Story Info

Dancer
Daniel Dancer
Columbia River, Oregon, USA
2010

Story & Experience

Just getting ready to head out and see the flag waving that I put up yesterday. I like this way of hanging a flag . . . a rope from a branch above . . . a rope with a rock anchoring it all below. I first saw this way with the Aborginal flag in Australia . . . might want to pass it on. So here you go! Loved the TTW quote Jade sent this morning! It left me wondering what kind of joy was accessible in an unbroken world when everything was strong and beautiful and whole . . . hmmmmm, food for thought today.

Global Earth Exchange 2010 Report – Place: Celilo Park . . . near the site of Celilo Falls, now buried behind the waters of The Dalles dam. Six of us participated in this honoring of Celilo. It was a beautiful day and we all brought flowers from our home places. We first created a hoop made from willows and then put our flowers inside and various ceremonious objects and sat around it on the grass. We shared stories of Celilo Falls which was covered by the waters of the dam in 1957. None of us had seen it personally but had heard stories from others. Celilo village nearby is the oldest continuously inhabited site in North America. We had all of course seen pictures of Celilo everywhere in The Gorge as it is an icon of the region. One of the greatest fishing and gathering places the world has ever known . . . we all agreed it was one of the “world’s great lost places.”

Ellie shared that she had recently won a beautiful picture of Celilo in a raffle at a cultural exchange festival between Indians and whites two weeks before. She felt spooked by the picture and did not want to put it up in her house because no one had ever apologized for this act of desecration of such a sacred place, an ignorant act in our quest for power back then, that would never have happened today. So, we decided that our event would be an act of apology for what had happened and that we would post the picture or our creation around the region calling for a need for an “official act of apology” by the government . . . that that would be quite a healing thing. We exchanged more stories of what was bringing us grief and joy in our lives. We discussed the difficulty of being joyful in these times . . . thought “loving” might be a better word. Then Sola jumped up and danced and screamed around the park demonstrating how to be joyful, to see how it felt. We all witnessed her. Tears were shed, laughter too. It was quite beautiful. Then three of us waded out into the river with the hoop and put all our flowers inside. Those on the shore sang a special Apache song about healing the Earth. Watching the colorful circle beautifully undulating in the water with the knowing of Celilo buried underneath was very stirring to us all. We vowed to do this every year on Global Exchange Day and let this act reverberate to healing various aspects of other rivers in the area. Then we all went “nuts” for a few minutes demonstrating to all . . . our joy was brought forth by this event! Led by Daniel Dancer and Jade Sherer

 

Just getting ready to head out and see the flag waving that I put up yesterday. I like this way of hanging a flag . . . a rope from a branch above . . . a rope with a rock anchoring it all below. I first saw this way with the Aborginal flag in Australia . . . might want to pass it on. So here you go! Loved the TTW quote Jade sent this morning! It left me wondering what kind of joy was accessible in an unbroken world when everything was strong and beautiful and whole . . . hmmmmm, food for thought today.

Global Earth Exchange 2010 Report – Place: Celilo Park . . . near the site of Celilo Falls, now buried behind the waters of The Dalles dam. Six of us participated in this honoring of Celilo. It was a beautiful day and we all brought flowers from our home places. We first created a hoop made from willows and then put our flowers inside and various ceremonious objects and sat around it on the grass. We shared stories of Celilo Falls which was covered by the waters of the dam in 1957. None of us had seen it personally but had heard stories from others. Celilo village nearby is the oldest continuously inhabited site in North America. We had all of course seen pictures of Celilo everywhere in The Gorge as it is an icon of the region. One of the greatest fishing and gathering places the world has ever known . . . we all agreed it was one of the “world’s great lost places.”

Ellie shared that she had recently won a beautiful picture of Celilo in a raffle at a cultural exchange festival between Indians and whites two weeks before. She felt spooked by the picture and did not want to put it up in her house because no one had ever apologized for this act of desecration of such a sacred place, an ignorant act in our quest for power back then, that would never have happened today. So, we decided that our event would be an act of apology for what had happened and that we would post the picture or our creation around the region calling for a need for an “official act of apology” by the government . . . that that would be quite a healing thing. We exchanged more stories of what was bringing us grief and joy in our lives. We discussed the difficulty of being joyful in these times . . . thought “loving” might be a better word. Then Sola jumped up and danced and screamed around the park demonstrating how to be joyful, to see how it felt. We all witnessed her. Tears were shed, laughter too. It was quite beautiful. Then three of us waded out into the river with the hoop and put all our flowers inside. Those on the shore sang a special Apache song about healing the Earth. Watching the colorful circle beautifully undulating in the water with the knowing of Celilo buried underneath was very stirring to us all. We vowed to do this every year on Global Exchange Day and let this act reverberate to healing various aspects of other rivers in the area. Then we all went “nuts” for a few minutes demonstrating to all . . . our joy was brought forth by this event! Led by Daniel Dancer and Jade Sherer

 

Columbia River, Oregon, USA

Image Credit:

  • Dancer: Daniel Dancer

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