Mitakuye Oyasin (Lakota: We are All Related)

Yesterday was the first Saturday in May. This may not be a big deal to many, but in my family of origin, it is a day of remembering and honoring those in our family who have gone before us. It is a time when many of my family will make a trek North to the family cemetery up near the small town of Grey Eagle, Minnesota.

This is a tradition that has been passed on through the generations and hopefully will continue with my children and their children's children long after I am gone. The task consists of raking the cemetery grounds of at least a ton of downed pine needles from the massive white pines that stand reaching skyward. Each family takes an area near the family plots and rakes, gathers downed branches and hauls it all to the enormous pile at the other side of the property. It starts early in the morning and usually is completed by about noon, at which time there is a barbecue with many different foods that each one brings to share.

For as long as I can remember, cemetery clean-up day has been around. We have tried to pinpoint the exact number of years this has been going on and the best guess is....well....forever. Or at least 80+ years that my ancestors have taken the first Saturday in May to come to Bear Head Union Cemetery and clean. Since I was a baby, I have been brought to Bear Head to be with my relatives, both above and beneath the ground. Often times, I can rememebr standing by a gravesite and listening while one of my older relatives would tell a story about that family member. Since I have had my own children, we have made the journey back to Bear Head. And in the past few years, my children have begun to bring their children, with rakes in hand.

As the years have gone by, the number of relatives buried there have increased. There are great-grandparents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and even one more generation buried at the old homestead on the hill nearby.  With all of the generations there, both above and beneath the ground there were 7 generations intertwined at the cemetery yesterday. The impact the ones who have gone before me have had and the impact the little ones standing beside me have had in my life is beyond what I can comprehend. I stood there looking out at the tombstones of my relatives, while holding the hand of a grandchild and became aware of the blessings that are passed on to each of us through the generations. Mitakuye Oyasin: we are all related.

As I go through my life, let me always be aware of the blessings that have been passed on to me from those that came before me. And allow me to pass those blessings on to those who will come after me. May I have the wisdom and guidance to rake away those things that will not be a blessing to those who will follow.