A sacred pipe ceremony, a WORLD sacred pipe ceremony, honoring the first
observance of the International Day of the World's Indigenous People.
Eustace Lewis, (Eastern Pequot), and I set out early, in my '78 Volkswagon
Wagon for New York City, away from our quiet Connecticut countryside and
toward the source of most of our acid rain. In addition to the traffic, we
could see through the truck exhaust and pollution, great machines tearing
away Mother Earth's surface and rocks to widen the highway and invite more
traffic etc.
Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation was master of ceremonies and
also made remarks. Other speakers included Melissa Fawcett, tribal
historian of the newly recognized Mohegans, John Brown III, the young Sachem
of the Narragansett Nation, Roberto Borrero, El Consejo General de Tainos
Borincanos, Alberto Taxzo, a Quechua Medicine Man from the Andes in Equador,
U Thumana, Mon Buddhist, Felix Miranda, Garifuna Nation (Central America).
Children were blessed by Nana Osei Boakye Yiadom II, Chief of the
Aburi-Akuapem, Ghana. Drumming and singing by Arawak Mountain Singers.
Tom Dostau and several walkers and supporters of Sunbow 5 were in
attendance. And while we talked, Tom pointed overhead. As if by magic,
there was a sunbow, (a rainbow encircling the sun).
A little later Delphine Red Shirt, Lakota, asked that the cameras be turned
off and lead the Sacred Pipe Ceremony. At the same moment, we were told,
similar pipe ceremonioes were begun around the world.
We had plenty of time, stuck in traffic, to reflect on the day.
I was struck by the smallness of the Earth. We can communicate with each
other, in seconds. The call can go out and we gather, coming in cars, buses
and planes. We are all different sizes, shapes and shades. We speak
different languages. We are interpeted. We Share. We smile. We hug. A
sunbow shines upon us. And somehow the world is a little better today. We
shall help protect each others rights. And we shall honor our Mother Earth,
our elders and each other with a little more sincerity, knowing that we are
indeed all related.
Pablo