Wisdom of the Land
Indigenous Beliefs of Nature
How did our relationship with nature begin? Through many indigenous peoples, we have revered the way of the land and integrated culture around nature. I think we have a lot to learn from these ways of living, through the wisdom of the land.
How did these ancient cultures steward a vibrant earth?
I’d like to share a few groups of people around our world that have sustained a continuous dialogue with nature.
RETURNING TO OUR NATURAL RHYTHMS
The Mayan culture thrived on “green cities,” attributing to their connection to their land. They harvested on milpas, a crop system where plants thrived on untouched earth: maize, squash, beans...etc.
The Mayans relied on water ways to preserve clean water for drinking and managing crops. Reciprocity was a way of living with nature. A core value of the culture was to give back what the land offered. The Mayan spirit is woven in the hills, valleys, stars and cycles of life recorded in the Kiche and Yucatec languages (Cholq’ij or “Thread of the days”). Spiritual concepts, importance of limbs, life-giving energies and such contribute to the intelligence of the Mayan calendar.
The rain god (Chaac) and the fertility god (Yucatec) hold ceremonial significance in raising the community. Chants, prayers, sacrifices and offerings were exchanged for an abundance of good weather allowing a beautiful array of crops to endure the year and feed the people. It became a spiritual guide to mark the seasons, celestial events and reflect on how these natural phenomena created our humanity.
Mayan wisdom can be described as cosmovision meaning humans carry the honor of custodianship to the land. Interconnected, we all hold responsibility to take care for each other. This belief can be attributed to their use of forest mickery, gardening more vegetables and plants into the wild to enrich the ecosystem (agroforestry).
Till this day, we celebrate and honor the great cycles of life. We are healed, nurtured and transformed by the continued sustainable traditions of the Mayans.
FROM WHERE WE CAME
Everything is relational. The custodianship of the Aboriginal Australians have shaped and cultivated Australian soil with ancestral practices of forest burning, songlines and learning the art of listening to the emotional signaling of nature.
The Aboriginals believe they descend from the land as kin and creator. Like a mother and father create and nurture a child into existence, so does the land with us. Like a child matures to care for themselves and their parents, so do we for the land. It is our sacred connection.
During the state of Dreamtime, the people experience a deeply spiritual bond with the spirit of the land. Their animal ancestors teach them about balance and practices to sustain their home. It is the way nature goes about itself that we learn how to tend to it.
We have watched the animals hunt, create tools, speak and gather. In this way, we come into ourselves as a species and continue a prosperous effort to ensure the future of our home with the flora and fauna who sustain it.
Songlines have continued to be an important ritual of understanding and passing along history and identity. This oral retelling captures the ancestral stories, spiritual knowledge and ways of homeland in the dance and song encoded into their whole ecology. These songlines were maps of the country to find water, food, shelter, cultural sites and routes that were navigated by the wisdom keepers.
Their voices vibrate and keep alive the spirit of their home. Songlines kept route to the ceremony and laws of every sub-culture across Australia. All who traveled learned and respected each song to live harmoniously, interweaving traditions and beliefs.
Navigating the human heart is a daunting task, but together as the natives have, we continue to give meaning and ritual that guide our descendants forward.
Cultural burning, even now has given Australia the opportunity to regain and multiply their lush forests and the critters within. Fire used consciously has been the number one preventative measure to keep destructive fires damaging the crops and homelands. It has given vegetation the chance to blossom and regenerate seasonal flavors like Kakadu plum or saltbush. This sacred and sustainable practice is the best way to keep our habitat alive.
Living off the Southern California coast is the Tongva and Acjachemen nation who have survived and partnered in our current efforts to rewild the land.
THE LAND IS ALIVE
The tribes have taught us to seek the natural remedies, food and tools nature has endlessly supplied for us. Everything can be cultivated from natural resources, modified, cooked and breathed in as long as the exchange is placed.
When we eat the blackberry, the seed loosens from us and returns to the ground for reharvesting.
The soothing balm of aloe vera regenerates after the leaf is composted.
Stone and wood is sharpened into a knife (marttan). When dulled or worn, the integrity of the material will be repurposed.
The Acjachemen Tongva Land Conservancy is a rematriation guiding the next generation with their wisdom of oaks, wetlands and ocean habitats while acknowledging their predecessors who have given their lives to uphold the sacred traditions that has gifted us the beautiful home we are so lucky to live off of today.
It has become a healing process to restore the wetlands and the Laguna greenbelt as to what it once was. In partnership with environmental organizations such as the Laguna Canyon Foundation and OC Climate Coalition, the first peoples share a mission of encouragement for native growth, rainshower and a healthier climate to engage in by way of volunteered action and educational programs.
Please follow your own curiosity and further research the references provided for deeper enrichment in the history and cultural practices of indigenous peoples that have undoubtedly nourished our lands globally.
ReferencesMayanshttps://experts.illinois.edu/en/publications/maya-wisdom-and-the-survival-of-our-planet/#:~:text=Abstract,of%20how%20to%20do%20so.https://global.oup.com/academic/product/maya-wisdom-and-the-survival-of-our-planet-9780197765708?cc=us&lang=en&#:~:text=In%20Maya%20Wisdom%20and%20the,us%20to%20save%20our%20planet.https://www.worldhistory.org/article/802/maya-food--agriculture/https://stories.climateandforests-undp.org/heritage-of-the-milpa/index.html#:~:text=The%20milpa%2C%20a%20traditional%20farming,vegetables%20%E2%80%93%20within%20a%20forested%20area.http://sacredroad.org/cholqij-tzolkin-calendar/https://resonanttruth.com/portfolio-posts/magnetic-tone/https://nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/events/mexico-la-vision-del-cosmosAborginalshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_religion_and_mythology#:~:text=Aboriginal%20people%20learned%20from%20their,reality%20of%20these%20people…https://www.australia.com/en-us/things-to-do/aboriginal-australia/culture.htmlTongva x Acjachemenhttps://www.sacredplacesinstitute.org/https://www.humanities.uci.edu/history/land-acknowledgementhttps://www.atlandconservancy.com/