As a follow up to last week’s article, I will be talking about the water. What I will be talking about this week are those who are traditional Indigenous people involved. I will be talking about Water-walkers.

The significance that water has on our daily lives is important, but every now and then we need a push to remember just how important it is. This reminder will come on March 22, which is deemed World Water Day. This day is set aside to thank the water for all that it does for us. Many traditional people on this day hold what are known as water ceremonies. A water ceremony is a sacred time in which someone who is authorized culturally performs this kind of ceremony.

They essentially are helping others to better understand the significance and purpose of why they are there, and also to bless and thank the water. When doing a water ceremony, those in attendance offer medicine to the water, as well as sing to the water. Singing is largely important, because this is one of the many ways that we let the water know that we need it, that we love it, and that without it we simply could not be.

There are many important people in the Native community who have shown the significance of doing Water-walks. A water-walk is when someone who is traditionally and culturally involved in their community who has been specifically chosen to do so, walks a great distance of a body of water and blesses the whole body of water from shore to shore.

These journeys can take weeks or months. Along these water-walks, they are assisted by others, whether they too are walking, or simply live in a town or neighboring town the water-walker is passing through. They aide in ways such as giving the water-walker medicine to help heal the water, giving the water-walker food, or simply just walking a few miles in solidarity.

For a water-walker, they must walk all of the day, and can rest during the night. They wake up each morning, thank the creator for waking them, and then start walking. When they rest for the night, they pray to creator, and also ask the water to let them rest for the night and build up strength for another day. During this time, the water-walkers are carrying clean water in a copper pot. This is significant, because they take the water from one area to another adding it in the mix with the sick water.

Some notable Water-Walkers are Josephine Mandamin, Sharon Day, and Becky BigCanoe. Josephine Mandamin herself has walked 17,000 km, or 10563.31 miles, for the water. She has received awards on behalf of her water-walking and good deeds towards the Water and environment. Each of these women are water protectors, and there are so many more out there helping and protecting the water.

Women are the key water protectors, because we were first to breath life here, we are the ones who give life, and nurture our young. This is very much what Water does. So in many Indigenous cultures, women are held to be the most sacred, because we are the life-givers, and the ones who sustain our children.

What I would say if you take nothing else from this article is that going forward, everyone needs to be more conscious of the water, and the needs of the water. Not just as Indigenous people, but also as people in general. We were born in water, we come from water, we all drink water, we all need water, and we all must fight to protect it. Whether it’s an act as big as walking for the water, or a small gesture of just singing to the water coming out of your bathroom sink. It all matters, water matters, Water Is Life.