"It is a strange thing, that since prayer has come into our cabins, our former customs are no longer of any service; and yet we shall all die because we given them up." -
Algonquin sachem
Monday, July 21, 2008
Vatican's Silence Sparks Historic gathering of International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers in Rome
In the fall of 2004, thirteen indigenous female elders from all over the world—the Amazon, Asia, Africa, Mexico, the Arctic Circle, the Northwest Southwest and Midwest U.S. and Central America—met at a retreat center in upstate New York and agreed to form an alliance. They declared: “We, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children.”
The Grandmothers’ Council convenes every six months, as they travel the world to each other’s homelands to cultivate their unified prayer for peace and care for Mother Earth. In Spring 2005, the Grandmothers’ Council met at the home of Nicaragua Mayan grandmother Flordemayo in New Mexico. In May of 2006, they visited Mazatec grandmother Julieta Casimiro in Oaxaca, Mexico. Next they met in Dharamsala, India, in October 2006, (the exiled home of the Tibetan grandmother Tsering Dolma Gyaltong), and the Council had a private audience with H.H. the Dalai Lama. In June 2007, the grandmothers gathered in the Black Hills of South Dakota to honor Rita and Beatrice Long-Visitor Holy Dance, culminating in a Lakota Sundance.
This summer marks their first visit to Europe. Following their stay in Italy they will continue on to Spain to spread their teachings and light the fire for world peace in Barcelona. Their prayers will go out through the waters of the Mediterranean to the shores of the River Jordan as they join with a global day of Prayer for the Waters of the Earth on July 25th.
The grandmother’s teachings are quickly spreading around the world. Their book, Grandmothers Counsel the World: Indigenous Women Elders Offer their Vision for Our Planet (Shambhala Publications, 2006) is in its fourth printing and available in Czech, Dutch, German, Japanese, Slovene, Spanish and Taiwanese. A documentary film about the Grandmothers, “For the Next Seven Generations,” directed by Emmy and Peabody award winner Carole Hart, will be released in the fall of 2008.
The Grandmothers have decided to persevere, despite much hardship, in laying down their prayers at the Vatican. Encouraged by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's official apology to the aboriginal peoples of Australia, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent apology to First Nations people in Canada, and Barack Obama's promise, if elected, to appoint a Native American adviser to his senior White House staff, the Grandmothers will let nothing deter them from contributing momentum to this wave of support and healing for the world's indigenous peoples.
In their first letter addressed to Cardinal Walter Kasper at the Vatican, dated October 22, 2005, the Grandmothers write, "Our peoples must still live with the continuing legacy of this first denial of our right to be treated as equal participants in the community of nations. Our peoples are still struggling for the right to live on earth and practice our cultural and spiritual traditions as our ancestors did." No response was received from the Vatican.
The July 9th gathering represents an enormous physical and logistical feat as the Grandmothers gather from all four directions of the World. The Grandmothers intend to present themselves in full native regalia and with the collective force of their individual personalities backed by centuries of indigenous tradition and wisdom.
The Grandmothers were nearly evicted from the Vatican grounds. Read the article here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417739
Read the letter here: http://www.grandmotherscouncil.com/docs/vaticanletter.pdf. Information gathered from www.grandmotherscouncil.com.
The Grandmothers’ Council convenes every six months, as they travel the world to each other’s homelands to cultivate their unified prayer for peace and care for Mother Earth. In Spring 2005, the Grandmothers’ Council met at the home of Nicaragua Mayan grandmother Flordemayo in New Mexico. In May of 2006, they visited Mazatec grandmother Julieta Casimiro in Oaxaca, Mexico. Next they met in Dharamsala, India, in October 2006, (the exiled home of the Tibetan grandmother Tsering Dolma Gyaltong), and the Council had a private audience with H.H. the Dalai Lama. In June 2007, the grandmothers gathered in the Black Hills of South Dakota to honor Rita and Beatrice Long-Visitor Holy Dance, culminating in a Lakota Sundance.
This summer marks their first visit to Europe. Following their stay in Italy they will continue on to Spain to spread their teachings and light the fire for world peace in Barcelona. Their prayers will go out through the waters of the Mediterranean to the shores of the River Jordan as they join with a global day of Prayer for the Waters of the Earth on July 25th.
The grandmother’s teachings are quickly spreading around the world. Their book, Grandmothers Counsel the World: Indigenous Women Elders Offer their Vision for Our Planet (Shambhala Publications, 2006) is in its fourth printing and available in Czech, Dutch, German, Japanese, Slovene, Spanish and Taiwanese. A documentary film about the Grandmothers, “For the Next Seven Generations,” directed by Emmy and Peabody award winner Carole Hart, will be released in the fall of 2008.
The Grandmothers have decided to persevere, despite much hardship, in laying down their prayers at the Vatican. Encouraged by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's official apology to the aboriginal peoples of Australia, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent apology to First Nations people in Canada, and Barack Obama's promise, if elected, to appoint a Native American adviser to his senior White House staff, the Grandmothers will let nothing deter them from contributing momentum to this wave of support and healing for the world's indigenous peoples.
In their first letter addressed to Cardinal Walter Kasper at the Vatican, dated October 22, 2005, the Grandmothers write, "Our peoples must still live with the continuing legacy of this first denial of our right to be treated as equal participants in the community of nations. Our peoples are still struggling for the right to live on earth and practice our cultural and spiritual traditions as our ancestors did." No response was received from the Vatican.
