The Wiping of the Tears ceremony, foretold in a vision to the late Jake Swamp prior to his passing over in fall of 2010, is due to commence in early June. I’m writing to both supply additional information about this historic and profoundly needed event and to appeal to your generosity in supporting this significant cause. This is a tremendous opportunity for you to expand your generosity because every dollar raised for the ceremony will be matched by a contribution to Sacred Fire Foundation by an anonymous donor. When you give to this cause, which will bring healing medicine to First Peoples from northern Canada to southern Chile, you will be aligning your intentions with highly respected organizations like American Indian Institute and the Seventh Generation Fund, which are deeply involved in sustaining indigenous wisdom..
Your support will also help Sacred Fire Foundation take bold steps towards our charitable mission. You will be helping us give back to the sources of ancestral tradition. Your generosity will work for good on many, many levels.
Listen to the event organizers as they describe the need for the Wiping of the Tears, also known as the Condolence Ceremony:
The arrival of Europeans to this continent marked the beginning of a new social, cultural, economic and political system, which impacted every aspect of the life of Indigenous Peoples across the Continent. The result is that we, the Original Peoples of this continent, have endured many atrocities committed against us in the everlasting quest for greater “development and the improvement of civilization.” In this quest for wealth and power, our lands have been appropriated and our resources have been exploited for the benefit of a society that is neglecting to provide for future generations. In spite of the advances that we have made to protect our ways and resources, many of our communities are still experiencing the atrocities provoked for greed by the misuse of power. Our ancestors gave us instructions to never forget who we are, where we come from, and to live by our laws and our ways respecting everything in life. With all that has happened to our people, and that continues to happen, we are still here continuing our way of life and enduring the continuous disregard for our culture, way of life, and the need to protect our traditional knowledge associated with natural resources.
As we look around us we find that the Earth, our Mother, is crying out to us. She too is experiencing the reckless atrocities of men and the never-ending desire to exploit everything that she has to offer, even if we could find other ways to get her attributes to satisfy our needs. In this time, in which the overuse of natural resources promises to create a future legacy of scarcity and environmental problems, we need to ask ourselves: without our Mother where will we be? How can we restore her health? How can we cleanse our water and air? How can we provide for our future generations?! For the Indigenous Peoples of this land, the answer to our questions lie in the faith we put in our ways, which have been foretold to us by those who came before and those who understood time.
The Dream had by Tekaroniaken (Jake Swamp)
In this time of confusion and greed we find healing and hope in the new times to come. Mohawk Elder Jake Swamp, Tekaroniaken, had a dream that evokes the need to heal and receive the new times invoking not only the spirit of hope, but also the spirit of unity between Indigenous Peoples from North and South. His dream brings forth the need to close the wounds that Indigenous Peoples have suffered since the arrival of Europeans. It also promises to reinstitute long-forgotten traditions and ways of life that will ensure the survival of our future generations.
The following is the dream that elder Swamp had and the subsequent evolution of thought which has now become manifest. It is being supported by Indigenous Peoples from the East and the West, as well as from Indigenous Peoples from Canada and the rest of the Americas.
“I was standing there at the river in my dream. Looking across the river I saw many people walking toward the river on the opposite side, they were wearing white clothing and wearing red bandanas and belts around their waists. They moved slowly and very sad looking, as if troubled with head hanging and looking at the ground. As I was looking I felt a hand on my shoulder from the back; it was a man’s hand but I didn’t turn to look at him, I only heard his voice directed to me. He said, ‘ontahon enseiatakeha tikon,’ meaning, you have to help them.
From that time I searched for the meaning of the dream; for two years I asked myself, what did it mean? Finally, one day I was teaching culture to a group of young people about the time when we received our clan system in ancient times. The teaching involved the river and how it was set up to remove grief. I started to think deeply, and realized that our Indigenous Peoples are carrying a great burden of grief caused by the colonization of the past five hundred years.
Then I thought of the Mississippi River. Would it be possible to bring leaders and elders to the river and have a Great Condolence Ceremony? For the past four years it had bothered me daily in how it could be done. Now it has become a reality and Native nations from South and Central America, the Western U.S., Canada and the Northwest Territories will stand together on the Western side of the river. From the Artic North, Northern Canada, and the Eastern U.S. they will stand together on the Eastern side of the river. There the Great Condolence Ceremony would be performed to console each other.”
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Please help make this vision a reality. Time is short. Funds are needed now.
Click this link https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=542189687 to make a tax-deductible donation now. (Our web service, Network for Good, is a trusted site.) You can also mail a check to Sacred Fire Foundation PO BOX 11014, Marina Del Rey, CA 90295. If you want to make a donation at a later time, go to our website: sacredfirefoundation.org and select contribute. Please specify “WIPING THE TEARS” on your check or under “dedicate to a cause” if making an online donation so that we may track the funds for the matching grant.
Thank you deeply for your willingness to move into action…
Will Berliner
Development Special Projects
