Posts in Category: Anishinaabe
The Naming Ceremony
Over the weekend, our elder came to visit. This woman, this goddess, this Midewin Healer, has brought so much cohesion, knowledge, love, ceremony, healing and understanding into our family. I am grateful everyday for the relationships that have transpired because of you and me, songbird. Songbird is one of my best girl’s and our elder is her mama.
The Naming Ceremony
This particular visit was to ‘officially’ offer her sema (tobacco, one of the four sacred medicines) to seek a name for our new growing baby, still on the inside, so that she may begin the task of prayer and fasting. For those of you who don’t know, this is part of the process called, The Naming Ceremony, a First Nations Cultural ceremony.
It is where one receives their spirit name, which tells you something about that person, their personality, their mission in this life. Parents may choose to use the spirit name given by their elder as a first or second name.
When a name is decided upon, the naming ceremony begins. Most of the time, the one who presents the name is the one to whom the sema was given, but this is not always the case. The name is presented to the grandfather spirits in the four directions, and everyone who is in the ceremony has to say that traditional name is presented. The family usually prepares a feast and does a giveaway.
Peter Cotton-Tail was in the Hizz-ouse.
There was feasting and ceremony and treasure hunts and skype visits and flying chickadees, but above all glee. Glee to be gathered, but missing our beautiful kwe’s. They have been flying reindeer, making music and a documentary with Adjagas, (courtesy Big Soul Productions and a whack of other talented film peeps), some fabulous Sammi musicians of Norway. However, we were grateful for the miracles of the interwebs, in that Skype allowed them to be a part of our ceremony of re-birth and giving thanks.
I crafted and baked our gifts to wee ones, except for the chocolates for the hunt. Really now.
I cooked all day with some (missing a couple), of my coven and an exceptional young man home from B.C. Thank-you Nicholyn Farms phone in grocery order capabilities and local Barrie Farmers Market drop-off to pick up. That’s some 100 mile love right there.
bless
apricot & dijon glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, mashed yams, lemon & thyme pickerel, honey & mint glazed carrots!
The Divine Ms. M
imagineNATIVE is my most favourite of film festivals. It is an epic international Film + Media Arts Festival born of and happening in Toronto, which hits every fall. Celebrating indigenous peoples from around the world who are creating cutting edge film, video, radio, and new media. Presenting a juried selection of the most incredible, honest, provoking and beautiful indigenous works from around the globe.
Part of their mission statement as stated on their website, ‘imagineNATIVE is committed to dispelling stereotypical notions of Indigenous peoples through diverse media presentations from within our communities, thereby contributing to a greater understanding by audiences of Indigenous artistic expression.’ Hells yea. And they do it more than well.
To me, imagineNATIVE as an entity, is a visionary leader. Filling the gap of showcasing qualitative indigenous artistic content, it exhibits to the world the work of Native filmmakers and media artists. Artists who weave art into fiction, into film, into mixed media, into music; of their cultural and traditional landscapes which are generally and otherwise under or misrepresented. An excellent, prolific example of such misrepresentations throughout cinematic history (and in affect, general history) is the
No No Keshagesh…Reconsider This
*UPDATE 2012: This post is a biggie. Leave it open on your browser. Come back to it often. Soak it up in all of it’s entirety. Please.*
In lieu of the upcoming holidays; there is much to be thankful for, much to discuss in love and unity, much to reconsider. I was in a debate recently over FB. Yea, Facebook. It happens. It was in response to this video being posted by a wise friend.
CONNECT WITH JENNIFER
CONNECT WITH SELENA
