A Healing of Global Waters

Join friends and neighbors at Otumba Park in Sturgeon Bay on May 11 at 3 pm as Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein and Marie Arnaq Meade lead a ceremony in drumming, dance, song and prayer intended to evoke a Healing of the Global Waters.

Feel free to bring food and drink to share, drums, shakers, rattles, rainsticks and beach attire, if weather and courage permits jumping into the water!

Meade is a Yup’ik Eskimo, and an author and translator of Yup’ik. She teaches the language as well as Alaska Native Dance at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. She is a member of the world-traveled Nunamta Yup’ik dance group and also works with the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.

Blumenstein is also a Yup’ik tribal member. She was the first certified traditional doctor in Alaska. In 2009, she was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame. Grandmother Rita, as she is known worldwide, was a founding member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. She currently works for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

Both of these traditional healers have come to Sturgeon Bay as guests of Dr. Melissa Nelson, hosting a three-day workshop at the Nelson Healing Center that will close with a public ceremony and celebration on Sunday afternoon.

Local actor and artisan Ed DiMaio will lead an open drum circle. The event begins at 3 pm at Otumba Park on Sturgeon Bay’s West Side. This event, held rain or shine, is free and open to the public.