Power of the lake a mighty lure to faithful

Lac Ste. Anne Pilgrimage

Guide to Indian Country Page 4

Religious pilgrimages are enjoying a renewed popularity in Canada this

century. It may be due, in part, to an upsurge in devotional fervor

since the Second Vatican Council, or it could be attributed to the

canonizations and beautifications that have occurred in this country

since then. Or it may have as much to do with modern transportation as

anything else.

"Getting there" is definitely not the daunting, often dangerous

undertaking of 4th century Christians, who ventured to the Holy Land

from all over the Roman Empire.

The mode of transportation has changed, but the reasons for making the

trip haven't. One of the main things pilgrims want is spiritual

renewal. They seek out the chance to affirm their belief that there is

a power greater than themselves in control.

According to Fr. Alfred Groleau, OMI, in Edmonton, Alta.: "It seems to

be a very common religious expression for people to want to seek a holy

place, and to leave home, and to journey, and even that some of the

hardship of the journey is part of the experience."

"And also," he adds, "that there will be contact with the supernatural,

with God in a certain way. They go for physical healing, for spiritual

healing."

Most pilgrimages are associated with shrines, which are named after

usually, the mother of Christ or some saint. Often, the site was set

apart because of its association with some vision. What is common to

all shrines are the significant spiritual experiences that many visitors

attach to these places. Sometimes, the encounters are so profound, they

are drawn back to the place again and again, over a lifetime.

For the religious traveler, there is no end of church-sanctioned holy

places to visit---a recent Roman Catholic publication listed 126 such

cites in 60 Canadian cities or towns.

But the Jewish and Muslim people, too, Fr. Groleau points out, have

their own sacred sites, to which they make ritual treks.

So have the people of Turtle Island (North America).

Lac Ste. Anne is such a place.

The largest spiritual gathering of Native people in Canada today is

said to occur every July, this year from July 20 to 25, at this broad,

shallow lake in north-central Alberta. Upwards of 30,000 people go to

meet old friends, to celebrate, to do penance, and to pray for their

needs and for each other.

This is the water of the Cree called Manito Sakahigan--Lake of the

Spirit--before the missionaries came. In the language of the Alexis

First Nations, it was known as God's Lake. The Cree and Blackfoot

people journeyed to the lake for centuries, to meet for social purposes

and to trade, prior to the annual buffalo hunt. But the main thing was

that the lake was a place of ceremonies and of great spiritual

encounters for Native people. It remains so to this day.

For reasons that are no longer certain, the first priests to arrive

renamed the place Devil's Lake. Later on, the waters were blessed and

named for Ste. Anne, the "grandmother " of Jesus, and it is now the

most westerly of the 22 sacred places that honor her name. Most

easterly is the Grotto of St. Ann in Outer Cove, Nfld.

The Catholic Church has attained prominence in the Lac Ste. Anne region

since it established a mission there in 1843 and held its first two

pilgrimages in 1889. That may be because shrine sites seem to be a

feature unique to the Catholic Church in Christendom.

Why has the Catholic religion predominated? It may be simply that, as

one Native artist put it, "Protestants don't shrine stuff off like the

Catholics (do).

More likely it is the similarities between Catholic and Native

spiritual practices and beliefs, and the place of ritual in both

cultures, that has allowed them to co-exist.

Today, traditional healers and priests, as well as people from many

religious backgrounds, share the good feelings and sense of community

that a visit to Lac Ste. Anne brings.

Fr. Groleau, one of the organizers of this year's week-long celebration

at the lak, says: "there are numerous stories about healing and

miracles; none of them are documented." But that in no way invalidates

the peoples's experience at Lac Ste. Anne, he adds.

"I've met numbers of people," Fr. Groleau relates, "who have...personal

stories of someone in the family who experienced a physical healing or a

special benefit."

Steve Simon's pictorial book, Healing Waters, The Pilgrimage to Lac St.

Anne, includes a quote from Shirley Janvier of the Janvier Reserve, that

sums up the essence of the pilgrim's experience for many of the Native

people who make the trip.

"It think it's just the people themselves that have the power within

and they go to a place like this to find it.."