by admin | June 30th, 2010
Have you heard the legend of the Cherokee Indian Youth’s Rite of Passage?
Once he survives the night he is a MAN!
A Cherokee father takes his son into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.
He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.
He cannot cry out for help to anyone.
He must endure the night terrors even though he can’t see what is happening round about him.
The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him . Maybe even some enemy tribesman might do him harm.
Son Notices Father's Vigil
The wind blew through the trees and even shook his sitting stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!
He cannot tell the other boys of this experience because each lad must come into manhood on his own.
Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.
It is then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump near to him.
He had been at watch the entire night protecting his son from harm.
Cherokee Father Watching Over His Son
