The Mating Moon, thankfulness and honouring our passage into the fall equinox

Cree teachings, pipe ceremony and potluck with Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Dykstra

Saturday, September 21, 2024

This event has passed.

A large tipi sits in a field of grass. Its poles rise into a misty sky. Partially obscured.

Photo: Tipi, Larry Lamsa, CC BY 2.0

Event details

Cost:
Free, registration required
Location:
Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The group will meet in Bonnie & John Buhler Hall, Level 1 and proceed together to Level 6.
Language and Accessibility:
This event is offered in English.

Our migawap (tipi) gives us a home that blankets us in our ultimate protection. Within, we build awareness of ourselves, our sensitivities and competencies to strengthen our foundation poles and our sacred walk.

Join Marilyn Dykstra to discuss some of the teachings of the Traditional Matriarch. Explore the complexity and simplicity of relating and mating within Wahkowtowin. Traditional does not mean old and out of date but rather tried, tested and perfected. Let’s investigate how the matriarch is still viable in a modern world and how to “date, mate and relate” while upholding the teachings of the sacred pipe.

All people are invited to participate and learn how we can reconcile our relationship within and with one another. Participants will discover their relatedness and interconnection with human rights and balance.

Workshop

This workshop is part of a monthly Wahkowtowin and Ways of Being series led by Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Dykstra. Each month, we will explore a variety of moon, pole and tea teachings in the Cree tradition.

Wahkowtowin – which translates to kinship – highlights how relationships, communities and the natural world are all interconnected.

Participants will discover and reflect on their connections with each other, with balance and with human rights through teachings and a traditional tea.

Marilyn Dykstra is a status Bill C‑31 First Nations woman from northern Manitoba. She has been immersed in a working matriarchal system that practised Indigenous ways of thinking and being since she was born. Alongside her family, she has participated in many peaceful social justice movements. 

Marilyn uses her matriarchal knowledge as a foundation for her work in the Indigenous community, which has been ongoing for over thirty years. She still follows her matriarchal teachings, but she has also spent her life learning traditional knowledge and passing the teachings on. 

She is a pow‐wow dancer, knowledge keeper, and she carries the responsibility of a bundle. She happily participates in naming ceremonies, sweats, pipe ceremonies, moon teachings and more.

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