A little about The Sacred Fire:

The "After 150 Sacred Fire initiative" was brought forth to the Union of Nova Scotia Indians in December 2017. After meeting with the UNSM Chiefs, it was decided each member community would host the Sacred Fire for one month beginning from the first full moon of each month and ending with the start of another full moon. Each full moon ceremony in Unama'ki saw a Grandmother Moon Ceremony performed by Eskasoni's Mental Health Wellness team and each month the Sacred Fire would be lit after performing a Sacred Pipe Ceremony.

The Sacred Fire burned for 144 days straight and made its way through 6 Mi'kmaw communities (Potlotek, Membertou, We'koqma'q, Eskasoni, Pictou Landing and Wagmatcook). The Sacred Fire burned out at the end of June with a small ceremony in Wagmatcook.

The Sacred Fire was reignited in August in time for the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Summer Games in Eskasoni and it burned for 8 days. Donald Morrison was the lead Sacred Fire keeper along with two fire keepers rotating each day to ensure the Sacred Fire was burning for the duration of the games.

Elder Stephen Augustine performed a Sacred Pipe Ceremony on the last day of the games with about a dozen people present including Wasuek Googoo of UNSI to close out the Sacred Fire.

It's important to note that during the Sacred Fire many elders and community members volunteered their time to share their cultural knowledge with the attendees. An honourable mention goes out to Benji Lafford of Eskasoni, for sharing his life journey and his cultural knowledge.

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Wela'liek

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