The earthy smell of burning sage filled the air on Tuesday morning as dozen of Native American and city officials, led by Mayor Eric Garcetti, gathered in a wildlife sanctuary in western San Fernando Valley to honor the winter solstice and pray for those who did died in the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a blessing ceremony held in a clearing of centuries-old oak trees at Chatsworth Nature Preserve, Garcetti stood at the edge of a prayer circle with his hands clasped and eyes closed when Alan Salazar, an elder of the Fernandeño Tataviam tribe, smelled sage over him with a fan of eagle feathers .
“This is a day to thank Mother Earth,” said Salazar, “and a day to pay off debts and make up for people who are angry with you.”
Garcetti later said a prayer of his own with those present. “We have lost 27,000 souls – more than that now,” he said, referring to the number of people who have died in Los Angeles County due to the ongoing pandemic. “So my prayer is that this city will be safe. I don’t want to bury Angeleno anymore. “
Los Angeles officials led by Mayor Eric Garcetti (left) and Native American leaders watch Bernice Cooke, a tribal elder of Fernandeño Tataviam, offer a sacred tobacco offering in honor of the winter solstice at Chatsworth Nature Reserve in Chatsworth.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The unusual, hastily organized event was billed as a “Community Wellness Meeting” sponsored by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which owns the 1,325-acre property, and the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash. Indians were organized together.
Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, is when the Earth’s northern hemisphere is as far away from the sun as possible during the year. In Los Angeles it was Tuesday at 7:59 a.m.
The event wasn’t all about sacred heavenly phenomena, however. It came at a time when Los Angeles was officially developing strategies to increase diversity and equity among urban workers at all levels, and to repair the damage its education systems have done to minority students, including Native American.
In October, Garcetti announced the start of a process to rename La Plaza Park downtown, informally known as Father Serra Park. In collaboration with Councilor Mitch O’Farrell, Indigenous Cultural Relief is also being created to give local tribal communities priority access to the park for traditional ceremonies.
The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education unanimously decided earlier this year to allocate $ 10 million to support tribal organizations. The money is intended to help meet the critical service needs of students related to academic achievement in the district’s coronavirus recovery efforts and to ensure that schools are places that validate their unique linguistic, cultural and historical backgrounds.
Miguel Luna with his two daughters Jairo Luna, 8 and Olivia Luna, 10 attend a Native American winter solstice prayer ceremony at Chatsworth Nature Preserve on Tuesday.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Against the backdrop of rocky hills and crooked oaks, political leaders such as Senator Henry Stern, chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources and Water, met; O’Farrell; Los Angeles city councilor John Lee and DWP chairman Cynthia McClain-Hill took turns proposing on a podium that it was time to return at least some of the land and water that has been taken from the Native Americans, theirs For some time ancestors had occupied the Los Angeles district immensely.
For Rudy Ortega Jr., president of the 860-member Fernandeño Tataviam tribe, such talks were long overdue. His ancestors struggled to maintain their family lines within geographic regions until the country was conquered by Anglo-American expansion.
Now tribesmen face the long and costly process of getting their Native American status recognized by the federal government – a step required to establish a land base, level of sovereignty, and seek help with health care, education, and protection qualify holy places.
With this aim in mind, the tribe has actively identified various parcels that they could one day call their own again. Among them is Chatsworth Reservoir.
“The idea of taking back land that once belonged to us is not new,” said Ortega, “but it is new to this government and its leadership seems open to it.”
He also said, “My father asked for Chatsworth Nature Reserve in 1970 on behalf of the tribe.”
The tribe’s investigations into gaining control of the reserve have raised concerns among some locals, who fear the acquisition could be a back door to building a casino.
Ortega would not rule this out at a later date under certain conditions. “Whatever the tribal leaders decide to improve our economy is up to them.”
However, Marty Adams, general manager and chief engineer of DWP, said handing over control of the reservation is out of the question.
“The city has a general interest in finding open spaces that we could give back to the tribes,” he said. “Here at Chatsworth Conserve, however, we’re not talking about transferring ownership.”
“The discussions were more about giving them some relief,” he added, “to give them better access or to provide space for a fire pit for traditional ceremonies.”
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