A few years ago, I videotaped a Pow-Wow. It was held at Pace University’s gymnasium in lower Manhattan. Before the Pow-Wow began, I was told that the basketball court itself- within the painted rectangle- would become Sacred Ground, and could not be trod upon by anyone not in the tribe holding the Pow-Wow.
Nobody told me at what point the appropriate words/prayers/songs had taken place, and I offended the Tribal Leaders, and Chief. ( Who were understanding, when it was explained by their member who had hired me, that nobody had kept by my side to advise me ). Now, I took the idea of this extremely seriously. I fully intended to carefully avoid stepping into that area until the event was ended. It was a beautiful ceremony, filled with dance, song and spoken word.
I thought of this today. Are there other cultures/groups/religions that do similar things? Declare an area as Sacred Ground for a specific period of time, and then remove themselves at a certain point ( end of ceremony, etc. ) and the ground that they were using is now no longer Sacred Ground.
I am aware that various facilities set aside a room, or a wall even for Orthodox Jews to use in Prayer. In fact, the rest stop on the New York State Thruway near Suffern, NY has a wall specified for Prayer.
Does this happen elsewhere?
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