In 1996, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, began conducting annual World Peace and Prayer Day (WPPD) ceremonies to encourage people of all faiths and all nations to offer prayers for the planet on the summer solstice, June 21st. Across cultures, the solstice is considered a powerful time to pray, especially at sacred sites. For the past 23 years, WPPD has been held at sites across the US and around the world. This year, the gathering comes to Ohio to honor the sites sacred to the Indigenous Peoples of this region.
The 24th annual multicultural honoring of sacred sites will be held at Fort Ancient in Lebanon, Ohio. Fort Ancient is one of the most extensive earthworks sites in the country and has been described as "one of the most extensive, if not the most extensive, work...in the entire West", Fort Ancient has been nominated for potential submission by the United States to the UNESCO World Heritage List, and has been used for many centuries by Indigenous People as a place to gather together for the spiritual ceremony.
Chief Looking Horse leads this annual commemoration to emphasize significant Indigenous sites in Ohio and to inspire youth. Educators, artists, faith-based and civic leaders, and all concerned with the health of our environment will have opportunities to learn during this event. “We all rely on the spirit of Mother Earth, of her waters and lands, along with all living beings, many who are in a place great urgency, because all things are connected,” writes Chief Arvol Looking Horse.
This event is being hosted by the Urban Native Collective, and Miami Council of Native Americans.
Arvol Looking Horse
Arvol Looking Horse
Arvol Looking Horse was born on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. At the age of 12, he was given the responsibility of becoming the 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, the youngest ever. He is widely recognized as a chief and the spiritual leader of all three branches of the Sioux tribe.
He is the author of White Buffalo Teachings and a guest columnist for Indian Country Today. A tireless advocate of maintaining traditional spiritual practices, Chief Looking Horse is the founder of Big Foot Riders which memorializes the massacre of Big Foot's band at Wounded Knee. He lives on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.
MELAINE STONEMAN
Melaine Stoneman (Wakinyan Ska Wi—White Lightning Women) is Sicangu Lakotas from Rosebud, South Dakota.
Melaine Stoneman (Wakinyan Ska Wi—White Lightning Women) is Sicangu Lakotas from Rosebud, South Dakota. “Our Lakota way of life starts with our creation stories and oral traditions that have been handed down over 500 years. We are creating awareness about our Indigenous environmental issues through our teachings of the water, buffalo, and bear teachings. Re-vitalizing our spiritual and physical being as Lakota women is vitally important to our future generations. Lakota community genetics is an overall look at how we are able to re-birth our nation utilizing our sovereignty and inherent rights to protect our ceremonies and women. We are the backbone to our nation and the umbilical cord to our earth.”
Isaac Bishara
Isaac Bishara comes from the Moari Nation, New Zealand. Isaac organized the 2008 World Peace and Prayer day in New Zealand for his People. This year, he brings his people to Ohio speak about the Earth Changes and Climate changes that his own People experience.
Jackie Andrews
Jackie Andrew does a Bear Dance in Whistler Village as part of her send off before she travels to join Standing Rock water protectors in North Dakota. Photo by DAVID BUZZARD/ WWW.MEDIA-CENTRE.CA
Macaoz'alus (HuckleberryEyes, Jackie Andrew) of Lil'wat, St'at'imc Nation, Interior Salish. Jackie Andrews is a traditional woman and a Sacred Water Carrier. She shares her buckskin garment designs which she, her children, and her father, Chief Len Andrew donned as they officially welcomed the world in the 2010 Olympics.
As a twin she is a St'at'imc Bear Dancer who shares the Bear Medicine in schools, and in the local/ international realms. She bear danced, sang the Women's Warrior Song, and raised her nations flag on behalf of her chiefs and nation, at Standing Rock, in protection of our Sacred Waterways.
Guy Jones
Hunkpapa Lakota Elder, Guy W. Jones is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation.
Hunkpapa Lakota Elder, Guy W. Jones is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation. As a prominent voice for the Native American Community in Ohio, Mr. Jones resides in Dayton. He was part of the core committee to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day in Cincinnati. Mr. Jones is one of the founders of the Miami Valley Council for Native Americans in Dayton, Ohio, and has served as an advisor to the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, the Minority Arts Task Force of the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Dayton Christian Race Relations Task Force, and the Bias Review Council of the Ohio Department of Education.
Delta KAY
Delta Kay
Delta Kay belongs to the Arakwal Bumberbin people of the Bundjalung Nation along the east coast of Australia. Delta grew up on her tribal homelands in Byron Bay learning the importance of caring for country and protecting our sacred sites from her mother and aunties. She is passionate about children’s education and teaches her culture through story, song, and dance with an award winning program called Arakwal Dolphin Dreaming. She is a proud patron of Culture Aware, a grassroots organization that raises awareness of cultural appropriation.
Linda Daney
Linda Daney
Linda Daney’s Cupiit Yurartet Drummers and Dancers’ mission is to preserve our indigenous cultural ties through education, outreach, performance and sharing what we preserve with other cultures throughout the world. The Cupiit Yurartet Drummers and Dancers consist of: drummers, elders, children, tradition bearers, appointed spokespeople, and dancers from Cup’ik families based out of the south central region of the last frontier. We originate from the Southwestern region of Alaska. We are Cup'ik Eskimo and Choctaw Indians. We received our blessing to form our group from 5 elders, and one is still alive. We carry our songs passed on to us by our elders, and family members.
Cupiit Yurartet Drummers and dancers preserve our cultural ties through songs and dances. We teach the songs to our younger members of the group to keep our culture alive. We perform in the style that is indicative of the Qissunamiut region of southwestern Alaska. Many members are bilingual, some speaking in fluent Cup’ik.
Paula Hornmen
Paula Looking Horse
Paula Looking Horse in an accomplished traditional Dakota singer and artist. Her musical credits include opening for the Indigo Girls, touring Europe with Keith Secola and other notable native artists, and composing and producing her own cd, Songs of a Black Hills Woman. She has been involved in Native rights for over 40 years, organizing Wopida (Great Thank You) Ceremony in 1984 for the Sacred Pipestone Quarries in Minnesota. The following 7 years she helped organize the Sacred Pipestone Run through all SD Reservations to bring attention to the mass exploitation of the selling of the sacred stone aka “the blood of the people”.
She is one of the four graduates of Red Schoolhouse (RSH) in Minnesota and a subsequent board member. RSH was the first alternative school to teach Traditional Native education curriculum - bringing forth historical truth vs. inaccurate history books in Public Schools. She brought her organizational skills to World Peace and Prayer/ Honor Sacred Sites Day in 1996 and has been a moving force in creating the events ever since. She is also the mother of eight children and many more adopted throughout her life.