“This has been a long time in coming,” said Felena Ditmar, a tribal elder from the Fort Belknap Reservation, who will be among the leaders to offer a prayer and blessings at the future building site of the UM Native American Center.
The public is invited to attend the blessing and sunrise ceremony, which is scheduled from 7:15 to 9 a.m. Friday, on the Oval, south of the grizzly bear sculpture on campus.
The center will be built on the last available land on the Oval, just west of the Math building. Native plants and a garden will surround the site, and a specific outside area will be dedicated to storytelling.
“It makes me feel good that the university is going to recognize there is Indian population on this campus,” said Linda Juneau, a UM alumna who is organizing Friday's sunrise blessing. “It will be a place where we can go and all gather. We can have ceremonials in there.”
She has many stories of how it's been difficult for students to pray in a traditional manner, which usually consists of smudging the heart and mind with the smoke of sage, sweet grass or cedar.
Juneau, who is also the university's Confluence of Cultures director, said those who attend the land blessing will share in the hope for present and future generations of Indian students who will study on campus, gather knowledge and make new allies and friends in an environment that respects their learning needs.
It will likely be between three to five years before ground is broken on the new structure. But the architectural plans are complete and a
$6 million fundraising effort is under way. UM Foundation director Julia Horn and others have raised $1 million so far.
The spiritual leaders who will bless the land and offer prayers of healing have said they are glad the university is starting the center's future “in the right way, meaning to bless the site where you are going to do something significant with Indian people,” Juneau said.
Many of the leaders have children or grandchildren who attend UM.
For elders like the 79-year-old Ditmar, the thought of the Native American Center warms her. She embraces the idea that those who want to learn about Indian people will have a ready resource when the building is complete.
“I'm happy this cultural center will be built in Missoula so people will have access to our culture,” she said.
Reporter Jodi Rave can be reached at (406) 523-5299 or at jodi.rave@lee.net.
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