Pilgrimage Tilden Park
There are over 400 Native Americans burial sites in Berkeley. Today most of these burial sites are paved over and are the beautiful communities that we live in today. In honor of the memory of Native Americans we climbed the hills of Tilden Park. We went on this pilgrimage to recognize the parallels between our own histories and other peoples.
Standing at the bottom of the hill preparing ourselves for what was about to occur and to frame our minds and hearts for not only this day but for the entire experience. As part of ceremonial blessing for our pilgrimage, sage was burned to further symbolize the sacred nature of our spiritual walk.
Vio reflects, "Going up there was really hard but I was inspired to continue because Sophay (who is currently 8 months pregnant) was on the pilgrimage. It was an honor and a blessing to be up there on land that is soo sacred...it was part of a life that is still unknown to us. It was peaceful and I think that could of been what their lives were all about and looking at the scenery I felt welcome with no negative vibes...just being a part of the experience.
I was also touched by the fact that people were mature but not in the sense of acting childish but respecting the land and treating it as if it was the land of their own ancestors."
Along the way we practiced a variety of different meditations such as a prayer involving the different directions and their conotation to us in the context of our world today.
Vio continues: "They were really relaxing and were both positive and warming. During the prayers I was thinking about the children in North Uganda...I know for sure that the war is still going on...20+ years...and people are still dying. I realized that people here in America take the land of the Natives for granted ...the land that they are on is no longer sacred ..innocent lives have been taken and its sad"
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