Awakening of Mother Earth

Green Guerrillas celebrated Earth Day by honoring all life with the Piscataway Indian Nation at Moyaone Burial Grounds on the Potomac River (Accokeek, Maryland).  Chief Billy Red Wing Tayac led the Piscataway’s annual Awakening of Mother Earth Celebration.

Awakening of Mother Earth Ceremony at Moyaone

Chief Tayac’s grandson, Naiche, best describes the ceremony:

Awakening of Mother Earth Ceremony at Moyaone

It’s early springtime outside.  Around this time of year, people all over the world are celebrating Earth Day.  My people have celebrated the Earth for thousands of years.

. . .

This is when we honor the awakening of Mother Earth after a long winter.  It is our time to give thanks for new life and for young people—like us!  My family and other people from my nation are going down to Moyaone (pronounced moy-OWN) burial grounds for a ceremony.  Many generations of my ancestors are buried there.  Archeologists say that my ancestors have lived at Moyaone for about 11,000 years, but the Piscataway believe that we have been here forever.  Moyaone is very special to us.

- From Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area, by Dr. Gabrielle Tayac

~ by guerrillagriots on April 20, 2009.