The historical Saponi believed that life is a trial of life.....meaning that in our human form we are currently being tested to prove our right to be among the great ones in heaven. In death the historical Saponi believed a person walks down a path which comes to a fork in the road, those who have passed their trial of life by living a life of good deeds would be allowed to walk the path to the right which lead to a old man who allowed entrance into a big gate where it is always spring time, thus heaven. Those who did not pass the trial of life would be lead down the path to the left, here the person meets a old woman and it is always winter time, the person would be thrown over the wall and have to stay here until their bad deeds was deemed forgiven, the person would be sent back over the wall at this time and given another chance at the trial of life. This is where the adoption ceremony comes in. The historical Saponi believed people from outside the tribe would have to be allowed into the tribe to replace those that died. These people were to be people the spirit of those coming back from the left path would be reincarnated into. Which makes the adopted people very important, it was their job to give those of the left path a chance to walk down the right path. If this adopted person lived a good life then both that person and the reincarnated person would both be allowed to walk down the right path together. This adopted person was not looked upon as a outsider, instead this person was seen just the same as a blood descendant, the reason for this thought is due to the belief the adopted members now carried the left path walker's spirit inside them thus making them a full Saponi, not just a regular member but a member with a great task, that task to be bringing the left path walkers down the right path. Each adopted person took one reincarnated spirit. Since the Saponi was unable to know which person walked the right path then they probally adopted a new member for each person of the tribe that died just to be on the safe side. If a person was not adopted for the left path walkers then the left path walker's spirits would have to wonder the earth forever.
The Adopted members symbolized the idea that no matter a person's sin, that sin is forgiven by the creator of the world. All sins are forgiven.
The Adopted members was probally adopted just as Winter ended. Since the Saponi believed the left path was winter and the right path was spring, then the ending of Winter probally symbolized the fork in the path....end of Winter and begining of Spring.....thus the time that those of the left path come back to Earth.
So the Adoptions would have taken place on March 20th. This day is called the "Vernal Equionox".
This day also is celebrated all over the world for it's symbolism of rebirth, all crops will soon start growing agian etc etc. The Vernal Equionox simply means "The Rebirth" and "New beginings".
In a way I guess you could say that the Saponi believed that during winter they suffered due to the harsh cold and death of their crops, however when spring comes, the hardships start going away. It probally showed them that the great creator had felt they suffered enough and now he or she was now forgiving them and giving them "new life". The symbolism that all sins have been forgiven by the great creator of the world. Interesting thing about this idea is, during winter all crops die, when Spring begins new seeds must be planted to replace those lost crops, some crops may re grow on their own...however to be sure, enough seeds should be gotten to replace the entire crop in case none of the crops regrow. I believe this is where the Adoption ceremony had it's start from...rebirth of crops.
As research of the Manahoac/Saponi Rapidan mound has found, those who died was all collected and stored in one place until the Adoption ceremony where "Okee" would watch over them until it was time for the Vernal Equionox, at this time all the bones of those who died would be brought to the Rapidan mound in Orange county, Virginia.....these bones was probally brought the relatives in baskets and bags, and all dumped into the mound with no special placement, they was all dumped together with no special gifts. I believe the reasoning behind this was because the Saponi believed their spirit was being transfered into the adopted body so nospecial care was used for these bones. Special gifts would probally have been given to the adopted members instead of being buried with the bones. Those buried special with gifts was probally those who the Saponi believed was no doubt had lived a good life and was going to walk the right path. Other mounds of Virginia was used for these people. The Monacan mound in Charlottesville, Virginia was probally used for these people since Thomas jefferson said the Saponi would come to this mound to mourn the death of leaving special arrows, when Thomas Jefferson dug into this mound he found items and special buried bones.
The Rapidan mound probally represented the planting of new seeds into the ground to get ready for the new crop.....only in this case is more of a human life fashion.
Hopefully this helps people understand the importance of the Saponi adopting outside members. If we are to bring our ancestor's traditions back then we must honor this tradition as well.
Simply put, the adoption represents the forgiving of sin and rebirth.
It has taken me a long time of going thru Algonkian, Saponi, and world cultures then combining them to findings at the Virginia mounds to finnally fully understand the adoption ceremony.
Joseph "Nanmankoi" Newman