College community invited to Ishkodewan for Indigenous ceremony honouring nature

Posted on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019

The Algonquin College community is invited to attend an Indigenous ceremony in Ishkodewan Friday as the DARE District courtyard is readied for winter.

Horticultural Industries students will assist in preparing the courtyard garden for winter starting Friday. This entails weeding plant beds, deadheading perennials, and generally getting the garden in shape for winter’s onset – The Big Sleep, as Jeff Turner, Partnership Development Specialist for the DARE District, puts it.

Ahead of this work, Jackie Tenute, Aboriginal Counsellor for the Mamidosewin Centre, will lead an early morning ceremony in Ishkodewan to say ‘thank you’ to nature for its beauty and bounty, including the more than 1,000 plants – flowers, shrubs, and trees – that make up the garden.

“It is important to create a relationship with the land … and celebrate the lives of the plants,” says Tenute. “We show our gratitude to the plants for the work they have done to beautify the land and provide food for the birds and bees and other creatures.”

The 9 a.m. ceremony will include lighting the fire vessel in Ishkodewan’s Gathering Circle.

Attendees will also be reminded of another Indigenous tradition – The Day of the Dead in which the living honour and pay their respects to the dead. This year the Day of the Dead falls on Saturday (Nov. 2).

“This is the time of year when a lot of traditional cultures honour those who have died,” says Tenute. “It is a good time to express gratitude for the memories and knowledge that was passed on to us.”

Another Indigenous event, a Spirit Feast, is being planned for Nawapon on Tuesday, November 26.

Again, the College community will be invited to remember those “who have gone on to the Spirit World” with the telling of stories, the sharing of memories, and a potluck of the favourite foods of those being honoured, says Tenute.


Comments

Comments are closed.