[getsmart-l] Summer Solstice & National Aboriginal Day

[Gloria Boxen]

http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/nad/2008/index-eng.asp
A posting of events (June 12-22) around Ontario and Canada celebrating National Aboriginal Day.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/forcesofnature/solstice.html Rising Day for Anishinabe In Canada, Aboriginal Day coincides with the summer solstice. It was selected in 1996 after the Assembly of First Nations called for a day to unite and celebrate native cultures.

  
 The date had meaning because aboriginal societies traditionally marked the summer solstice one way or another.

  
 To the Anishinabe of the Great Lakes region, it's known as Rising Day, when prayers are said for healing medicines and a good harvest.

  
  http://www.pch.gc.ca/special/canada/11/aboriginal_e.cfm


http://www.religioustolerance.org/summer_solstice.htm
Summer solstice celebrations: ancient and modern
A short,  fascinating article that covers celebrations worldwide. 
http://www.helium.com/items/399890-native-american-celebrations-of-summer-solstice
'For the sake of clarity and understanding, I preface my article by stating that I am a "Native American". Neither I, nor my tribal ancestors, have ever worshiped the sun nor do we hold special significance to the event of summer solstice. Other tribes do.


  As far back as ancient times, many tribes from Mexico to Canada and the U.S. in between, celebrated summer solstice and apparently acquired a great amount of knowledge concerning the relationship of the sun and sky to the earth. The ancient Anazasi tribe of New Mexico, carved the representation of summer solstice in the ancient caves showing summer solstice, winter solstice and the equinoxes all within context of the earth orbit around the sun.

...Native American Indians, like all civilizations around the globe, have been sky watchers for a great many centuries. Our collective understanding of summer solstice is documented in caves and in the medicine wheel.'
  Resources: 
http://bellaonline.com 
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/stars/starkno5.html

See also, http://www.helium.com/items/409419-native-american-celebrations-of-summer-solstice
The Sundance is performed at the first full moon near the summer solstice.
Other rituals associated with the solstice include that of the Natchez tribe who inhabited the Mississippi Valley until the eighteenth century. They would let the village fires die out on Midsummer's Eve then re-light them next day from the sacred fire which had been built anew.
 
 http://www.helium.com/items/1067901-native-american-beliefs-and-the-summer-solstice

This paper goes into the more "pagan" aspects of traditional native american rituals. 


    
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