As young Sioux brave came of age, which was only a few years older than many of you, it was custom for a ceremony to take place to honor the passage from boy to manhood. However, before the celebration was to take place the young boys were to give evidence of a stout heart.
It was on dark nights that an aspiring warrior would be guided by his patient father into the living forest. When in isolation the boy’s eyes were covered with cloth. He was left only with the sounds of the night ringing in his ears: the snapping of branches under a bear’s soft paw, the rubbing of antler on a tree, or the wind whispering willows. There he stood alone proving his manhood by removing the veil only after the morning sun was felt on his face.
When at last the warmth rest on his cheeks, the relieved man removes the cover only to discover a loving father who all night was at his side.
