Water Ceremony At The Mississippi River

We were especially pleased with the sun up in the sky today! And I talked about how much energy the sun gives me in the winter. I have never been diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), but I believe I have it. My energy is like night and day when the sun hasn't been out for a few days.

Some days when the sun isn't out, I feel like I need a nap. Well, I am bear clan; that may be a part of me trying to hibernate. The problem is, I only nap when I am ill. I thought once you hit the 70s, you were supposed to get to nap.

As we took our time on the river, we visited about this and that, and I got to tell a story about my husband's aunt, who lived to be 103. One of us was asking about remedies for arthritis and rheumatism.

I said, "John's aunt could outwalk John in her 90s. Probably in her 100s too, but they didn't want to risk her falling, so they kept her in a chair. I asked her one day, when she was in her 90s, if she ever had trouble with arthritis or rheumatism."

She whispered to me to follow her, and then she said as she opened the refrigerator door and pointed to three water bottles sitting on a shelf in the door, "I drink those every morning, and no arthritis!" I asked why she didn't drink them at night, and she said, "I don't want to be getting up all night to go to the bathroom!"

I then told them that, with our culture, water is medicine. My mother used to push water. Anything wrong, have some water. Of course, water wasn't in plastic like it is today. Yes, we talked about microplastics too.

The water ceremony is important as it brings our focus to water being in danger. Back in 1978/79, two women came down from the tar sands in Canada and started meeting with different groups of women in Minnesota. I don't know where else they went, but they were here.

They talked about how water is in trouble, and it is up to the women to save the water. It is important for people today and for our future generations. In Minnesota, there are a lot of water sources. We were told it would only be a short time before people wanted the water from Minnesota.

That has started to happen. We were told that men can help with the ceremony, but it really is up to the women to carry the water. In much the same way that we do, when carrying children prior to their birth.

They never said this is only for Native women, but the ceremony in Minnesota comes from Ojibwe women. The water songs were written by women. It is important for all women to be aware that our water is in danger and to help support water by recycling, reusing, repurposing, and refusing.

At the Mississippi this morning, we saw large swans and small ones. As we finished our asema song, a blackbird flew to a tree nearby and sounded like he was encouraging our singing.

One of the women didn't believe the swans would have babies now, as it has been so cold. We didn't have a final decision on that, though. Maybe the small ones were not swans.

We finished our ceremony and went for tea at Brewed Awakening. We talked about the latest in our lives and what is going on in the world. It is such a nice way to start the day by the water and with long- time friends!

My granddaughter is stopping by today. She has a little boy that she hasn't brought to the water ceremony yet. She had hoped to bring him by, but the timing wasn't right, so they are coming for a visit. We will see them soon.