DAY SEVEN – FEBRUARY 7, 2016
INTERFAITH HARMONY WEEK
FROM THE INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS

LET IT BEGIN WITH ME

Let us know peace.
For as long as the moon shall rise,
For as long as the rivers shall flow,
For as long as the sun shall shine,
For as long as the grass shall grow,
Let us know peace.
 Cheyenne Prayer for Peace

Almighty God, the Great
Thumb we cannot evade to
tie any knot;
the Roaring Thunder that splits
mighty trees:
the all-seeing Lord up on high who sees
even the footprints of an antelope on a
rock mass here on Earth.
You are the one who does
not hesitate to respond to our call.
You are the cornerstone of peace.
Native African Prayer

Let us know peace.
For as long as the moon shall rise,
For as long as the rivers shall flow,
For as long as the sun shall shine,
For as long as the grass shall grow,
Let us know peace.
 Cheyenne Prayer for Peace

WISDOM

Treat the earth well.
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors,
we borrow it from our children.
– Native American Proverb

In our every deliberation,
we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.
– From The Great Law of The Iroquois Confederacy

There can never be peace between nations
until it is first known that true peace is within the souls of all peoples.
– Oglala Sioux

We are all flowers in the Great Spirit’s garden.
We share a common root, and the root is Mother Earth.
– Hopi Prophecy

When we Indians kill meat, we eat it all up…. When we build houses, we make little holes.  When we burn grass for grasshoppers, we don’t ruin things.
We shake down acorns and pinenuts.  We don’t chop down the trees.
– Wintu Indian, quoted in Julian Burger
The Gaia Atlas of First Peoples, 1990

Humans did not weave the web of life – we are merely a strand in it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
– Chief Seattle, 1854 treaty oration

Follow your dreams, to the fields unknown, to where wild flowers sink into the sun.
I will meet you there, and we shall dance until the sun rises once again.
– Red Deer

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth. If we spit upon the ground we spit upon ourselves.  This we know. The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family.

– Chief Seattle