Hundreds flocked to Randall’s Island Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day, an event organizers say is swiftly becoming a large-scale alternative to Columbus Day.
According to Cliff Matias, the cultural director for the Redhawk Indigenous Arts Council and founder of the Indigenous Peoples Day celebration in NYC, the occasion is about celebrating the cultural impact not only native Americans have had on the Big Apple, but also natives from all around the globe.
While Matias believes that the city still has a long way to go in terms of fully appreciating the significance of the holiday, he says he does see a paradigm shift.
“The young people are sort of coming up and saying, ‘Hey, man, you know, we recognize this. We want to be part of this.’ And then there’s this need for spirituality in their lives,” Matias said. “It is amazing because we talk about this global indigenous movement. More and more people who are coming from their original homelands are connecting to the land.”
The observation took place directly behind the Icahn stadium and saw large teepees erected around a performance circle in which traditional dances and music were put on full, proud display. Dancers weaved around a log fire that burned throughout the day.
The event also included a water ceremony, a longstanding tradition held just after sunrise on the East River. Attendees gathered to pray, bring natural herbs used as medicine, sing, and drum along as they paid tribute to the element they consider to be a life-giving, spiritual force.
During the honoring, water carriers brought small containers filled with liquid from as near as Harlem and Prospect Park to as far as Hawaii, Peru, and Nigeria. Some sang songs as they thanked the water and prayed for blessings, others shook their rattles and banged their drums in reverence. The ceremony proved to be emotional — some cried out as a flock of geese flew over while one woman chanted and poured water into the East River.
Chenae Bullock was also overcome with tears of joy, feeling the power behind each ancestral song and the way in which their meaning reverberated throughout the crowd of participants. Bullock has been overseeing the water ceremony for about five years at Randall’s Island and states that she is a staunch believer in protecting water since she has spent much of her time paddling up and down the New York rivers canoeing.
“When we have these water ceremonies and all of these people come, it also becomes an educational moment for every last one of us….When we all come forward and we share what’s going on, or share some history about that water [and where it came from], it also shows the connection. It teaches us how all of the waters are connected and how we are all connected,” Bullock said.
Kali Reis, an actress, writer, and advocate, says she has always shown her support of Indigenous heritage.
“It wasn’t allowed or legal for us to speak our languages, practice our ceremonies, practice our traditional ways. So, it’s really important for me when I can be a part of something like this, not to just talk about it. But be about it. I’m here to support. It’s about we—the collective—celebrating who we are as Indigenous people,” Reis told amNewYork Metro.“It’s really amazing to see, especially non-Indigenous people. It’s just that’s the allyship, that’s the education…Something like this reminds us also where it started, we are the people of the land.”
“The water carries memories, it carries healing, it carries all kinds of things. And just have something as simple as water that we use every day for everything in a mega of a city like New York City to celebrate Indigenous people,” Reis added.
