CULTURAL PRESERVATION
Cultural preservation is the heart of Flower Hill’s mission. Our efforts to educate youth, support tribal agriculture, and respond to climate change are all motivated by our underlying mandate to support and sustain Tribal nations and culture, but we also have projects which more specifically address cultural preservation these include hosting cultural events and inter-tribal gatherings, as well as more direct events where cultural knowledge holders pass on their knowledge to the next generation. This work, by its nature, is often confidential, but the following are examples that are suitable to be shared with a wider audience.
Faith Leaders Stand With Bears Ears
"The animals are our teachers."
“If you take care of the earth, the earth will take care of you. The healing of one is the healing of all. If we all express our concerns as one, we can be heard louder. Sacred sites are like our churches, kivas, white house boundaries and places of great healing and magnetism. As Earth People, we ask you help us help you. Our purpose is to help, not hurt, to build, not break.”
"I am a steward of mother earth, my job is to keep youth on that journey. I am a spiritual advisor, cultural advisor, spiritual leader and I speak for the unspoken--the winged, finned, four legged, pollinators and micro invertebrates, animals without borders, sacred waters, archeological sites and lands impacted by oil and gas. I'm very concerned for the future of our youth and all Earthpeople. Earthpeople need to come together and work together on issues of destruction towards humanity and the environment, human-made problems can be solved by humans."
-- Joseph Brophy Toledo, Jemez Pueblo and Flower Hill Institute
Brophy has been a longtime friend of EarthKeepers and with Rev. Black led the EarthKeepers spiritual leaders trip to protect Bears Ears National Monument as well as helped protect wildlife corridors in the Upper Rio Grande. Brophy is pictured here at Bears Ears National Monument.
The Controversial Plan to Bring Jaguars Back to the US
Vox Media, Oct 12, 2021
Fragua, a former administrator for the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico, said the Indigenous lens should be applied to any future conservation campaigns, including jaguars. “We tend to think of landscapes instead of states and counties,” Fragua said. “We think of the whole ecosystem instead of jurisdictions.” Read more.
Chaco Canyon Resolution
Flower Hill organized an effort by the All Indian Pueblo Council of Governors to publish a response to the encroachment of oil and gas development into the area surrounding Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, an area of utmost cultural importance to the Pueblos.
Multi-Pueblo Buffalo Dance
On November 2, 2019, Flower Hill Institute facilitated a Multi-Pueblo Buffalo Dance for the closing of the American Bison Society Conference. This was one of the few times that many Pueblos have had the opportunity to do a Buffalo Dance together. Special Thanks to the Lannan Foundation for their support of this event.
Run to Chaco
Chaco has served as a convening place for Pueblo people since time immemorial. In 2018 we led the first of many efforts to use it in this way once again, by hosting a run from the center of the Pueblo of Jemez to Pueblo Bonito in the Park. This effort will be followed by more, each gathering more people to rejuvenate and reassert Pueblo connection to this important place.
Pueblo Buffalo Dance at the Gathering of Nations
Footage taken by Flower Hill's director, Roger Fragua, at the 2017 Gathering of Nations, where 11 Pueblos sang and danced to one song. A historic event.