2023 New Years Day Peace Hike
Picnic Shelter behind the Yachats Commons at 4th-5th Street and Highway 101.
Given the ever-shifting impact of Covid and the absolute need to keep the Peace Hike activities safe, the Yachats Trails Team will continue having the format be a combination of live and virtual experiences. There will be no indoor ceremony but there are a number of ways to manifest and celebrate peace throughout the day, both outdoors and within one’s home or shelter.
The Peace Hike traditionally honors the memory of a blind Native American (Coos) woman named Amanda who was forcibly taken away from her daughter and marched 80 miles with other captives all barefoot through the rocky terrain to the Alsea Sub-agency prison camp in what is now Yachats in 1864.
To truly understand the government sponsored genocidal policies that led to the murder and suffering of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, Siuslaw and Alsea Peoples, watch a video narrated by Patricia Whereat Phillips, Miluk Coos, member of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI) and Donald Slyter, Chief of the CTCLUSI. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6D-wkqXGy0
Cedar is a sacred tree for many tribes of the Pacific Northwest. On January 1, anyone interested in exploring Cedar in prayers is invited to take a Cedar sprig from a basket outside the Commons at the Picnic Shelter or at the Bears’ Statue on the Amanda Trail. From there they can take the sprig and walk with it holding their vision of peace and what it means in one’s life.
On New Year’s Day (weather dependent) this year’s Yachats Trails Committee has composed a map of alternative trails that allow everyone to hike or walk where they are most comfortable in addition to those who want to hike to the Amanda Gathering Area. Committee members will be on hand to answer questions and provide maps and guidance at the Lions Picnic Shelter behind the Yachats Commons.
There will be two small ceremonial fires in which to place the Cedar sprigs – one near the picnic shelter and one at the Amanda Gathering Area for those who hike the Amanda Trail.
Schedule
9:30AM – The Yachats Community Drum will be available, and drumming will start at the picnic shelter.
10 AM. Fire will be lit, and the ceremony will begin in part led by Tribal members including the telling of the Amanda story.
10:30 – Participants will walk with their cedar sprig on the trail they have chosen, return to the fire where they will place the Cedar sprig, to add their prayers or visions for the new year.
For those hiking to the Amanda Gathering Area, which is 2.2 miles south from the Commons, there will be several options to park to lessen that distance.
12 PM – There will be a ceremony conducted by Tribal members at the Amanda Gathering area and a fire to which to lay one’s Cedar sprig.
1:00PM – There will be closing of the fires at both locations.
Water, energy bars and delicious cookies prepared and generously donated by the Yachats Ladies Club will be available at the Picnic Shelter and the Amanda Gathering Area.
All participants will be given Peace hike buttons.
This year’s Peace Hike button has been beautifully created by artist Loren Dickinson and Bette Perman.
If you have hiked or celebrated peace throughout the day, both outdoors and at home or shelter and were unable to participate directly, you may pick up peace hike buttons at the Yachats Chamber of Commerce Visitor’s Center located at 2nd Street and Highway 101.
The Yachats Trails Committee wishes you peace and good fortune during this time of many celebrations and in the year to come.
It is through the Tribes’ and community endeavors with the Amanda and Ya’Xaik Trails that many people have become aware of the need to acknowledge the wrongs of the past and to be more conscious of the need to treat people of all cultures throughout the world with honor, dignity and respect.
Original source can be found here
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