Date: 17 Oct 91 23:37 PDT From: kdinhoffer@igc.org Subject: PEACE & HEALING DANCE.press releas Message-ID: <1563600060@igc.org> RED ROAD INTERTRIBAL HEALING CENTER ONE DREAM ONE VISION Director: Luciano Perez - Purepecha Spiritual Advisor: Chief Leonard Crow Dog PRESS RELEASE: IMMEDIATE TO: ALL PEOPLE OF THE FOUR DIRECTIONS FROM: LUCIANO PEREZ, PUREPECHA INDIAN, SPIRITUAL KEEPER OF TRADITIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN SACRED WAYS AND PIPE CARRIER ----------------------------------------------------------- As we approach the five hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, there are many planned celebrations which will be conducted in different cities, states, and even countries throughout the world on October, 1992. These Celebrations will honor the happy accomplishments of the ruling white people. By contrast, however, the different indigenous tribes throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America will have no cause to celebrate because many of their people are still in the process of being oppressed, violated, and totally ignored as human beings. In 1973, I had a dream inspired through my involvement in serving my country as a Marine in Viet Nam. This Dream was that we have to come together as a people, that nobody has the right to conquer anybody else because they look, talk, think, or act different or because they appear weaker than us. My dream was further strengthened when I went on my first vision quest in 1980 near Rosebud, South Dakota on the Lakota Indian Reservation. As part of my vision I was taken to Eagle Land and there I saw Eagle People from the four directions. We are as strong and as weak as each link that makes up the sacred hoop. During my last vision quest in 1990, my dream and vision were further reinforced. Once again, I was told by the ancestors that now I needed to bring the people together. I was instructed that now was the time for action. This action is through active prayer in the form of a sacred dance around a sacred fire linking day and night. This is the same sacred fire that the ancestors of the four directions prayed with. Same sacred fire that the next seven generations of the four directions must have. WE, in the present, must make every effort to pray for peace, healing, and reconciliation of all people, mother earth, and all sacred traditions. NOW is the time for active prayer. As October, 1992 draws near, I humbly extend an invitation to all sincere and earth conscious people to come and help make my dream and vision part of their reality. This will be a four day sacred dance ceremony preceded by four days of purification to be held in St. Louis, Missouri. This is for people of all races, regardless of religious preference. PLEASE WRITE FOR REGISTRATION MATERIAL AND SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS AT EITHER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES: P.O. Box 3786 St. Louis, MO 63122 P.O. Box 1495 Valley Center, CA 92082 or kdinhoffer on EcoNet =<*>==<*>==<*>==<*>==<*>==<*>==<*>= The Following is excerpted from an INTERVIEW WITH LUCIANO PEREZ, PUREPECHA SPIRITUAL LEADER, TRADITIONAL KEEPER OF NATIVE AMERICAN SACRED WAYS AND PIPE CARRIER ON HIS COLUMBUS QUINCENTENARY DANCE, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI AREA, OCTOBER 09-12, 1992. Recorded by Professor Willard Johnson, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, San Diego state University, San Diego, California 92182-0304 This will be a gathering in the state of Missouri, most probably around the St. Louis area. It will have to do with the five hundred year anniversary of what is referred to as the "discovery of America," Columbus Day. During these days throughout the country, some Indian people are making a big effort to remind the so-called discoverers that many indigenous people were massacred. But my purpose is not just to remind the inhabitants of white America of the oppression and genocide which has been done to Indian people. I believe that today we are all descendants of both the victims and the victimizers. If we have learned anything over the last five hundred years, it should be that we cannot continue this war. I feel that people are really conscious enough today to know that we can do better; that the sacrifice of our ancestors, victims and victimizers alike on both sides, was not in vain. Whatever they did, they did in the past. I cannot justify people getting killed, but at the same time, I cannot dwell on that. I don't feel that we can progress without really being able to forgive and to really think in terms of compassion for one another. So part of my vision and dream is to make a unified effort, spearheaded by Native American leaders, to have a dance. This dance will be a dance of peace and healing. I want to give people an opportunity in a sacred ceremonial space, atmosphere and environment to do something that is more concrete and more beneficial, to help not just the Indian people, but all the world, well, just now at least the United States. Why St. Louis? I consider the St. Louis, Missouri area the heart of the chakra of the United States where all these different rivers come together, like all the different veins going toward the heart. I consider this area where all these small and big rivers join together to be the heart chakra, and it is from there that our actions will send out feelings of peace and healing. So that's where the idea of a dance comes in. I want to lead a ceremony whose main objective is to dance for peace and healing throughout the United States. Hopefully its power will be passed on each time we step on the mother earth. Our thoughts of peace and healing will be planting a seed with every step, with every movement - north, south, west, east. Every step will plant a spiritual seed that vibrates through each dancer's body through the bottoms of our feet into the earth as we are dancing. I'm hoping to have at least five hundred dancers, and five hundred or five thousand prayer ties. I want to remember the many Indian people who have died. But I also want to remember the many ancestral people from the four directions, the Black people, the White people, the Yellow people, and all the in-between people, that they also had relatives who died trying to bring a better life for their children. I want