Weird Dream
Sep. 14th, 2002 10:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tylikI had been invited to some kind of event that was held in and about a number of first nations longhouses. It was winter, with at least a foot of snow on the ground. The longhouses were built around a small valley with mountains -- or at least steep hillsides -- all around. I don't remember much about the event itself except that spirits were generally high, there was a fair bit of vigorous outdoors type activity, and a lot of cracking jokes (with some fairly political overtones). But eventually the event is winding down, most people are leaving, and I'm invited in to a longhouse that's built up against the side, and partly into the side of the mountain. It's different that the other longhouses and set aways away from the others.
So I go in, and a couple of younger teenage boys have just gotten back, having missed the event. Apparently they had been overheard making politically provocative comments in public, and had gotten dragged in for investigation. Last year, quite a few members of the tribe had been brought in and questioned before congress (possibly state goverment rather than federal? not sure...) over a rather weightier set of political questions. The teenagers are being teased -- they obviously missed the boat, *last* year was the year for being drug in for questioning. This year they ended up missing the quas-political activities of this event because of it. They needed to work on their timing ;-)
Inside the longhouse, I am completely caught up by the craftmanship. A lot of the design I recognize as traditional, though obviously modern tools and techniques were also used in the construction. The wood work is stunning. Absolutely gorgeous. The layout is slightly different than what I was used to, partly because it's working around having one wall be the rock face of the mountain. It's warm inside. It's also much lighter inside than I expected, and it takes me an embarrassingly long time to realize that this is because one whole wall is covered with these big double pane vinyl windows. [I don't think I've been in a longhouse since I was about twelve in the waking world. Or for that matter in dreams that I recall...] I think a fair bit of time passes, while we eat and chat and I try to make sure I have my luggage together, and talk about things we all are planning for the future.
And then we hear some loud noises, and the people I'm talking with and I run out of the house, and look up at the mountain above us. Someone is setting off small explosions, trying to bury the longhouse in snow. In the context of the dream, this makes sense to me, and makes very angry, frustrated, and sad all at once. The people I'm with and I run back into the house and start trying to get people out. There are a lot of older people near the back, (I realize the house goes farther into the mountain than I'd realized, the back area is darker as it doesn't have windows) and many who can't move very quickly, and aren't particularly anxious to leave. And a lot of people aren't dressed for the cold, either. It's terribly important that everyone get out, that they aren't trapped there... as this is going on, the explosions continue, and eventually the house is covered with snow, with many of us trapped inside.
Someone says then that there is another way out, through a short passage through the mountain that goes to what looks almost like a loading dock off to the side. It's where the two teenage boys were dropped off. Someone else says that we can't use it, it's too dangerous, that's just what they'll expect and it's where they can drive up and herd us into trucks... but more people seem to think that it's better to go there quickly, coordinated, and try to break through than to stay here (and be killed?). There's some kind of suggestions that if not too many people involved with the attack, and if we move quickly we can probably get out. A number of us are running over to the other entrance... and I wake up.
I have no clue where that came from. The setting was striking... but not typical imagery for me at all.
So I go in, and a couple of younger teenage boys have just gotten back, having missed the event. Apparently they had been overheard making politically provocative comments in public, and had gotten dragged in for investigation. Last year, quite a few members of the tribe had been brought in and questioned before congress (possibly state goverment rather than federal? not sure...) over a rather weightier set of political questions. The teenagers are being teased -- they obviously missed the boat, *last* year was the year for being drug in for questioning. This year they ended up missing the quas-political activities of this event because of it. They needed to work on their timing ;-)
Inside the longhouse, I am completely caught up by the craftmanship. A lot of the design I recognize as traditional, though obviously modern tools and techniques were also used in the construction. The wood work is stunning. Absolutely gorgeous. The layout is slightly different than what I was used to, partly because it's working around having one wall be the rock face of the mountain. It's warm inside. It's also much lighter inside than I expected, and it takes me an embarrassingly long time to realize that this is because one whole wall is covered with these big double pane vinyl windows. [I don't think I've been in a longhouse since I was about twelve in the waking world. Or for that matter in dreams that I recall...] I think a fair bit of time passes, while we eat and chat and I try to make sure I have my luggage together, and talk about things we all are planning for the future.
And then we hear some loud noises, and the people I'm talking with and I run out of the house, and look up at the mountain above us. Someone is setting off small explosions, trying to bury the longhouse in snow. In the context of the dream, this makes sense to me, and makes very angry, frustrated, and sad all at once. The people I'm with and I run back into the house and start trying to get people out. There are a lot of older people near the back, (I realize the house goes farther into the mountain than I'd realized, the back area is darker as it doesn't have windows) and many who can't move very quickly, and aren't particularly anxious to leave. And a lot of people aren't dressed for the cold, either. It's terribly important that everyone get out, that they aren't trapped there... as this is going on, the explosions continue, and eventually the house is covered with snow, with many of us trapped inside.
Someone says then that there is another way out, through a short passage through the mountain that goes to what looks almost like a loading dock off to the side. It's where the two teenage boys were dropped off. Someone else says that we can't use it, it's too dangerous, that's just what they'll expect and it's where they can drive up and herd us into trucks... but more people seem to think that it's better to go there quickly, coordinated, and try to break through than to stay here (and be killed?). There's some kind of suggestions that if not too many people involved with the attack, and if we move quickly we can probably get out. A number of us are running over to the other entrance... and I wake up.
I have no clue where that came from. The setting was striking... but not typical imagery for me at all.