The July 9th gathering represents an enormous physical and logistical feat as the Grandmothers gather from all four directions of the World. The Grandmothers intend to present themselves in full native regalia and with the collective force of their individual personalities backed by centuries of indigenous tradition and wisdom.
The Grandmothers were nearly evicted from the Vatican grounds. Read the article here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417739
Read the letter here: http://www.grandmotherscouncil.com/docs/vaticanletter.pdf. Information gathered from www.grandmotherscouncil.com.
Elementary students participate in Dine summer language camp
By: G. Jeff Golden
BLOOMFIELD — Elementary school children in Bloomfield are breaking away from their TVs this summer to learn about the history and culture of the Navajo people — in a class conducted entirely in the Navajo language.
The Diné Language Immersion Program, for students in kindergarten through sixth grade, runs from July 7-30 at Central Primary School in Bloomfield. The course lasts all morning, from 8:30 until noon, Monday through Thursday.
"I was just watching TV all day," said 10-year-old Zachary Augustine, referring to his summer before the class and why he decided to attend.
The classroom is decorated with posters and pictures that create the atmosphere of Navajo language, culture and history.
"We're trying to relearn and revitalize the language," said Janice Montoya, the lead teacher for the program.
The air is buzzing as five teachers instruct, entirely in the Navajo language, 43 enrolled children at five different stations. It's one of the first times some students have heard the language, while others are subjected to it every day.
"It depends on their exposure in the home," Montoya said.
The program is divided thematically, focusing on a different aspect of Navajo life each week. The students learned about clan identification last week and will learn about animals and history in the future. This week, though, the summer language camp was all about food.
Get the whole story here: http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_9917487?source=email
BLOOMFIELD — Elementary school children in Bloomfield are breaking away from their TVs this summer to learn about the history and culture of the Navajo people — in a class conducted entirely in the Navajo language.
The Diné Language Immersion Program, for students in kindergarten through sixth grade, runs from July 7-30 at Central Primary School in Bloomfield. The course lasts all morning, from 8:30 until noon, Monday through Thursday.
"I was just watching TV all day," said 10-year-old Zachary Augustine, referring to his summer before the class and why he decided to attend.
The classroom is decorated with posters and pictures that create the atmosphere of Navajo language, culture and history.
"We're trying to relearn and revitalize the language," said Janice Montoya, the lead teacher for the program.
The air is buzzing as five teachers instruct, entirely in the Navajo language, 43 enrolled children at five different stations. It's one of the first times some students have heard the language, while others are subjected to it every day.
"It depends on their exposure in the home," Montoya said.
The program is divided thematically, focusing on a different aspect of Navajo life each week. The students learned about clan identification last week and will learn about animals and history in the future. This week, though, the summer language camp was all about food.
Get the whole story here: http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_9917487?source=email
Ontario to protect vast tract
By: Kerry Gillespie
Ontario has made the largest conservation commitment in Canadian history, setting aside at least half the Northern Boreal region – 225,000 square kilometres – for permanent protection from development, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced yesterday.
It's an area almost the size of the United Kingdom.
"It is, in a word, immense. It's also unique and precious. It's home to the largest untouched forest in Canada and the third largest wetland in the world," McGuinty said.
The announcement is globally significant in the fight against climate change, advocates say. Nearly 100 billion tonnes of carbon are stored in the Northern Boreal region and another 12.5 million tonnes are absorbed each year.
These lands remain, for the most part, untouched by development. But with increasing world demand for resources, it was just a matter of time before mining and logging inched up from the south.
Now, those resource industries will be barred from half the land and have to work with the government and local First Nations communities to create sustainable development plans for the rest, McGuinty said.
Over the next 10 to 15 years, the province will work with scientists and communities to map out the specific lands that are the most valuable as carbon storehouses and for species protection and which lands have the greatest resources and should be developed.
"We're going to strike the right balance between conservation and development," McGuinty said. In the interim, the government is relying on prospective developers' respect for the laws governing Crown and First Nations lands to protect the region's forests and wetlands.
Keep reading here: http://www.thestar.com/article/460305
Ontario has made the largest conservation commitment in Canadian history, setting aside at least half the Northern Boreal region – 225,000 square kilometres – for permanent protection from development, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced yesterday.
It's an area almost the size of the United Kingdom.
"It is, in a word, immense. It's also unique and precious. It's home to the largest untouched forest in Canada and the third largest wetland in the world," McGuinty said.
The announcement is globally significant in the fight against climate change, advocates say. Nearly 100 billion tonnes of carbon are stored in the Northern Boreal region and another 12.5 million tonnes are absorbed each year.
These lands remain, for the most part, untouched by development. But with increasing world demand for resources, it was just a matter of time before mining and logging inched up from the south.
Now, those resource industries will be barred from half the land and have to work with the government and local First Nations communities to create sustainable development plans for the rest, McGuinty said.
Over the next 10 to 15 years, the province will work with scientists and communities to map out the specific lands that are the most valuable as carbon storehouses and for species protection and which lands have the greatest resources and should be developed.
"We're going to strike the right balance between conservation and development," McGuinty said. In the interim, the government is relying on prospective developers' respect for the laws governing Crown and First Nations lands to protect the region's forests and wetlands.
Keep reading here: http://www.thestar.com/article/460305
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)
