Hello friends! Happy Indigenous People’s Day!
Yesterday I celebrated by volunteering at an Indigenous People’s Day festival that took place at the Onondaga Nation field house where they play lacrosse. I want to share a couple moments that were particularly impactful to me, while they are fresh on my mind.
Thanksgiving Address
As the Haudenosaunee always do when they meet up, they started and ended the gathering by reciting the Thanksgiving Address, also known as “the words that come before all else.” They give thanks to all the different parts of nature, from the Earth and the waters to the trees and animals, food and medicine plants, the winds, the sun, moon, and stars, the ancestors, and so on. The person who recited it did it in the Onondaga language, which felt really powerful to listen to live and in-person, even though I didn’t understand it.
If you’ve been to any of my classes, you’ll know that I also start my gatherings with sharing gratitude for nature together as a group, inspired by this traditional practice which the Haudenosaunee have shared with the world. Since I’m pretty familiar with this sort of thing, and I do it regularly, I wonder if it felt a little more powerful because I could go through a list in my head while I was listening, even though I didn’t know which part he was at. Afterwards, he briefly told us all in English what he said. It’s about giving thanks that these parts of nature are still here, and that our lives depend on all of them. And this part is important: it’s about bringing all of our minds together as one with this gratitude, bringing us into a state of peace and unity.
I could definitely feel that throughout the rest of the event. There was such a sense of friendship, kindness, and camaraderie among the people I interacted with, even though I had never met most of them before. People seemed to be relaxed into a genuine sense of belonging. It might have partly seemed this way to me because recently I’ve been actively practicing feeling this sense of peace and belonging in nature and around other people, feeling calm and grounded regardless of the circumstances. But it really seemed to be coming from the event itself, too.
Dances!
Twice during the festival, a group called the Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers performed their social dances, dressed up in their regalia. But one thing made this different from most other times I’ve had the chance to see these kinds of dances: they invited the audience members to participate! I noticed how this also facilitated a sense of connection between people at the event. People were shy to join at first, perhaps thinking like I did: “Really, we’re allowed to join? They really mean it? We’re not intruding or appropriating?” I needed to hear them say the invitation a couple times before I felt reassured that it was really ok (even though I already participated at last year’s festival). The leader said “These are social dances! Come on and join in!” People started turning to strangers around them, making eye contact and saying, “If you go up, I’ll go with you!” and then running into the circle together with big smiles, braver as a small group than they would have been alone. In this way, I danced for a few of the songs and it was so much fun. (Click here to see photos).
Cooking & Conduct
At the end of the evening, they showed a few short films up on a big screen. One of the films was about how they’re teaching traditional food preparation methods to their children. The film showed a small class of children (maybe middle or high school age) in a field on a snowy day, standing around a fire. They made corn mush in clay pots, venison cooked directly on the rocks, squash, and wild rice in a long wooden basin made from a hollowed-out tree trunk.
Two things stood out to me about this film. First, a teacher told the children they had red, blue, white, and yellow corn flour (I think those were the colors), and each type had a different way it benefits your mind and body. She said, “Now as a class, come to a consensus about what types you want to make today.” The Haudenosaunee are the oldest continuous democracy in the world, and the US government was partially inspired by them. But they don’t vote: they only make decisions through getting to 100% consensus. The children huddled up to discuss and check in with each other. Then they turned back to the teacher and one boy said, “Red and blue!” with a thumbs-up. This was a short moment in the film, but I felt very moved seeing how they practiced this and taught it to their children, even in such a small, everyday way; and I felt moved witnessing that making decisions by consensus is really possible.
Later, the film showed them all back inside their school, eating the food they’d cooked for lunch in the cafeteria. I’m paraphrasing here because I can’t remember exactly what was said, but an elder/teacher told the children that they were proud of not only the skills they learned, but their conduct and the way they acted while doing so.
I felt excited to hear this because this is exactly in line with what I’ve been learning and practicing about helping people develop nature connection. It’s not only about learning “survival” skills and knowledge about the ecosystem, it’s about the conduct we develop. It’s a way of being, a way of relating to each other in community, a way of moving through the world.
The elder went on to say (I’m paraphrasing again): “Once, you were a thought in someone’s mind. You were the ones they were thinking about when they were thinking seven generations ahead. And now you are here, and you are very good thoughts.”
I’m also very familiar with the idea of “seven generations,” that you think back through history and forward in time when making any decisions. But to hear someone say that directly to you, to tell someone that you are the hopes and wishes of someone generations ago come to life? Wow. That really struck a chord in me.
I’m contrasting that with how teenagers often feel in my own community: stressed-out, with low self-esteem and mental health challenges. I’m currently reading the book Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic – and What We Can Do About It, which is about students facing high levels of pressure to “succeed”. The district I went to is reading it for a community book club this month. The author talks about how kids need to have a sense of mattering, that they are loved and valued by the people around them, regardless of what they achieve or don’t achieve.
And what a powerful example of mattering. I wonder how it feels to have an elder in your community say those things to you. To hear not only that your parents are proud of you, or that your teacher cares about you, but that you have literally already been loved and appreciated for generations, and that you’re learning to act in a way that is… I guess you could say, carrying the spirit of that love forward.
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If you’re part of an indigenous culture, then I want to tell you happy Indigenous People’s Day!
If you’re not, then I encourage you to learn more about the indigenous communities who live around you. How can you be an ally and good neighbor? Can you volunteer at an event, buy some art, help with education/advocacy, or do something else to support them?
Nya•wéñha for reading!
(That means “thank you” in Onondaga!)
Rebecca 🌻
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