The scents of sage and cedar wafted through drops of rain as guests arrived at the wedding of Dale Casteel and Whispering Eagle Saturday.

After the rain, the small, intimate crowd moved from the house to the Sacred Circle, a traditional prayer circle prepared for the Cherokee wedding, where the fire ring was burning cedar wood.

Casteel, who is descended from Cherokee Indians, would be marrying his third wife, Whispering Eagle, of the Lakota Sioux tribe.

“She is a real spiritual person. She wants to tell the Native American people about Jesus, “ Casteel said of his new bride.

Casteel’s two previous wives both died from cancer.

“I never dreamed He (God) would put another woman in my life, but he did,” said Casteel.

Cherokee Chief Joe Sitting Owl White of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., officiated at the union, blessing each person there with the ceremonial white sage smoke. He told the crowd that they were part of a special historical event. The traditional Cherokee pipe ceremony was to be performed at the wedding.

“Only one in a 1,000 Cherokees are aware it exists, ” said White. “This is the first time this pipe ceremony has been done in public in over 200 years. The tradition was lost over the years and found recently by local historian Ray Pearl Seeker Pennington in the John Howard Payne papers.”

The historical Cherokee wedding also included other sacred traditions.

Baskets were carried containing Indian corn, leather, venison, and fry bread.

“The fry bread is a staple meal that an Indian made every single day of her life,” said Whispering Eagle.

The corn, leather and venison all represent gifts from God.

“God gave us animals for food and clothing, “ she said.

A native named Lone Elk in South Dakota handmade two smaller blankets. The blankets represent the two as individuals. The quilts were backed in blue and carried a design in traditional colors of red, white, black and blue on the front.

The bride and groom were both escorted into the sacred circle by the chief, covered in their blankets.

Their individual blankets were removed and replaced with one blanket that enveloped the couple. This blanket was backed in white and displayed a star on the front, made of small triangles in red, yellow, black and white.

“The star symbolizes the stars in the sky,” said Whispering Eagle.

The larger star adorning the blanket, or “unity quilt,” was draped over the couple as a sign of their union.

The couple drank from the traditional wedding vase, as well. The vase has two spouts and two handles to symbolize unity. The red wine in the vase symbolizes the “blood of Christ.” They drank from the vase at the same time, saluting the north and the south, and then the east and west.

“This will be my final trail with this lady right here,” said Casteel.

After the wedding, he said the sacred circle would stay near the house as a spiritual place of prayer. The chief blessed the circle before the ceremony; however, Casteel and Whispering Eagle had already had a spiritual encounter at the circle.

“I’m honored for all this, “ said Casteel.

Casteel believes the number 11 represents shows blessings throughout the Bible. The wedding was the 11th wedding performed by the chief and on the 11th day of the month.

He said, “Yesterday, we heard a hawk fly over and he made 11 calls, and we felt this was the right thing to do.“