Living Chicana Theory: Series in Chicana/Latina Studies
Third Woman Press
Edited by Carla Trujillo
ISBN-10: 0943219159
ISBN-13: 978-0943219158
Berkeley, CA
Linda Vallejo cited on pp. 196-199
July 1, 1997
Excerpt
“‘We were developing a Chicano calendar of ceremony…Through the ceremonies we acknowledged the different directions and the continuation of the cycle of life. Fiesta de Colores honored spring, Fiesta de Maíz honored summer, and Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrated the new year. We were also learning the full moon ceremony and the sweat lodge ceremony.’
Linda Vallejo now facilitates the sweat lodge ceremony for the Chicanas and Latinas in Los Angeles. Taught the tradition by her participation in sweats run by Lakota, Navajo, Chicano, and California Indian tribes (Chumas, Gabrieleño, and Tule River people), Linda explains:
‘I have not had a hierarchy of teachers. They have all been at the same big table…giving me responsibility. The ways I have been taught to pray are indígena, the way I play the drum, stand, the language I use is indígena. The tools I use are from my experiences in the different fiestas, danzas, sweat lodges, sundances. The multiple experiences are specific to the indígena of this continent…I open and close the sweat ceremony in a Sioux tradition taught to me by Beverly Littlethunder, but I incorporate a mixture of traditions. I sing Chicano, Sioux, Seneca, California Indian, and Navajo songs in the sweat. Each leader follows her spirit. I use my creative intuition and am comfortable with the rhythm of the lodge. It is understanding the rhythm of things. We can’t get it from a book.'”