This story is excerpted from an interview conducted in Bennettsville in October 2026

Karen: My dad is Mexican. Okay, mama’s Indian. 

Savannah Turgal: Okay, 

Karen: I was raised Catholic. 

Savannah Turgal: Wow. 

Karen: However, mama never let us forget where we came from. Both sides, both both heritage. I know both of my genealogy, and I know both heritage because mom and daddy made sure that we did. Okay, so when we talk about the spirituality or religion is whatever you were raised, okay. However, Mother Earth is gives us what we have. We don’t, and we don’t take anything that we don’t give back. We also don’t do anything that we don’t ask permission from the four winds and the great leader, great spirit, which is God. And no matter what you call him, he’s still everybody’s the one God. So Wesley is better at talking about this this stuff than I am because he is, and what. You would consider an ordained minister, but in within Indian religion, he is our shaman. He is our shaman, and I really want you to talk to him. 

Savannah Turgal: Yeah, I think. Yeah, I think I did a little earlier. I’ll definitely ask him about that. So earlier before the dance, correct me if I’m wrong. You guys did a blessing of the ground. 

Karen: Blessing of the grounds. We ask. We ask Mother Earth and the Great Spirit if we could. 

Savannah Turgal: Okay. Why? 

Karen: Because it’s not ours. This is not ours. This this the dirt we’re standing on is not ours. 

Savannah Turgal: And so you’re asking permission to dance upon the ground. 

Karen: Permission to dance, permission to whatever we’re going to do, we ask permission first on the grounds that we’re going to do it. 

Savannah Turgal: Not just dancing, but anything. 

Karen: Everything, anything we do, we ask permission first.