A short YouTube talk (Anishinaabe/Ojibwe perspective) by Sandi L. Boucher in which the speaker contrasts Indigenous concepts of ceremony with mainstream/Western views. She broadens “ceremony” beyond formal rituals (sweat lodge, smudging) to include monthly ‘moon time,’ conscious life journeys, and the act of elders’ storytelling; she frames sharing as a sacred, decolonizing ceremony and invites public participation.
Chapters
I think we've all heard people say I am an open book. Some cases it's true, some not so much. But I'm an open ceremony. There's a difference. Do you know what it is? If not, check out the video. Let's talk about it. Hi, everybody. My name is Andy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And today I'm talking about ceremony, specifically Indigenous ceremony, or in my case, Anishinaabe ceremony, Ojibwe ceremonies. Now, when some people, especially non Indigenous people, think of ceremony, indigenous ceremonies, they think sweat lodge or they think smudging. But ceremony to us is so much bigger than that. The first time I heard it referenced to something besides a very structured activity was when we were talking about women on their moon time, that special time of the month. And it was explained to me by my female elders that a woman on her time is in ceremony, that that's a special, sacred and personal and powerful time, and that she must focus on that time and not outside things if she is truly going to benefit from the ceremony. It's totally different from the mainstream perspective of a woman's period and something that we're not supposed to talk about. But then I heard as I grew older that our life journeys are a ceremony if we do it consciously, if we take the time to be aware of what we're doing, what we're saying and what we're thinking and feeling, that it is a ceremony that allows us to learn and grow, and it is something sacred and that should be honored and cherished. Again, totally different from the way a lot of people look at their lives and recently. Because seriously, if you watch my YouTube video or read my blog post, you realize I share flipping everything. If you read my books, especially the first one you heard about the morning that I lost my firstborn to S sids. You read my mom's eulogy, the day and the loss that changed everything for me, I am literally an open book. But from a decolonized perspective, one of the things that has long been held against the value of traditional teachings is the fact that they don't appear in a book. Mainstream loves books. They love those published authors, and I'm one of them to help build that bridge. But if an elder sits down and tells me a story, it doesn't have to turn around and be edited and published and turned into a book to have value. So what I wanted to share with you today is my realization that these sharings are a ceremony. If you allow it to be, you have the chance to listen and learn and contemplate and in the words of my mom, take what you need and leave the rest. This could be a sacred journey together for us. This could be a sacred ceremony. I know from my perspective the sharing is and I hope that you see it that way. So are you enjoying this ceremony of ours? Do you appreciate what I'm sharing with you? I absolutely hope so and I hope you stick around. Make sure to subscribe, tell your friends, because this is a public ceremony and I would love to have you all sitting at my imaginary sacred fire. I hope that made sense. Comment below. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Do you have questions? Are you in ceremony until tomorrow? I love you. Take care. Bye bye.
