Mayan Seeds

Last summer, I attended the Indigenous Environmental Network meeting on Ft. Berthold Reservation in what we now know as North Dakota.  The meeting was attended by indigenous peoples (as well as those more recently arrived) from North and Central America.  One of the speakers was the "Keeper of the Mayan Calendar".  He gave several presentations and was available for conversation (through an interpreter) throughout this wonderful conference. 

During one of his presentations, he noted that traditional farmers are becoming less and less.  He talked about the need for 3 actions in today's times:  (1) have seed blessing ceremonies, (2) have seed and plant exchanges, (3) create seed banks.  At the close of this presentation he passed out bean seeds for anyone who would like them.  That was just the most amazing experience.  In that simple act, we experienced a "sacred action".  Countless generations of Mayan gardeners (of which he was a part) had saved these seeds for their descendants and now for us.  We saw intimately the blessings of giving "seeds" and "food" as life.  That experience could almost have taken one's breath away.

Richard, Melanie, Emily, Noah and I planted those seeds earlier in the spring.  We added our own little ceremony and blessing to the planting of those sacred seeds.  We regularly check them.  They are reaching for the sky.