This week we celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day in Brandon, Manitoba. Invited to celebrate the First Nations Heritage for the first time and exposed to many new things, I now have a better understanding of this ancient culture. There is a sacred place near where I live called Spirit Sands. I took a step towards nature and understanding our cousins, spending time digesting the Spirit Sands. In addition, acknowledged reasons Indigenous People are passionate to preserve plant and wildlife. All science discovered to date has no wisdom compared to the compass for ancient healing.
Henry David Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms…”
Have you wondered how Manitoba would look if it had never been discovered by colonialists? This place, Manitou, is prairie grasslands. Resting on sand dunes. The Manitoba government has begun to restore reserved parcels of land to their natural state.
Spirit Sands the place
Spirit Sands is a great hiking trail and will take you to the Devils Punch Bowl, located just south of Carberry, MB. Moreover, this place is reserved as hallowed ground for Indigenous People, and continue to host sacred ceremonies in this place. Media and modern technology are not invited as they hold true to their spiritual sanctimony.
The vegetation is similar to bogs, with water just below ground. Amongst the spruce trees, and it’s understory, Spirit Sands is host and breeding grounds to protected native species. Reptiles such as the northern hognose snake, prairie skink, and several invertebrate species live here. The sand dunes are deceptive as they are a huge aquifer storing massive amounts of groundwater just beneath the surface.
spruce_woods_management_plan.pdf (gov.mb.ca)
The Compass and Nature
One thing I have come to appreciate about people who spend time in nature is their impressive respect for earth. Indigenous Peoples are accurate in proclaiming; West as a place of endings, East as the place of beginnings. South as the place for plants and rebirth, and North as the place of Wisdom. These teachings are a result from observing the birds, butterflies, whales, and species alike, migrating south during winter months. They breed and come back multiplied in numbers bringing birth. Generally speaking, animals that live to the North are smart as they learn to survive months on end without food. Sunsets in the West representing death and endings. The West’s harsh and bitter cold winds cut through skin and eat at your bones. East, where the sun rises, brings hope for a new beginning each day.
Ghosts of the Spirit Sands
Sensing the presence of ghosts from the past in Spirit Sands, one can see how glacial ice ripped through this place tearing away all vegetation and exposing the sand beneath. One can almost hear the spirits of the prairie Bison, and Elk ripping through this place tearing up the vegetation and moving throughout the rolling plains exposing sand once again.
I imagine the tribes of treaty 1 and 2 Anishinaabe, Cree, Ojibway, Oji-Cree, Assiniboine, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and homeland of the Métis Nation spent thousands of years in this place learning all the wisdoms of the dunes and the lakes and plains surrounding this sacred place. Now, we have destroyed most of the eco system with conventional farming. Pesticides, and fertilizer not native to the land leeches into the sand and aquifer and flows to the lakes, ponds, and streams killing the natural fish and destroying their habitat. Most of the lakes in Manitoba are now stocked with Walleye and Pike fry each spring attempting to recover the eco system.
“There are no owners in nature.” ― Freequill
We have been slowly killing the eco system with things that we thought would prosper us as humanity. Greed for selling natural resources have come at the expense of nature. Have you wondered why we suffer anxiety and mental health issues? The cause, we are killing everything good around us, having everything we could ever need for pharmaceuticals in our backyards. We don’t learn to utilize these plants to our benefit. Nature has the cures to anxiety and depression by spending time in it. Society ignores these simple things as we think of ourselves as complex beings.
Could we learn to farm without chemicals?
Henry David Thoreau was right, deliberately searching to find clues that make life more meaningful. Yet, we find we have not yet lived. Don’t misunderstand my feelings toward farming. I love to eat! There is a need to find better farming techniques without harming the eco system, we just haven’t discovered it yet.
What is the compass for ancient healing
In conclusion, I would encourage time spent in natural spaces for healing and refreshing your spirit as these are some reasons Indigenous People preserve plant and wildlife. One should refrain from replanted forests as they do more harm than good. A place that is hundreds of years old is best for healing, such as a mature forest. Use your compass for ancient healing in hopes that one day we will all have respect for the land that it deserves.
“My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back.” — Louis Riel
I have included a few pictures from National Indigenous Peoples Day in Brandon, Manitoba, also a link to a graduation pow wow in Winnipeg. Enjoy, and thank you for visiting my blog.
university of Manitoba powwow 2022 mens grass category – YouTube
