Native Orthodox Church

DLA’UPAC. (fl. c. 1800s). Walula. An early prophet in the Columbia Plateau region who lived near pre­sent-day Pasco, Washington.  The prophet was be­lieved to have lived before the later prophet smohalla, perhaps in the early 1800s.

Dla’upac was said to have been dead for five days and to have returned to life.  Found singing, he told the people what he had learned in the spirit world. He prophesied the destruction of the world by fire or flood, as it had been in the past, and the return of the dead to life before the catastrophe.

In addition to foretelling the future, Dla’upac told people to prepare themselves for meeting Xwampipama, the creator.

BADGER-TWO MEDICINE. Blackfeet. This Blackfeet sacred site, which borders the Blackfeet reservation, is located in the Lewis and Clark Na­tional Forest in northwest Montana.  The Blackfeet ceded the region to the federal government in an 1896 agreement but retained rights to religious use of the area.

For centuries, the Blackfeet have carried out practices in this sacred region that are vital to the Blackfeet culture and people. They have built sweat lodges near Badger Creek, conducted Sun Dances and other ceremonies, buried their dead, gathered tipi poles, collected medicinal herbs and roots and climbed the peaks to conduct fasts and to seek visions and communicate with the Creator.

The Blackfeet pikuni traditionalists association has been fight­ing since 1986 to keep the U.S. Forest Service from allowing oil and gas drilling in the 130,000 acre re­gion. They have argued that oil and gas development will make sacred rites impossible, destroy the re­gion’s spirituality and violate their First Amendment.

BALD AND GOLDEN EAGLES PROTECTION ACT OF 1940. (16 U.S.C. 668-668d). Under this federal act, the Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior issued regulations restricting the taking, possessing and transporting of bald and golden eagles or their parts.

These regula­tions continue to affect native people who consider the eagle sacred and use it, or its parts, for religious purposes. Arrests have been made, including those of Cheyennes and Arapahoes in the 1970s in Oklahoma.

MARQUETTE, JACQUES (1637-1675). French Jesuit missionary to Canada. Born in France, Mar­quette entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1654.  In 1665 he was assigned to go to Canada and arrived in 1666 in Quebec, where he studied Montagnais and other Indian languages with Gabriel Druillettes.

By 1673, he was fluent in six languages. He learned the dia­lects sufficiently for him to start missionary work among the Algonquian tribes dwelling around Lake Superior.

In 1669 he moved to Chequamegon Bay, the western end of Lake Superior, which he aban­doned in 1671 because of fear of Sioux attacks. He moved Ottawas and Hurons to Mackinac Island where he built Saint Ignace.

In 1673 he got permission to go with Louis Jolliet to explore the territory south­west of his station.  During the journey, Marquette and Jolliet established contacts with Illinois, Mis­souri, Potawatomis, Quapaws and other peoples.

On his return voyage, Marquette re-established contact with the Illinois and founded a mission at Kaskaskia village in 1675. He preached among them but died soon after.

Scholars debate whether Marquette au­thored Recit about the 1673 expedition as well as whether or not he was ever ordained a priest.

Al­though he has been commemorated by monuments, and a university, railroad, river, cities and avenues bear his name, some scholars maintain his place has been exaggerated in history.