December 21

I’m at the south end of Alma’s Conservation Park, facing the early morning sun as it rises above the snowy landscape and distant treetops. It’s partly cloudy and cold as I pause to recognize this moment when the sun is at its winter solstice-the lowest altitude of the year (stock photo). Unfortunately, our closest star soon disappears behind a thick cloud layer. To celebrate this event, which is also the astronomical start of the winter season here in the northern hemisphere, I'm performing a Native American ritual of making and using a Prayer Stick. A few days ago, I located a Cedar tree in the park with a branch to be used for such a stick. As a way to honor all living things, I conducted a tobacco ceremony of thanksgiving to the tree before cutting and peeling the branch. Tobacco has been used by Indian nations for centuries as a medicine with cultural and spiritual importance. It was burned or smoked to promote physical, spiritual, emotional, and community well-being. It was used as an offering to the Creator or to another person, place, or being. In many teachings, the smoke from burned tobacco had a purpose of carrying thoughts and prayers to the spirit world or Creator. After adorning the stick with jewels, a feather and some fur, I now proceed through a wooded landscape to a special place along the Pine River, dig a small hole, attach a red bag of tobacco and plant it. Concluding the sacred ritual, I invoke the Great Sprit, Mother Earth and Father Sun by reciting a Native American prayer. Next, I continue ahead to the Eyer Learning circle where I sit and ponder the idea of celestial motions. Nearby, at the bird feeders, I watch a Downy Woodpecker feeding on a suet cake and a Tufted Titmouse searching for seeds. Titmice take advantage of a full feeder by storing many of the seeds they get. They carry them off one at a time, open and eat them, or hide them in tiny holes in trees or wedged behind bark. On the other feeder, I spot a White-breasted Nuthatch, another bird that often hides its seeds. These small agile birds creep along trunks and large branches, probing into bark furrows with their straight, pointed bills. Like other nuthatches, they often turn sideways and upside down on vertical surfaces as they forage.

 

Earth slumbers

Winter draws nigh

Sun of the season

Low in the sky

Deep in December

First snowy days

Sun of the season

Cooler your rays

Wildlife in waiting

Nature’s content

Sun of the season

Begin your ascent

 

D. DeGraaf