In a first of its kind, Brescia University College is offering a course on Indigenous spirituality taught by Dan and Mary Lou Smoke, no stranger to many students on campus.
Dan and Mary Lou Smoke
Dan Smoke says the course will introduce Indigenous spiritual healing ways and mediums. Introduction to North American Indigenous Spirituality will be offered Monday and Wednesday evenings from May 4 to July 24 for Intersession at Brescia and is open to students, staff and faculty.
“We were recommended to teach the course by Lina Sunseri, on sabbatical this year, who is a tenured faculty member of Brescia, and is Oneida Nation of the Haudenosaunee,” says Dan.
Students will be introduced to the plurality of indigenous spiritual traditions in North America, and their diversity, complexity, and vitality. Included is an understanding of traditional ceremonies, cosmology or worldview, creation stories and other narrative forms, cultural values, healers, and medicine.
“Our belief system is compatible with all faiths and cultures,” says Dan.
“When Europeans came to Canada they called (First Nations people) pagans because we didn’t have the same kind of ceremonial protocols as they did,” says Mary Lou.
“When people come to our ceremonies today they realize we’re all doing the same thing – the main person you’re speaking to is the Creator, you’re just calling him or her different names.”
In teaching First Nations in the News Media on campus the past few years the Smokes have introduced elements of indigenous spirituality to students. Each class started with a smudging ceremony and students also experienced drumming, singing and prayers from Dan’s Six Nations background (Seneca Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy) and Mary Lou’s Ojibway culture. The Smokes received a 2008 USC Honour Roll for Teaching Excellence award by students through their evaluations last year.
And those students came away with a new appreciation of Indigenous culture.
“We have so many students who still contact us after those classes. Even when our class was over, they would come to our class to smudge before an exam or to help with a crisis in their life,” says Mary Lou.
As a young adult at the same age of the students he’s taught, Dan found himself in search of answers. He was “wandering and wondering” and spoke with many male and female elders in his community and benefited from the experience. “In this course, I hope to instill that knowledge in these young people so they’re able to use the knowledge gained in their life – to relate with themselves, to other people, to the world and to the Creator. How to learn from every relationship they have,” says Dan.
“I love teaching people about our culture,” says Mary Lou. “When people come into our ceremonies their eyes are wide open. They change their opinion. They see our ceremonies are done in such a beautiful way.”
Registration for Summer Evening courses begins online starting Monday, March 2. The last day to add a Summer Evening course is May 8 for students. For more information visit: www.brescia.uwo.ca
The writer is editor of Western Alumni Gazette
