Preston — Former Norwich Hospital employees, government officials and observers from Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut participated in a cleansing ceremony hosted Thursday by Mohegan tribal elders at the former hospital property, where the tribe plans a major entertainment and recreation resort development.

The ceremonial fire will be kept burning until Monday morning in the first of four planned cleansing and healing ceremonies at the property, one for each season, Tribal Elder and ceremonial Lodge Keeper Charlie Strickland said. The ongoing ceremony is open to the public, but no photographs are allowed. Tribal members built a wigwam and erected a modern pop-up pavilion for guests in anticipation of Friday's heavy rain.

"The fire will stay lit no matter how hard it rains," Strickland vowed.

The rain, he said, also cleanses the bodies of those who tend to the fire.

"It's about healing," Strickland said Thursday morning before the fire was lit, "releasing the spirits of all who came through here, those who worked here and lived here and are buried here."

Strickland and tribal member Eric “Kokchisin” Maynard, whose tribal name means “Little Big Man,” arrived early Thursday and created the fire circle. Spectators from Rhode Island and Stonington joined them almost from the start as they placed a layer of white sand at the base so as not to burn Mother Earth, Strickland explained. Dried white sage was placed with kindling in the center of the firewood.

Basketball-sized stones were placed at intervals around the fire to represent the four seasons. Outside the openings in the circle of stone, they arranged four pairs of two chairs each in a larger circle to represent tribal "grandmothers" and ancestors. Two single chairs also in that circle represented the Creator and Mother Earth.

The stones were brought from areas throughout the region that are important to tribal history, including the Uncas Leap area of Norwich, a spot in Lebanon where the school attended by Samson Occum once stood, from the Norwich Hospital grounds and from Fort Shantok across the Thames River.

The water in gallon jugs placed beside the rocks came from four sacred water sources: the Thames River, a spot at Fort Shantok, the Yantic River at Uncas Leap and from the secret Uncas Spring. Strickland would not say where the spring is located, only that it is “in Connecticut.”

By midmorning, visitors had moved the chairs to sit and converse, which was fine, Strickland said, and part of the reflective spirit of the event.

A larger audience of about 35 people, including tribal leaders and officials from Preston and Norwich gathered for the 1 p.m. formal blessing ceremony led by Chief Lynn Malerba. She held a giant scallop shell and lit dried white sage leaves and coaxed the smoke with an eagle feather to envelop her and rise to the sky. She recited a prayer in the Mohegan language.

"Creator," she translated, "we thank you for this beautiful day and days to follow. We ask you for peace."

She then invited Tribal Council Chairman Kevin Brown and Council of Elders Chairman Larry Roberge to lead the group in offering sprinkles of tobacco to the fire. Malerba meandered through the audience, fanning the sage smoke. The rising smoke carries the group's prayers to heaven, she said.

Strickland said tribal members will stop feeding the fire at midnight Sunday and will watch as it slowly dies into the morning. They will remain on site until the ground cools. They will return in fall, winter and spring to repeat the four-day event, and Strickland hopes this small circle in the field adjacent to the Route 12 commuter parking lot will remain free from construction as a permanent ceremonial spot

Chairman Brown later said quietly that that concept is in the works. Brown and municipal leaders did not address the audience, saying Thursday's ceremony was not for political or development speeches.

People arrived, stayed for a while and departed throughout the day Thursday, some offering tobacco and taking the sage bowls in hand.

Kim Spaulding, a retired 35-year Norwich Hospital employee, called the former mental hospital the best place she ever worked. The Rev. Gregory Perry of Norwich nodded in agreement. He held services in the former hospital chapel for years and said it's still hard to drive past the spot where it once stood.

The two took turns holding a shell bowl containing burning white sage leaves. Upon instruction, they used their hands to fan the smoke over their shoulders, an action to ward negative energy from their bodies.

“See that,” Perry said, pointing toward Route 12. “That's my bad energy running down the road.”

c.bessette@theday.com