highway to cut branches off of willow trees.

Gary Siems of rural Clearwater gave them permission to do so since the grove of trees is located on his property.

Curley expressed his gratitude to Siems after his group’s request to collect willow tree branches had been turned down in Norfolk.

“He said yes to us,” Curley said. “That was beautiful.”

Curley noted the willow branches were for the building of a sweat lodge – a small dome hut that is a place of prayer – in Rosebud, South Dakota, located on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.

Sweat lodges are part of many Native American cultures and are used for traditional purification ceremonies.

“When the elders call for it, we do it, we follow through,” Curley said.