Hunkapi: Making Relatives

[James Standingdeer]

The purpose of the Making Relatives rite is to create between two people a blood bond that is closer than a kinship tie. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to find friends who are generous, sharing, supportive, and loving. This ritual is for friends to adopt one another into a new relationship.
Three ideals of peace form the basis of this ritual. Peace comes to the souls of those who realize their relationship to the universe and to the great spirit, who is at the center of the universe this center is the same for everyone, everywhere. Second, the peace between two people recognizes the kinship of all people. Third, peace between the nations recognizes that all people are family or can, and children of the Great Spirit. The entire ritual reflects the spiritual relationship between humanity and Wakan Tanka.
The exchange or gift of a peace pipe, a crystal, or a wotia stone, a smooth stone that has a significant image or several images within its grain, can symbolize that the spiritual blood bond that occurs with the making of a new relative.