Jun 18, 2021

TheWee Voice Newsletter Home by Warsan Shire (British-Somali poet)

no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well. your neighbours running faster than you, the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body, you only leave home when home won't let you stay. no one would leave home unless home chased you, fire under feet, hot blood in your belly. it's not something you ever thought about doing, and so when you did - you carried the anthem under your breath, waiting until the airport toilet to tear up the passport and swallow, each mouthful of paper making it clear that you would not be going back. you have to understand, no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land. who would choose to spend days and nights in the stomach of a truck unless the miles travelled meant something more COVER PAINTING than journey “Climate Change Refugee” Alex Nabaum 4th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST HAPPY FATHER’S DAY ?! Deuteronomy 30:11-14 My (adult, now) children often remind me, lovingly, that becoming a father takes but a few, pleasurable, “Braiding Strands of Life Together” moments - the heavy lifting is done by the moms! Sunday, June 20, is the beginning of the The stereotypical attributes - provider, protector, Summer Solstice, which is the most sacred time disciplinarian - long associated with “fatherhood” are in the indigenous calendar. June 21 is the day of now out of favour. Although, there are many very Indigenous Prayer, celebrated across Canada. interesting scientific studies into whether the traits of We're fortunate that we can share in this males and females that we call stereotypes aren’t in prayerful solstice celebration, at least in part, by fact embedded in our DNA! worshipping together on Sunday, June 20 on We all know that physical attributes come from Zoom and hearing Audrey King tell us about our parents - height, colour of eyes, etc - but did you what she has learned about the spirituality of know that we are more likely to get dad’s genes than First Nations’ people by reading the scholarly, mom’s - 60% to 40%! Think about that when you and highly popular book “Braiding Sweetgrass”. complain about thinning hair! The DCUC Book Group has been My dad had a habit, upon completing a task, of enthusiastically reading this amazing book for the standing back and reviewing his work. Most of these last few months. I hope Audrey's talk might times, when he shared with us, he was pleased, and encourage more people in our congregation to we would kid him about it, but I am sure there were read it over the summer. The author, an times he wasn’t. indigenous woman, and a professor who teaches Is Father’s Day not the perfect time to do this as biology, is a deeply spiritual person, who well? Not a day to say “Look at me!”, but a day to combines her scientific and spiritual learnings in reflect on how we did, or how we are doing. Did we wonderful and hopeful ways. encourage without overbearing? Did we allow our Rev Jennifer Palin kids to make mistakes, and thereby learn? Did we contribute to a happy, loving home, and can we see they are following in the same path? It’s not easy watching our kids grow up, and there are no guarantees on how it turns out. My youngest son (24) is contemplating following his dream career by moving to England. He is afraid to mention this to his mom, but has reached out to me for advice. Helping him think the decision through, without advocating the answers is tough to do! Being a dad can be hard, but, oh the joys make it so worthwhile!

Happy Father’s Day. Tom Joyce Our Church Office Our church of fice is now open: Monday to Friday, Please help keep 9:30 am to 1:30 pm. everyone safe No one but Emily is allowed access into the office. by doing your Offering cheques can be dropped in the mailbox (call Emily and let her know). Please help support Emily as part !! we live the new life of self-distancing. WANT TO STAY Follow us and Like us on Facebook UP TO DATE? Donway Covenant United Church ACKNOWLEDGING FIRST NATION’S TERRITORIES for TRUTH and RECONCILIATION Join us for Worship We acknowledge this sacred land on which we on ZOOM. Call the are today. This land, which we call Mother Earth, church office to be put on our Earth Mother, is the traditional territory of the our email list, Huron-Wendat First Nations, the Seneca, the or use the link below. Mississaugas of the Credit River, the 4th Sunday after Pentecost Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation. The Jun 20 10:30 am “Braiding Strands of Life territory was the subject of the Dish with One Together” Spoon Wampum Belt covenant, an agreement Guest speaker: Audrey King between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to Jun 27 5th Sunday after Pentecost peaceably share and care for the resources 10:30 am “Struggling with Angels” around the Great Lakes. During the month of July, and the We recognize Indigenous land title as set out first Sunday of August, Rev. Vivian Yarwood in the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which will be leading us in Worship (Zoom services) envisioned self-determination and self- government. The Truth and Reconciliation Report Rev. Vivian will be available for emergency and Calls to Action recommend that all levels of pastoral care (through physical distancing) government implement Indigenous rights in the It doesn’t matter where you are - original spirit of the treaties. Indigenous peoples in Don Mills, or across the country, and allies for reconciliation view the treaties as a or around the world, sacred obligation that commits both parties to you can join us on ZOOM! maintain respectful relationship; and share the lands and resources