Blankets are a source of warmth that can represent safety, comfort, and protection.

Historically, blankets were given as a gift, as an expression of peace and friendship. Historically, they were also given out for destructive purposes. Blankets were offered as gifts, but were actually infected with contagious diseases (smallpox) with the sole purpose of spreading the disease to annihilate large numbers of Native Americans. [Read that sentence again. It is just one of the eye-opening facts you will learn by participating in the Blanket Exercise.]

Today, blankets are being used as a teaching tool for The Blanket Exercise. 

In Canada, in 1996, the Aboriginal Rights Coalition worked with Indigenous elders and teachers to come up with an interactive way of learning a history most Canadians are never taught. The Blanket Exercise was the result.

It is also used here in the U.S. to lead participants through over 500 years of untaught history that highlights the relationship between Indigenous folks and European explorers, colonial settlers, and the U.S. Federal and State governments. And it is POWERFUL! 

The first half of the Blanket Exercise, participants are standing on blankets that are spread out on the floor, but it is really a time of listening. It becomes very emotional going through the exercise because it is very quiet as you listen to Vance Blackfox (ELCA) and 2 other leaders reading fact after fact after fact of our American history that you most likely did not learn about in school. Part of our history is the genocide of the Native American population. As the readings go on, individuals are tapped on the shoulder as a signal to leave the blanket area and take a seat. When this happens, the repetition of, “You have gone to be with the ancestors,” becomes more gut-wrenching as you realize how many Indigenous people have perished at the hands of the United States government AND at the hands of many churches! 

The second half of the Blanket Exercise is a much needed debriefing where it is brought out into the open that, because of our lack of education, a lot of the detrimental policies and practices still continue TODAY! During my particular experience, a young Cherokee woman told us she did not know her own granny went to an Indian Boarding School until a year and a half ago. The reason? The boarding school experience was so traumatic, that her granny could NOT talk about it without reliving that trauma. Which means that even a Cherokee person is not learning the real history of their past. This is what has to change!

When you are given the opportunity to participate in The Blanket Exercise, please take it. Personally, I feel I could go through it 50 times and still learn something new each time. Again, it is powerful. A huge question it left me with was for Vance Blackfox, “How can you go through this and experience this painful history over and over?”

His simple response to the group, “Because I love you.”

May the peace and love of the Great Spirit be with all of us.

Indigenous Peoples' Day is Monday, October 10. Take steps to advocate for the recognition and celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day in your community.

IllumiNative has created research-informed lesson plans and guides to advocate and celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day in your community. In the toolkit below, you will find case studies, key questions and answers, messages, a comprehensive how-to guide on advocating to your representative and building a coalition and more.

Explore Indigenous Peoples' Day online or onsite at the National Museum of the American Indian, a Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

Would you open your heart to consider the experiences of the true original native Americans? How the very fabric of this country was forcefully unwoven and how these loose ends continue to fray to this day because of the careless inaction and the disregard for Gods creation. The beauty is preserved in this man's writings and teachings. The generations that remain on and enrich these lands are a worthy and entitled people that deserve our acknowledgment and healing. That will not happen if they continue to go through this alone. 

Connect to your own community. Find out whose ancestral lands are you living on at native-land.ca. Discover your Indigenous siblings and neighbors and visit the cultural museums and community events that they may have to offer. Offer to host one in your congregation and community. 

Theological Reflections on the Blanket Exercise

Take some time to read and reflect on each of these quotes before considering:

• What is your emotional response to these quotes?
• Where do you feel the Holy Spirit’s prompting toward action for you, your congregation, and/or the ELCA? 

“What the church needs, what the world needs, are some Christians who are crazy enough to Decolonize their minds and love like Jesus did, to give like Jesus did, to forgive like Jesus did, to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly…like Jesus. As you reconcile yourselves with the Indigenous People of this land, you are also doing your part in helping to reconcile this broken world with God. Amen.”

This is the last paragraph of A Sermon for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, by Kelly Sherman-Conroy, Ph.D., member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. You can read her full sermon here. 

“My faith is influenced by millennia upon millennia of indigenous roots in this land, 2,000 years of Christianity, 500 years of the Lutheran church, and more than 500 years of genocide and policies to wipe out the first people of our country. This is our shared story. 

“In the years to come, reflection, reconciliation, holy experiments and holy experiences will drive the transformation of our church. As a church, it is time to tell our shared story, heal from our past and give gratitude that we are here.”

Prairie Rose Seminole was the American Indian Alaska Native program director for the ELCA in 2018, when she wrote this segment for an article in Living Lutheran. You can read the full article here. 

What is the Blanket Exercise?

What to Expect from a Blanket Exercise

Native American Theologian Kelly Sherman-Conroy offered this sermon for the Indigenous People’s Liturgy Celebration at Calvary Lutheran Church in Minneapolis in 2018.

Read some of Joy Harjo’s poetry to gain insight into the life of an Indigenous American today.

Joy Harjo was the US Poet Lauret 2019-2022. She writes, “The literature of the aboriginal people of North America defines America. It is not exotic. The concerns are particular, yet often universal.”