North Branch Susquehanna Sunrise Celebration

Participants: Simona Perry, Ernesto Brown, David Buck, Jim Wellington, Neil Patterson, Jr., Mary Butler, Barb Romanansky, Mae Miller, Joan Cashin, Dave Estep, Paula Mack

It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude. ~Wallace D. Wattles

Despite the many injuries humans have caused and continue to cause to one of the “life-bloods” of Mother Earth (as Mae Miller, one of the participants in our Global Earth Exchange, so nicely put it), the Susquehanna’s North Branch has been a constant source of personal inspiration, strength, hope, and resilience for me as an ethnographic practitioner learning about the rapid changes currently being experienced by rural Pennsylvanians whose communities have been and are still being developed for natural resource extraction. No matter what an individual’s perspective is on economic development projects such as shale gas, the local changes I have been documenting bring out stories of current or past loss, fear, anger, uncertainty, and helplessness that have sometimes left me in despair and feeling hopeless in my ability to help. Metaphorically and through history, the Susquehanna carries its own memories of loss, fear, anger, uncertainty, and helplessness, and it reminds me that although humans may think we can control the waters and lands and all of Earth’s resources, in the end it is also the Earth and her forces that control us. We are part of the whole system, not apart from it. Remembering and honoring this interconnectedness gives me hope and strength and I wanted to spread these feelings and share them with others. 

We met a little after 5:00 a.m. on June 23rd at the river’s edge on the southernmost part of the beach at the Fall’s Boat Launch in West Falls, Pennsylvania. There were 11 of us. To begin our celebration, Neil Patterson, Jr., shared parts of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)-Tuscarora ceremony of condolence, specifically the practice known as Welcome at the Wood’s Edge, which accompanies periods of mourning and the installation of a new chief. This ceremony is one of the oldest rituals still practiced by his people, and Neil had told me when I asked him to participate in the Global Earth Exchange that it reminded him of the Wood’s Edge ceremony’s emphasis on overcoming grief and healing the interconnectedness between human beings in the natural world. Following this, Neil led us in the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen, “words that come before all else,” or the Haudenosaunee prayer of thanksgiving for all living things. We then each briefly shared our personal connections to the Susquehanna and other rivers of importance to us. Almost everyone mentioned something about the interconnectedness or connections that the river creates and fosters between the natural world and people and between different humans, both past and present. Neil described how the river brought him closer to ancestors who walked and canoed this river before, Barb shared how she felt closer to departed loved ones when paddling on the river, and several people said the river gave them a sense of hope and renewal. Once we had done our speaking everyone spread over the beach to gather found objects from which we would create a bird as our act of beauty for the Susquehanna and ourselves. Grass, leaves, rocks, old ceramics, burlap, flowers, feathers, discarded food and candy wrappers, and shells were all collected in a pile that slowly took on the shape of a bird. It became a phoenix, a bird arising out of the flames and towards the rising sun. 

Our simple act of Radical Joy, sharing of individual and collective traditions and stories, appreciation for one another and the places of our ancestors and our current lives, and acceptance of the joy and pain we have caused the river, each other, and the river has sometimes caused us—both in generations past and presently—was a wonderful healing experience that we will always treasure. Jim said he was deeply moved by the sincerity and emotional commitment of the celebration. 

Joan shared: “There was a healing of the distance between all of us (Tuscarora and European descendants). We seemed to join and play and celebrate all together after that. I felt the healing of our all being one. Thinking of the history of the place and what our friends had experienced in contact with us over generations. That they (the Tuscarora) could even allow a sense of healing to occur is a tribute to their profound willingness to forgive and allow healing.”

And, finally, Mae, added: “We joined together at sunrise to give respect to the river. We held prayer, by Neil Patterson of the Tuscarora Indians, in his native tongue. Each shared a personal view of or feeling for the sacred area. Then, silently, we formed our bird of peace. As we silently passed by one another gathering our found caches on the stony river side it would be not unlike the feeling of reverence you have upon entering a chapel.” This truly was an experience of Radical Joy, and healing!