equitably. The Worship Committee Today, Toronto is still home to many Indigenous Sweetgrass is often burned at the beginning of people from across Turtle Island. We are grateful, a prayer or ceremony to attract positive energies.... honoured, and humbled to have the opportunity Sweetgrass is used to "smudge"; the smoke from to live and work in this city; on this territory we burning sweetgrass is fanned on people, objects or call Turtle Island. Chi Miigwetch. Thank you. areas. Individuals smudge themselves with the submitted by Rev Jennifer Palin smoke, washing the eyes, ears, heart and body. June 20, 2021 10:30 am PLEASE JOIN US Eastern Daylight Time To join the service with audio only using your phone please dial: ZOOM WILL OPEN AT 10:00 am (647) 374 - 4685 or (647) 558 - 0588 To join the service with online video please You will be prompted to enter the following CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW information: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85066299490?pwd=RUR3dFkrSFZ6RDM1RXcwc21hZGRmZz09 Meeting ID you enter 850 6629 9490# This link should take you directly to the meeting, Participant ID you enter # however if asked for the Meeting ID and (there is no participant ID for us) Password, they are as follows: Password you enter 405590# Meeting ID: 850 6629 9490 If you need help to get connected Password: 405590 please call Ruth Kenny at (416) 832-9709 Piita Irniq, formerly known as WHAT’S IN A NAME? Peter, is a former commissioner of How a government and a well-known project forced surnames guardian of culture and language. Like many Inuit, Irniq's on Inuit name has evolved and changed over the last century, as a result of With Project Surname, Inuit had to choose and colonization, residential schools register family names, which were not common in and Project Surname. their culture

After a lifetime of spelling his name the way white Johnny became Joanasie, David became Davidee - priests and teachers told him to, in 1999 Peter Irniq these names are still common among Inuit today. finally decided to change his last name to the Family names had not been used among Inuit for traditional Inuit pronunciation. time immemorial, Irniq said, until Project Surname. His mother named him Irniq, which means son For example, Irniq did not share names with his in , when he was born in an igloo in 1947 on family members: his father was Athanasi Angutitaq, the land hundreds of kilometres from , his mother Irene Katak, and his sister Bernadette Nunavut. His name had come to her in a dream. Iguttaq. He said there were positives and negatives to the project. Project Surname was proposed by the Council (now known as the “Project Surname was the end of in Legislative Assembly) in the late 1960s as a way to terms of naming our children,” Irniq said. move past the federal government's "E-number" According to a 1970 Annual Report of the system. Between the 1940s and 1970s, E-numbers Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, were assigned to "Eskimos" and provided in part to CBC by a spokesperson for the stamped on discs, which Inuit in territorial government, the project's director, the Canadian Arctic were forced Abraham Okpik, visited every settlement where Inuit to wear to keep track of census lived and interviewed each head of family about their data, medical records, etc. wishes. Through Project Surname, Those that wanted names to replace their disc Inuit were told to choose and numbers were recorded and their names were register surnames, or family officially changed. The project involved about 12,000 names, along with their given name. people and changes were made to approximately “My first birth certificate was Peter Ernerk, which 95 per cent of the names involved. was spelled by a Roman Catholic priest,” Irniq told When Okpik visited Irniq, he chose the name his CBC from his home in Ottawa. mother had given him. “I’m a strong, strong believer Then his principal at Sir Joseph Bernier Federal in my own culture and I want to keep the name that Day School, a residential school in Chersterfield was given to me by my mother.” But Irniq said many Inlet, changed the spelling to Erneck in 1958. Inuit took the names of their fathers, as is common in western culture. This, he said, has served to “So my name for a long period of time since I assimilate Inuit. “We've joined the mainstream of the was born was Peter Ernerk or Erneck or E3-546.” Canadian society, just like all the Joneses and all The name Peter was the result of being baptized the Smiths.” by the Catholic church. While Project Surname was taking place, the “My parents did not choose my name,” Irniq said. Inuit Cultural Institute, which no longer exists, was “Our parents did not know a thing about naming working on a new writing system for Inuit. The their children in the English terms or French terms.” system, called roman orthography, is still used today. Under the new system, some letters were Initially the priest named him Pierre, but it didn't eliminated; E was replaced with I; O was replaced stick, he said. French names were quite common for by U, Irniq explained. Inuit because many of the priests in the North were from France or Quebec. Millie Kuliktana, from Kugluktuk, Nunavut, was named Millie at birth, and her cherished Alaskan The Anglican church, however, gave the children great-uncle "gifted" her the Iñupiaq name, Qitupana. what Irniq called "Inukticized" names. Names like In 1999, Irniq changed his family's last name, WHAT’S IN A NAME? getting rid of what he called the “old colonialistic” continued spelling, as well as the E-number, E3-546. In total, it cost the five members of his family $795. Her name had “I-R-N-I-Q is what I have always been,” he