It’s a three-day-fast: no food and no water. That’s what I set out to do from May 9-12, 2019 at Camp Artaban, Alberta in Canada. Friends said, “all the best” as if discouraging me from going without water. “No water? How can you do it?” was a common concern. I kept saying, “If they can do it, I can.”
“It’s not a picnic or camping,” Dennis Whitford, a native elder instructed a group of ten people on the Vision Quest. Vision Quest Teaching and Sweat Lodge is a program supported by Sagitava Friendship Society, Peace River. Fasting and sweat lodge are ancestral practices among the Native American cultures. Leonard Cardinal, another native elder, initiated us into the Cree teachings.
Fasting has an ancient code. You go out in the bush (forest), select a spot and pitch up your tent. You then have to draw a three-meter radius around the tent and stay within the area for the next three days. The most difficult for me was to stay away from my iPhone, books, and a notepad. I could go without food for over 30 hours, but without work. That I could hardly imagine.
“Take your time to talk to the creator,” Dennis Whitford added. “Ask for help from the spirits to fight hunger and thirst.”
The weather danced between below zero to 21 Celsius. The steady warm wind washed off the last traces of snow. The trees showed the first signs of life. Yes, the good part is that the snow disappeared, and rain did not show up.
“If you have to move out of the demarcated area for the call of nature, offer dry tobacco leaves to the spirits before leaving and after entering the area,” Dennis offered practical instructions. “Use your tobacco to talk to the spirits,” Dennis said.
Sleep was my asset. I curled into a sleeping bag, with socks, sweaters, headcover to brace the drop-in temperature to below zero. The tent stood resilient as the wind rattled it. The moon and the stars were gracious at night. I had to get adjusted to stay outdoors and the longer daylight hours starting from 4:30 am till 11:00 pm. I was waiting for a visit by a bear or a moose or a deer. It did happen to others in the quest. Some even saw the Northern lights.
My tent stood on the face of Lake Cardinal. Victor Wanotch told me to avoid facing the tent to the lakefront. It did protect me from strong northwest winds. (Victor Wanotch is a caretaker at Camp Artaban for almost two decades). I did boast a bit, “I pitched my tent closer to the water body. If I had to get dehydrated, I would throw myself into the almost frozen lake.”
Dennis visited each person twice a day, to check how things were. On one side of the bush, five men pitched their tents. While five women were on the far end. It was total isolation, see no one else, even other people into the fast. One person had to be rushed to the hospital due to dehydration.
Oh! There was a sweat ceremony followed by a feast before and after the fast. Leonard Cardinal led the Sweat Lodge. Men and women sat around in a temporary enclosure with hot stone in the center. Water was being splashed on the rocks, creating a heatwave. Every cell of the body opens up to let the sweat out. The lodge had zero visibility, with occasional singing and teaching breaking the silence.
People told me that it’s like a sauna. No, it is much better than sauna- experience it to believe. Sweating before fast is normal. But with a three-day-fast without water, one still sweat during the sacred ceremony.
The feast is a meal laid out for all present. You have to eat what is set before you. Nothing goes to waste if needed, it had to be disposed of in the sacred fire. The fire remains present during all the days of the fast.
Recently, a study found that fasting for seventy-two hours can reset the immune system, significantly improving your body’s health. Is modern science proving ancient practices of fasting as needed for wellbeing?
Something for you …
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