“Where are we going?” Daniel asked as he, Robert, Red Horse, Song Bird and Cunning Squirrel followed Falling Rain and Spotted Rabbit into the forest. They each had a pouch in which they carried articles Spotted Rabbit had told them to bring. A light snow was falling. There was an inch on the ground already as they walked along the path.
“We go to make prayer sticks to thank the Great Spirit for our lives, and to honor our ancestors at the end of one year and the start of another. We do this at the time when the days are shortest,” Spotted Rabbit replied.
Robert could not remember this tradition from his boyhood. But he was happy to learn of it now. Spotted Rabbit stopped them in a grove of cedar trees. Daniel looked around. “What do I do?”
Spotted Rabbit explained. As he did, Robert and
