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A solemn remembrance at Indian cemetery in Carlisle

CARLISLE, Pa. - A group of American Indians have come every Memorial Day weekend since 1973 to the cemetery of the old Carlisle Indian Industrial School. A vigil of sorts, they have come over the decades when others lived too far away and others had simply forgotten. They come to honor the students who died while attending school there and to decorate their graves.

Since 1973, a group has been decorating the graves at the Carlisle Indian Cemetery over Memorial Day Weekend - a vigil of sorts over the decades when others lived too far away and others had just forgotten. Day-own-day Sharp, 5, of Harrisburg looks over the students' graves before they decorated them on May 28, 2016. Day-own-day is of Kiowa and Karuk descent and has been attending this event from infancy.
Since 1973, a group has been decorating the graves at the Carlisle Indian Cemetery over Memorial Day Weekend - a vigil of sorts over the decades when others lived too far away and others had just forgotten. Day-own-day Sharp, 5, of Harrisburg looks over the students' graves before they decorated them on May 28, 2016. Day-own-day is of Kiowa and Karuk descent and has been attending this event from infancy.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

CARLISLE, Pa. - A group of American Indians have come every Memorial Day weekend since 1973 to the cemetery of the old Carlisle Indian Industrial School. A vigil of sorts, they have come over the decades when others lived too far away and others had simply forgotten. They come to honor the students who died while attending school there and to decorate their graves.

The practice was originally started by the American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. and carried on the last three years by Circle Legacy. Circle Legacy Executive Director Sandra Chipps Cianciulli, an Oglala Lakota, is a descendant of two of the first students to attend the school in 1879. Cianciulli said, "These children are buried a long way from family and need to be recognized. My ancestors lived, but what if they hadn't? I would want someone to put a flower on their grave and remember them. It's especially important for us as descendants to remember the legacy. It has become a sacred thing."

About 50 people attended this year. The cemetery has become a lasting symbol of the assimilation effort initiated by the United State government at Carlisle and later at other boarding schools, and the harm and destruction it caused to native cultures. Alice Myers-Hall of Woodbridge, Va., is a descendant of Carlisle students, and was visiting the cemetery for the first time. "When I see the graves it evokes a sadness. They were stripped of culture and lost their identity. They were just children, but they are not forgotten."

An effort initiated by the Rosebud Sioux and Northern Arapaho to repatriate the remains of their students buried in Carlisle creates a cloud of uncertainty over the cemetery and the Memorial Day weekend practice. Sandra Chipps Cianciulli, however, said, "The Carlisle school grounds and cemetery are always going to be sacred to us because that's where Indian history changed forever."