Kelly Daniels, past president of the Native American Church of Canada, was invited to an International Ancestral Knowledge and Wisdom Conference just outside of Mexico City in December.
The conference took place just one hour north of Mexico City. Mexico City was originally an Aztec city called Tenochtitlan built on an island in the middle of a lake now covered by the concrete and buildings of this major world city. When the Spanish first arrived they were amazed at this city and its cleanliness and the city was larger than most European cities as that time. Its aqueduct system brought fresh water to its citizens and the Spaniards were impressed by the botanical gardens. At that time, none existed in Europe.
After his return, talked with Daniels briefly at his home on Red Pheasant, south of Battleford.
During the conference he met with international delegates and high level Mexican officials.
"There were speakers at the dinner, including a Mayan who spoke a bit about the Mayan calendar," he said. "Dec. 21 was only days away and it was being said that this would be the end of the world. But the Mayan explained that Christianity had had a major influence in this notion, which was wrong and misleading. We were told that the Mayans believe that a new era is starting and with that there was different prophecies including changes in the weather, and new sicknesses due to technology."
Daniels also visited an Aztec temple.
"There was a fire burning and we each were given a stick to put in the fire to symbolize that we were coming together to build a fire, a fire of the spirit. The fire keeper was an old Mayan lady and she and her assistants kept the fire burning for four days, the length of the conference, and she would fast and pray during the day."
Daniels explained there were eight different tents around the fire representing and based on the themes of; wisdom, culture, medicine, agriculture, treaties, spirituality, art and music and technology. In these tents presenters spoke of their peoples' relationship with their governments and how they maintain their traditional mode of life.
"I gave a presentation later in one of the tents and I shared some of our Cree traditions and stories," Daniels said. "We were educating each other of our ancestral ways and beliefs. One of the main intents was for each person not to be biased or prejudicial to anyone's way of prayer, and to work together to understand each other and for everyone to put their heart into listening.
"A presenter from the Easter Islands spoke of an island near their homeland that has medicines for all of humanity. There are even medicines for sicknesses that are not even yet known but which will be coming to ravage humanity in the future."
On the eve of Dec. 21 there was a Native American Church ceremony led by the Huichol people of northern Mexico.
"The ceremony ended around 4:30 a.m. and we all began a walk in the darkness to the top of a mountain which was about 25 kilometres away," said Daniels. "It was a long walk and many became tired, including me. As I walked I began to look at my life, my ceremonies that I conduct, my people and my relatives' struggles and I began to pray as I followed the Aztec, Mayan and Huichol guides who lead very physically active lives and I struggled to follow.
"I can say that, it was prayer that got me up the mountain.
"When we got to the top of the mountain it was just before sunrise. The locals had a ceremony at the main temple on the east side. The whole temple and its immediate environs was made up of lava rock. It was here that the first human being was created and that was why this temple was here. The Temple of the Sun in Teotihuacan is the world's third largest pyramid. As the sun came out they said that this sun was called the Hummingbird Sun due to the quality of heat it gives out. In the previous four days the sun goes down and fights all of the negative things from humanity and the world. Today, the 21st of December, we celebrate and now it will build up its strength until the 21st of June called the Eagle Sun, full of strength.
"As the sun gradually rose to brighten the world we all made prayers for humanity and the world. This time of prayers and sacredness was soon changed to a dance of celebration "
Daniels' story and its message brings us a message of hope as we here in Canada as indigenous people are going through trying times. Perhaps it is a rebirth and an awakening and that is why there seems to be a struggle. This is evident in the grassroots movement Idle No More, and in the Assembly of First Nations, and our relationship with the Canadian Government and most importantly, the relationship with Mother Earth.
As I write this, there are protests, some blockades of major highways in Canada and plans for much more. There is also a hunger strike by Chief Spence in Ottawa. We are all striving to make sense of this contemporary resource based world and also fighting for the integrity of our traditions and our treaty. But, as the Mayans predicted, we are entering a new era, a time of change and this prediction of a new time is a common theme amongst many indigenous nations across this Sacred Island, the Western Hemisphere.
The 2014 conference will be held in Saskatchewan with Kelly Daniels spearheading the organization of this conference, He is currently assembling a team to assist him in this effort. This will be a great opportunity for our Cree people to hear wisdom from other indigenous nations of the world and as well, for us to share with visitors the knowledge and worldview that has been handed down to us by our ancestors.
