
People from all walks of life gathered around a medicine wheel at the Wright Organic Resource Center on Sunday in Malibu to support the calling of the Hopi tribe in bringing together permaculture designers, architects, gardeners and pro green environmentally active communities to shed light on greenhouses, solar energy, and sustainable water system projects. The Hopi are working to have part of their reservation in Arizona to become a permaculture model for sustainable development.
The ceremony began with a special prayer on the warm spring day. A Chumash woman dressed in ceremonial feathers and holding her staff shared her story of her tribe’s tradition. The Chumash and Hopi came together to pray for the land and water of the earth.
“We all heal together,” Hopi dancer Ruben Saufkie said. “It is water that brought us here. We are made up of 80 percent water. We are all clouds from all directions and all colors. It doesn’t matter from where you are. We are the spirit of water.”
Saufkie is one the many supporters of the Inter-Tribal Sacred Rites Run 2008, a spiritual journey starting in the Hopi nation in Arizona and traveling through New Mexico to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, Mexico in a six-week period to promote awareness and help protect, preserve and balance plant life, water and sacred sites. The Incan, Mayan and Aztec tribes will also participate in the run. Sunday’s event also helped to raise funds for the sacred run.
Rachelle Figueroa, founder and chairwoman of The Morning Star Foundation, a non-profit organization, which she said is “dedicated to supporting and protecting all indigenous ways,” came to sponsor the culmination of raising awareness to others for the Hopi’s visions, messages and hopes in creating a more harmonious earth.
The Hopi’s songs and dances, which honored different generations of family and spirit, energized the rest of the day’s performances. Fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, in colorful and feathered ceremonial dress, each took turns performing traditional dances.
The event was open to the public and Topanga resident Suzanne Teng, musical flute performer with the musical group Mystic Journey, contributed with a vibrant, celebratory performance.
In addition to the ceremonial and musical performances, arts and crafts, educational booths and food was sold to raise funds for the cause.
Malibu residents Eric Lloyd Wright and his wife, Mary, own the Wright Organic Resource Center.