THIS SPACE I AM HOPING TO LET OTHERS KNOW SOME OF THE THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN OUR COMMUNITIES.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SOMETHING ADDED, PLEASE CONTACT ME.
MIIGWECH, THANK YOU

Dear Community Members, Ahnii, Sago, Bozo!

This is hope engel from Guelph, mixed ancestry Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee (from Oklahoma originally). I am a member of the Plume Writers Circle, a Guelph, Cambridge, K-W region Aboriginal writers circle. We have received funding from the Ontario Arts Council to put out a local anthology, and we really want to hear your ideas about what you'd like to see in this anthology! Below are 2 possible meeting times, let us know what is preferable for you, and based on your input, there will be a meeting on one of the dates scheduled.

We can meet on Tuesday evening, or Wednesday Evening at Anishnabeg Outreach in Guelph. 6pm, July 11, or July 12th? Which works best? let us know! by the way, if there is enough interest, i can find a way to get to K-W for a meeting-- please let me know if you K-W folks are interested!
This is a very informal meeting, we just want to get community input about the content and themes of the anthology, how we can publicize ourselves, how we can best serve our community and our local emerging writers. for your convenience, I've attached info about the PWC and member bios, what our proposal was when we applied to the Canada Council for the Arts 2 years ago, and call-out flyers for you to post. I also have the budget we submitted which I will be bringing to the meeting along with the OAC Proposal.

our vision is to have a variety of voices in this anthology, youth and elders, status and non-status, from all regions of turtle island, oral stories, drawings, poetry, songs, short fiction, traditional, contemporary, etc. Even if you've never written before, we want to hear from you... if you can't make it to the meetings,

please do email myself or cynthia missabie (cmissabie3@porchlight.ca).
You can also phone me at 519-827-1275.

This is a COMMUNITY Anthology. our vision is to share our stories and empower our community, and gain visibility as strong, gifted, beautiful people, rich in spirit.

we will be having another meeting in August to finalize the anthology vision so we can get started getting submissions and produce an anthology for 2007. Yay! please spread the word, and stay posted...
all our relations, hope:)


"be the dandelion in the sidewalk, feel sweetgrass through the concrete..." hope engel, 2000
hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul
and sings the tune without the words
and never stops at all.
Emily Dickinson
To go into the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
And find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
And is travelled by dark feet with dark wings.
Wendell Berry
"It was prophesized that the time would come when the voice of indigenous peoples would rise again after five hundred years of silence and oppression, to light a path to an eternal fire of peace, love, brotherhood and sisterhood amongst all nations." William Commanda


ANISHNABEG OUTREACH,
THE CANADIAN CLAY &
GLASS GALLERY & THE FIRST PEOPLES OF TURTLE ISLAND

‘PRESENTS’





NATIONAL
ABORIGINAL DAY
2006


"It was prophesized that the time would come when the voice of Indigenous peoples would rise again after five hundred years of silence and oppression, to light a path to an eternal fire of peace, love, brotherhood and sisterhood amongst all nations." William Commanda


SUMMER SOLSTICE

June 21st, Summer Solstice, known as The Rising Day in Anishnabe, is seen as a time for renewal, and sacred ceremonies, when we pray for healing medicines, good crops, and good harvest.

The Innuit, which means "the People," calculate their years from summer solstice to summer solstice. At the Arctic Circle the sun remains above the horizon for 24 hours on the summer solstice.

The Haudensaunee (Mohawk) have a Strawberry Dance, Wainodayo, to celebrate the ripening of the strawberry, which is a medicine to renew the spirit.

Seminole and Zuni have a Corn Dance, for fertility and rains to aid the maize, bean, and squash crops. Prayer sticks are planted in the fields.

The Hopi Summer Solstice ceremony is the "going home" of the kachinas, the guiding spirits of the tribe, and perfectly describes this seasonal shift in terms of a transferral of our spiritual reliance on divine illumination to the realization of our own personal responsibility. As they depart, they present gifts to the children and bless them. "May you go on your way with happy hearts and grateful thoughts."

On summer solstice, the people of the Taos Pueblo race up the mountain to welcome the rising solstice sun.

The Dakota people of North Dakota have held a Sun Dance at the solstice since 1876 when 10,000 people joined in this ritual with their spiritual leader, Crazy Horse. Participants offer their own bodies to the sun, the glorious manifestation of Wakan Tanka, the all-embracing great and sacred spirit. Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, says, “Our vision is for the Peoples of all continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator, to come together as one at their Sacred Sites at that sacred moment of what is known as the Summer Solstice of June 21st, to pray and meditate and commune with one another, thus promoting an energy shift to heal our Mother Earth and achieve a universal consciousness toward attaining Peace.”


HISTORY


In 1982, the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) called for the creation of June 21 as National Aboriginal Solidarity Day.


In 1990, Quebec legislature recognized June 21 as a day to celebrate Aboriginal culture.


In 1995, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recommended the designation of a National First Peoples Day, and the Sacred Assembly, a national conference of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people chaired by Elijah Harper, called for a national holiday to celebrate the contributions of Aboriginal peoples.


On June 13, 1996, Former Governor General Roméo LeBlanc, declared June 21 as National Aboriginal Day after consultations with various Aboriginal groups.


Today, National Aboriginal Day is part of the annual nation-wide Celebrate Canada! festivities held from June 21 to July 1. They begin with National Aboriginal Day, are followed by St-Jean Baptiste Day, Canadian Multiculturalism Day and concludes with Canada Day.