EcoEducation: Nibi Walks and the Walking Practice of Praying for the Waters

Sharon Day spoke to the Rotary EcoClub about Nibi Walks, indigenous led ceremonies to pray for water.  The practice involves gathering water from the headwaters of rivers and carrying it to the mouth and returning it to the river.  The practice involves silence and meditation and moving.  It urges participants and observers to think about water not as a commodity, but rather something that is a part of us; a part of life.  

 

Sharon related stories about several past Nibi walks including a 62 day walk for the Mississippi and a 54 day walk for the Missouri.  During the Mississippi walk in a stop in St Louis, the walkers offered people some of the carried water to drink.  The people could not imagine drinking water from the Mississippi.  At the end of the walk, the walkers poured the water they had gathered in Itasca back into the wide and deep Mississippi and said this is how you began and who we wish for you to be again. 

 

At the end of our meeting, we reflected on bodies of water important to us as individuals:  from the Mississippi to 9 Mile Creek to Lake Superior to the lake at "the cabin" to the Pacific Ocean.