The Quest of the Sacred in Human Mi ' Mi'kmaq (First Nations) in Canada
" Beyond our religious or spiritual beliefs, every nation has a spiritual wealth he has to share with others. Nobody can claim to have God for him as he would have a wallet in his pocket. The quest for the sacred is a quest that haunts all peoples of the world. "The
Mi'kmaq is one of 630 groups of indigenous (First Nations) in Canada. They are found particularly in the Province of Nova Scotia. Located about twenty minutes drive from the town of Antigonish, the Mi'kmaq community Paqtnkek was the perfect place for my colleagues and me to experience the cultural and spiritual wealth of the people.
Everything happens in the evening of December 3, 2010, patron of the university that welcomes us in St Francis Xavier University. Day memorable to me personally because it reminds me of my days at boarding Breakfast Seminar St Francis Xavier, in the Mayombe. As during my school years in the Minor Seminary, St. Francis Xavier University offers a special dinner this evening. The sets of Morrison Hall, which serves restaurants for students, have a special ceremonial although tinged with festive colors to celebrate St. Francis Xavier. At the end of the course at 16:30, we can see that the atmosphere is really festive: the outfits that pass before my eyes are those of every day. All students, teachers and workers, are of unparalleled elegance. It's really the party. Exceptionally, it can be seen from outside the Hall a few bottles of wine and champagne on the tables.
It is, however, in this atmosphere that my colleagues, and Dulles wire from Guatemala to Tanzania, and I will receive instructions from David, one of our teachers, who will accompany us to our rendezvous prayer Paqtnkek and healing. Among these instructions, we are asked not to eat or rather to eat only very slightly, but especially not to drink alcohol. We are also advised that we will need a special dress to enter the box where will be held the ceremony a panty or a towel body because you can access it topless. In addition to holding, we also provide ourselves with a bottle of water to drink because the experience could leave us dehydrated.
is accurate to 19 hours we share the university, just as our colleagues begin the festivities. For some colleagues, who saw already in this ceremony, prayer and healing, a sort of entry into the occult and who did not hesitate to put me personally in custody, my decision to leave the party for a 'story' pagan was like madness. But I learned from my high school years, to make choices that are not my own choices influenced by others. My motivation was to discover something else, different from what we know already.
After twenty minutes by car, we were instead of appointment. There was a group of four people around a bonfire where they heated large stones. Beside the fire stood a small cabin in a circle, measuring approximately two meters diameter. Apart from the small entrance (we could not enter that kneeling), no other port could be seen around the lodge.
A very friendly and brotherly welcome was reserved for us. After the presentations, everyone immediately wanted to know where it came from, knowing something about our cultures. It was cold, a little less than 0 degrees Celsius, it was winter. We could not get away from the fire. The conversation around the fire so reminded me these unforgettable moments in my home village, in the small forests of Mayombe, or fire was the place around which we we used to gather to share our life experiences, adults learn the founding myths of our traditions and socialize with others. A
thousands of kilometers, I could see the fire still play this role, this time between people of different backgrounds and races (white and black). I saw us recover a spiritual unity or communicative as I had used to see around the fire in my home Mayombe.
But the most crucial moment was reached, when all have entered the lodge each taking place around a small hole in the center where the stones should be placed well heated. I could count a score. A spiritual teacher carrying the stones one by one, fire to the lodge, with a peel. As soon as he had finished he went into the dressing room with a bucket full of water. Then the entrance was closed. And after a few words of introduction to explain the symbolism that would accompany the ceremony of prayer and healing, spiritual teacher threw water at the fire. Just imagine what could happen when the entire evaporation could find no way out! Heat penetrated the body and you could feel as if beside himself. There was this physical pain that could feel the pain of heat penetrating the body, but at the same time you could feel inside as a kind of relief that you raised to another level of transcendence, communion not only with what we can call God, but merely with the universe, people close to us, the living and the dead ... The refrain that we had been asked to repeat when we wanted was "To All My Relations '(all mine!).
From the outset the symbolism of stones has been explained. The stone is Witness unchallenged for generations and generations since the creation of mankind. They have seen people be born, grow and die. They are witnesses of all human history, generations were born, grew, but they they are there, unchanged. They thus reveal the presence of those parties, ancestors, or are absent but also those who are with us.
So in the presence of humanity present and absent as the ceremony of prayer and healing happens. Aside from the refrain that we recited so intermittent, each participant was asked to pray in his own way, according to his faith. No formula was imposed. At various intervals, it opens the door to let in some fresh air. What a relief! There is no word to describe such a feeling of inner peace when this happens.
In sum, this is the first time I had an experience as mystical in a sense, a strong physical and spiritual experience and exceptional. My colleague Wire, Guatemala, told me a few days later he was released actually healed of back pain he suffered for years. This experience convinced me that beyond our religious or spiritual beliefs, every nation has a spiritual wealth he has to share with others. I am convinced today that there is nobody - to paraphrase the French philosopher Roger Garaudy - who can claim to have God for him as he would have a wallet in his pocket. The quest for the sacred is a quest that haunts all peoples of the world.
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