Mde Maka Ska Four Sacred Directions Water Walk this Friday

The annual Four Sacred Directions Water Walk at Mde Maka Ska (White Earth Lake, formerly Lake Calhoun) will be held this Friday, May 25, starting at 6:15 a.m. Here is the Facebook event, text is copied below.

You are cordially invited to join us upon the south shore of Mde Maka Ska (White Earth Lake), at South Thomas Beach, as we gather to walk for the health, vitality, and spirit of Mni Wakan (Sacred Water).

Our clockwise route around Mde Maka Ska will be in honor of and prayer for the sustainability and increasing recovery of clean, fresh water. The Four Directions Water Walk will respectfully embrace the fluid heart of the most populous community in Mni Sota (Land of Misty Water).

The water walk will precede and connect with the opening ceremony for the 10th Annual Mde Maka Ska Canoe Nations Gathering. Your participation will emit a resounding message to the world regarding our resurgent relationship with the sacredness of water now and for generations to come.

For questions, email wakinyan.lapointe@gmail.com

(Note: The lake’s name is Bde Maka Ska, but some prefer Mde Maka Ska, which has the same meaning.)

Update: Mni ki Wakan: The Decade of Water Summit Planned for August

Efforts are moving forward for the indigenous-led “Mni ki Wakan: The Decade of Water Summit” in Minneapolis later this year, and you can help.

Seven members of the LaPointe tiwahe (family) will be traveling to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues meeting March 24 – April 5 to let people know about the Summit, network, and invite participation. The LaPointe family is hosting an informal gathering and fundraiser to help support its trip to the United Nations. The event is:

Saturday, March 11, 6:00 -8:30 p.m. at All My Relations Gallery, 1414 East Franklin Ave. Those attending will include Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) traditional knowledge keepers, indigenous human rights observers, relatives from Standing Rock, filmmaker Sheldon Wolfchild (Lower Sioux) and rapper Tall Paul. The event will include indigenous food and music, and be youth and community oriented.

Please come, learn and support this important work.

Next Mde Mada Ska Community Meeting Saturday; More DAPL Updates

The next round of community conversations around Mde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun) and the sacredness of water will be held this Saturday, Dec. 3, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.,, at First Universalist Church, 3400 Dupont Ave. S. Lunch will be served.

This is the latest in a series of community conversations, but there is no need to have attended any of the previous conversations to participate. Teens welcome!

Roughly 50-75 residents had attended previous meetings in late 2015 and early 2016 to build relationships and brainstorm about what Mde Maka Ska could be to the world and how to tell the stories Mde Maka Ska holds. One of the ideas to emerge from this work a proposal for a “Mni Wakan: Decade of Water” Summit. (Mni Wakan means Sacred Water in Dakota.)

Come and join the conversation. For more background, here is our earlier blog on the meetings. Here is an article The Circle Newspaper ran on the Water Summit.

These sessions are facilitated by LeMoine LaPointe and his sons Wakinyan and Thorne LaPointe.

Join the Mde Maka Ska Four Directions Water Walk Friday, May 27

You probably have heard about efforts to restore the original Dakota name “Mde Maka Ska” or White Earth Lake to what settlers renamed Lake Calhoun. Less well known is the work going on behind the scenes to not only to change the lake’s name but to change its culture.

Facilitated by LeMoine LaPointe (Lakota), a group of Native American and non-Native residents have been holding community conversations about how to reimagine the lake, tell its historic stories, and bring out the best in people. (First Universalist Church, 3400 Dupont Ave. S., has hosted these conversations.)

The group’s first major initiative is the Four Directions Water Walk, a walk for the health, vitality, and spirit of Mni Wakan (Sacred Water). The walk will be in honor of, and a prayer for, the sustainability and increasing recovery of clean, fresh water.

The walk will start at Thomas Beach, 3700 Thomas Ave. S., at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, May 27. Please join the walk, bring friends, and spread the word! Here is a Four Directions Water Walk flyer to help promote the event.

Participants will walk clockwise around the lake, arriving back at Thomas Beach in time for the opening ceremony of the eighth annual Mde Maka Ska Canoe Nations Gathering. According to organizers:

Your participation will emit a resounding message to the world regarding our resurgent relationship with the sacredness of water now and for generations to come.