After three women beat a large ceremonial drum, Shelley DePaul, assistant chief of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, led the group in a prayer.
"Watch over all of us, Creator. Watch over all nations, the winged ones, the creepy crawlers, the sea creatures," DePaul said.
She wore a black shirt and red skirt, traditional Lenape colors. On her necklace hung an image of Meesing, a spirit the tribe believes protects the woods and ensures plentiful food.
"Meesing says, 'I'll see that you have meat to eat,' " explained Ann Dapice, a Penn alumna who lives in Oklahoma and who is Lenape and Italian.
Dapice fanned herself with an eagle feather to beat the heat, and, unprompted, pulled out the federal permit that allows her to carry it. Lenape people often carry feathers of birds that have personal meaning; with federal permission, they can possess plumage of protected species.
Constance Wahupa Scott White Eagle and her friend Cyenh, who said she did not have a last name, both of Bensalem, adorned their hair with feathers. They often attend such events to perform native dances.
They paraded in a circle Saturday during the ceremony, doing a sort of two-step known as the Crow Hop.
Scott White Eagle, who is part Cherokee, said that when she was a young girl, her mother told her not to tell people of her native heritage.
"My mother said, 'You pass for white,' " she said. "We always hid."
She tried to talk about it anyway, but teachers silenced her, she said.
Lenape legend predicted that one day tribe members would be able to share their identities again. The Penn exhibit, "Fulfilling the Prophecy," refers to the tribe's Prophecy of the Fourth Crow.
It goes, in part, like this:
The first crow flew the way of harmony with the Creator.
The second crow tried to clean the world, but he became sick and died.
The third crow saw his dead brother and hid.
