Our ancestors tell us that the Eastern Gate is where we will gather to begin the healing of this land. It is here in the East where first contact was made between the Native peoples and the newcomers. It is here that the first blood was spilled between our people, and our history of violence began. So, it is here on this same land that the healing must begin. The Wabanaki, the people of the first light, are the keepers of the Eastern Door. We are the first peoples to greet Kihsus, the Sun, each morning, and Nipawset, the Moon, each evening. Now, we open our hearts and our homes to greet all of you, so that together we may begin t o heal the wounds of Turtle Island and set a new path forward for all life. This ceremony will be a coming together of people from all over the world, to acknowledge the common wound that we all carry from our shared history of violence. No matter where we come from, we all carry the wounds of historical trauma within us.

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Healing the Wounds of Turtle Island
On that day, members of the many bands of the Lenape family of Indians, from as far away as Canada, came to lower Manhattan to participate in an historic healing ceremony with members of the Collegiate Church of New York, the oldest surviving institution of the 17th-century Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. The event was planned and organized by Intersections, in partnership with representatives of the Lenape people. The Rev.
july 10-13, 2020
Our ancestors tell us that the Eastern Door is where we will gather to begin the healing of this land. It is here in the East where first contact was made between the Native peoples and the newcomers. It is here that the first blood was spilled between our people, and the long history of violence began. And, it is here on this same land that the healing must begin. Our prophecies tell us that when the people of the world rise and begin standing for the protection of life, a great healing will begin.
The Collegiate Church, established in New Amsterdam in , held a healing ceremony with representatives of the Lenape Indians on Friday, November 27, The ceremony marked a reconciliation between Collegiate Church and the Lenape, the result of two years of work and trust-building by Intersections. The ceremony has spiritual elements, on the part of both Collegiate and the Lenape, but was not, strictly speaking, a religious event. The event site was near where the first Collegiate Church was raised in Fort Amsterdam. Surrounding the site are reminders the most enduring contribution by the Dutch to American civic life, an economic system built on Calvinist enterprise and laissez-faire capitalism, exemplified by the Beaux-Arts Custom House itself, Steamship Row, the Standard Oil building and Wall Street. Native Americans were excluded from this feast, however, or were exploited by those who were admitted. That is true, of course.