The Drumbeat of One Heart Guides Us

 

It is said that the first sound that we humans hear is our mother’s heartbeat while we are in the womb.  The Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language) word for drum is dewe’igan which translates as the object which makes the sound of a heartbeat.  It is also said that when people drum together, their hearts synchronize, that they experience unity. 

I belong to an Indigenous hand drum group that graciously allows me as a non-Indigenous woman to take part.  I have spent the last three years learning many songs and their Anishinaabemowin words as I have drummed with the other women and men that are part of the group.  It is good for my mind, body and spirit to drum and sing these songs with other people.  I have to remember the tunes and words which keeps my mind in the present moment.  I have to take deep breaths to sing and keep a steady rhythm which is good for my body.  And drumming with other people, experiencing that unity is good for my spirit.  It has become an essential part of my life.

Last week, I attended many celebrations with the hand drum group in honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day.  We drummed at the Métis Rendevous in Penetanguishene, at the Georgian Bay Native Friendship Centre, at a Summer Solstice Celebration in a local forest, at an award ceremony for the Seventh Fire Academy in Midland and at a Water Walk Ceremony in Barrie.  I was aware that we were bringing Anishinaabeg culture to all these celebrations and keeping the language and songs alive.  A few of our group also drummed at a local celebration at a community garden on June 21^st.

A Summer Solstice ceremony was held at this memorial to the 215 children whose graves were found last year at the former Indian Residential School in Kamloops, BC.  Tobacco ties carrying the prayers of many people were tied together and strung on the sculptures for all the children that are still being found and their families and communities.

It was a busy week and we did a lot of drumming and singing.  People enjoyed hearing us drum and sing and often sang along with us.  We are a diverse group of Anishinaabeg, Métis and non-Indigenous people who sing in unison and we are mostly seniors.  Each person brings different gifts and challenges to the group but when we sing and drum, we do it together.  I believe that this gives people an experience of unity in a world that is full of division.  I believe that the Indigenous ancestors from this land knew this.  There is an Anishinaabeg story of the big drum being given to the men by a young girl to stop them from fighting amongst themselves.  Anishinaabeg author Richard Wagamese writes in One Drum “ We are all one energy, one soul, one song and one drum”.  Our world looks as if we have forgotten that. And I wonder if hearing many drums beating as one triggers a remembering in all of us, a remembering of unity, of oneness.  I wonder what happens to all the hearts hearing the drum beat, if they start to synchronize, if humans get to experience unity in their bodies. 

As a non-Indigenous woman living on Turtle Island, I am seeking to heal the ancestral wounds that are in my lineage.  Hundreds if not thousands of years of war, bloodshed and conquering lands, over and over again are coded in my DNA.  But so too is the wisdom of understanding our connections, our oneness, the unity of all life.  My ancestors also knew this at some point, way back when but the culture that I was born into seems to focus on the opposite, on dividing so to conquer.  It is my friends and neighbours who are Indigenous who can help me to connect to that ancestral wisdom through ceremony and drumming.  They are my teachers and I will be forever grateful (apane nimiigwechwendam) for their generosity in sharing these traditions with me.

Tomorrow, July 1^st, also know as Canada Day, I will be joining my hand drum group to drum at a memorial to the children whose graves are still being located at the sites of former Indian Residential Schools across Canada.  This memorial is at the gate to the Martyr’s Shrine in Midland where people have tied teddy bears, moccasins and other items since the first 215 graves were found a year ago.  The Jesuits who manage Martyr’s Shrine added their own message of support to the collection.  There is still much work to be done.  There is still much remembering to be done. The drum beat of our one heart will guide us all in this.