Waking Up on Turtle Island: Stacking Stones as Prayer

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Stacking Stones as Prayer

Taken from: Rock Features of the Upper Klamath Basin (2018 Thesis By Roman Jakien)

As well as something from Chertkoff

With some photos from a friend, taken sometime in 2012

“Obtaining power through features on the landscape and stacking rocks were prominent aspects of their traditional religious practice (Deur 2016; Haynal 2000; Ray 1963; Spier 1930; Theodoratus et al. 1990). Deur (2016:36) notes that in Klamath and Modoc oral tradition, the act of stacking rocks during the vision quest is “attributed to the very beginnings of human time, and is rooted in the instruction of the Creator, Gmukamps.” Ray (1963:xiii) noted that the two tribes not only created “artificial rock piles for religious and commemorative purposes” but also “attributed mythological significance” to naturally occurring rock piles…

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-antiquity/article/abs/rock-feature-complex-from-northwestern-california/1C8AD33D31137072F552DADD6BB9D3AD

It has been written that certain rock feature types, like “rock stacks” and “prayer seats” are sometimes positioned at specific geographic locations that align them with distant landscape features such as mountains, lakes, and rivers (Jankowski 2012). Deur (2016:52) suggests that ritual rock features are sometimes aligned with distant landmarks so that prayers can be focused towards those places, or powers obtained from those landmarks. He also suggests that some landmarks have stories or moral lessons associated with them that can be incorporated into ritual activity or prayer. The importance of visualizing a distant landmark for certain ceremonial purposes explains why many vision quest sites are found at higher elevations with open viewsheds (Applen 2001; Jones 2003)…

Deur (2016:56-57) states that the “practice of ritual rock stacking is said to have skipped a generation in many families” due to the assimilation policies and tribal termination, but that there has been a “reawakening in recent decades.” Information gleaned through recent ethnographic studies indicate the practice of constructing rock features in traditional Klamath and Modoc lands continues by current Klamath tribal members, even with the conversion of many to Christianity or secular belief systems (Deur 2016; Haynal 1994, 2000)…”