to contribute to peace, but I want active peace, I want a firm stance toward peace, and I want to do it through dancing. I want to invite everybody to come and dance. If you would like an alternative to the planned activities of the five hundred year celebration then come and join this dance and make a constructive effort for peace, healing, and reconciliation. Our plans right now are to have a sacred fire, but not just any fire. I want a sacred fire that is given to us by somebody who is spiritually recognized. So I have asked Chief Leonard Crow Dog if he would be my advisor for this event, and he has agreed. He has also agree to pass a scared fire which would be transferred to us on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He would give it to us there and then, we would marathon it some seven hundred and seventy six miles from Rosebud all the way to St. Louis. We will bring that fire to be received under the steel arches near the river front area in St. Louis where a long time ago many frontiersmen and a lot of people started out towards the West. I'd like to do that again but this time I want to receive the fire and take it to represent the spirit of determination, hope, peace, healing and reconciliation. And with the vision of peace and healing, I want to go out into the world from under those arches to spread this vision through the United States in particular. In the old days they said, "Go West, young man." Now we want to say the same, "Go West, my relations." We want to take the fire with us to plant seeds of pace and healing. We will walk from under the arch to wherever the dance will be held. During the time of the four days of the dance, ending on October 12th, we will dance from three in the afternoon to nine every evening. After that we will have a healing ceremony for all who would like spiritual healing. Anybody can come and dance but they must commit to dance for the stated purpose. It is my hope that everybody will try to dance all four days. The dance will connect the day and night together, that is why there will be three hours of day time and three hours of night time dancing, thus connecting the masculinity of the sun and the day with the femininity of the night and the moon. We will dance around the sacred fire, and that fire we brought from South Dakota, it will always honor the Lakota people. I believe the Lakota people are very peaceful people, and I will pray that someday their most sacred place, the Black Hills area, will be returned to them. We want to dance for all injustice that somehow all these seeds we are planting for future generations will sprout and have a strong root. So, for four days and nights this will take place, and my invitation extends to people of all colors, of all backgrounds, whether rich or poor, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, whatever their spiritual preference. They are welcome to come, we are open for everybody to come in a good way. We don't want to have comparison or discrimination, we need to come together, this is the time to really practice and respect multi-cultural diversity. We want to keep everything clean and pure. On the last day, we will have a giant give-away. We will be running purification (sweat) lodges, we will purify before we dance, and purify after we dance every day. I would like to have all the men use either a staff or a shield and the women will also use a staff or shield, of different shapes and maybe sizes to signify the difference between the men and the women. Some of these plans might change as we get closer, but the idea is for them to make their own medicine and empower it themselves through the dance. The idea is to generate enough strength to really give life to the seeds of peace and healing. So for four nights we will have this. During the four days purification, we will have people give talks and conduct teachings. It is our hope that this event be free, getting everything through either donations or in some way that the people can help to cover the cost of food and transportation, but nobody, nobody should feel that they cannot come because of financial lack. Native American traditions cannot be limited in that manner, so we want this ceremony to be free. The nature of the world requires that we need green energy in order to move things, so we will be asking people to do what they can, donating also materials, since we will need a lot of materials in the form of food, transportation funds, vehicles, building materials, audio equipment, working tools, and office equipment and supplies. All this will be sponsored under the auspices of the Red Road Inter-Tribal Healing Center. On the last day, we want to have a resolution, contributed by everybody, which will be forwarded to the United Nations either sent or hand-carried by myself or by a delegation as a voice that has been prayed over and spoken to by the people. More than that perhaps, it is our wish to really have every aspect of society represented in this dance in some way or another. This only comes around one time. For the next five hundred years, I don't know if we're going to be around. Well, I'm planning to make sure that we stand a good chance. This is the time, we can make a difference now. I also want to make sure that people understand that I want to be able to show the world that Native American people from all different tribes can make a contribution towards peace and healing. Not only that, but that all the ancestors of all different people, in particularly Whites, Blacks, Browns, and Asian People; they also have their peace makers. There's a lot of people who made a lot of sacrifices, just like the ancestors of the Indian people. The ancestors of all the other races also made a lot of sacrifices, they also died, or were massacred. I want to remember people throughout the world, all the people who have been slaughtered. We can make a difference, we want to be able through the power of active prayer, prayer backed up by movement, by activity and by warmth to give life. PLEASE WRITE FOR REGISTRATION MATERIAL AND SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS AT EITHER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES: P.O. Box 3786 St. Louis, MO 63122 P.O. Box 1495 Valley Center, CA 92082 or kdinhoffer on EcoNet =<*>==<*>==<*>==<*>==<*>==<*>==<*>=