said. “In been spelled 2000 I came back to who I have always been ever Kitupana, but since I was born.” Millie, 56, eventually changed it to Q, as she said that is the Irniq said that because he is so well known, it proper way to pronounce it in was highly publicized when he changed the spelling Inuktitut. Millie Qitupana of his name, and about 450 Inuit followed suit. Soon Kuliktana, who was a cultural consultant on the after, he said Nunavut's then-Justice minister Jack Inuuqatigiit Inuit curriculum in the 1990s, said Anawak announced that Inuit would no longer have Project Surname helped do away with the to pay to change their names or the spelling of their E-number discs. “It was Project Surname that names as a result of Project Surname. helped spell the last names of the people, because Irniq ultimately believes that when Project the Inuit didn't have a writing system of their own,” Surname came into being, Inuit weren't quite ready she said. “So whenever they did give them their to take on authorities. “When I was born, Inuit, gee family surnames, that was really the first form of we were always very obedient of the newcomers writing that they had to get used to.” like the Roman Catholic Church and the Government, RCMP and Hudson's Bay Saa Pitsiulak, an Inuktitut Company,” Irniq said. “We were just coming out of language program officer for the igloo, and the Canadian society, the Canadian Nunavut's Department of system of governance, and things like that were Culture and Heritage, works to very, very foreign to us. So I think to this day, protect, promote and preserve Project Surname was 10 years too early.” Inuit languages. She said the negative impact of federal schools and Saa Pitsiulak CBC North is doing a series on the history and governments telling Inuit how to live their lives, significance of Inuit names. Traditional names assimilate and speak English, is still felt today. But hold great respect and honour. There are long- now, Inuit are taking that back. held Inuit beliefs that people take on the characteristics of their namesake, and that ‘We are taking ownership, reclaiming our spirits live on through them. Many Inuit have language and our culture because it identifies who close connections with the we are, where we come from and that we are Inuit,” person who named them, as “Those are barriers that were Pitsiulak said. well as people who have the imposed on us and very painful experiences, so … same name. it is part of the healing journey to reclaim your October 6, 2020 identity and your traditions.” ORIGINAL CARDS for SALE Hand made cards - Father’s Day, Canada Day, Anniversary.. or simply Summer! Due to “Stay at Home” restrictions please call Jennifer to order and arrange for delivery. $ 00 Jennifer can make “cards to order” for that special someone! (416) 551 - 9917 5 Blind Spots and Eye-Openers Jennifer shared this poster with me following I thank Reverend Jennifer and DCUC for the some very good discussions in our Bible Study sermons, speakers and small group programs that Group. The poster is from an open eyes and minds to old UCC campaign (the circumstances, wondercafe.ca site is no interpretations, and longer active). It reminded perspectives we may not me of insightful reflections have known about, Tom has shared in recent understood or even thought Wee VOICE editions about about. I am personally new perspectives opening surprised that as a our eyes, nuggets of supposedly well-educated understanding, learning, adult in the senior years of evolving, and respecting her life, I can still learn as opinions. Perhaps most much as I am about many importantly was his reflection aspects of life. that we don’t necessarily need to agree with what is Being shaken out of our being said to respect that the bubbles of comfort and opinion being expressed familiarity can be good for us; held true for the speaker. maybe even essential. The UCC poster shows how Having light shed on blind even the bible contains parts spots we consciously or each of us may agree or unconsciously hold, opens disagree with. Our Bible our eyes and our hearts. The Study certainly covered UCC Poster invites exploring parts of stories each of us may like or dislike, be spirituality open-mindedly. That’s what I have comfortable with or be very uncomfortable with. enjoyed most from all my interactions at DCUC. Sue Lynn Chong Reflection in the Pines “Rest and Be Thankful” We have enjoyed two relaxing mornings in a quiet peaceful setting. It is a very welcoming, interesting, family friendly environment. The smell of the pines is especially inviting. The pine trees are numbered and offer prayers, recipes and fresh herbs. There are also lists of gardening books for children and adults and even beans to plant to create Jack's beanstalk. A large white bunny rabbit who died at the Kamloops Residential School. was happily munching on grass in his “Every Child Matters”. large outdoor enclosure. A variety of You can enjoy a drink or your lunch at the picnic God's creatures take turns visiting tables provided for visitors to the site. If you there. appreciate simplicity knowing that “We are not alone, You can sit and reflect on tree we live in God's world”, spend a while at Reflection stumps from one of the in the Pines. Carolyn Reashore and magnificent pines. Marian Childerhose A Summer display has been Places of Reflection exist not only in our created with 215 hearts to honour “Meditation Grove”, but all around the city. When the lives of the Indigenous children you find one, rest a while...... and ponder. Louie Kamookak Kamookak continued to look for clues about Franklin and his crew, interviewing many Inuit in Inuit Elder, educator and his area over decades. He assisted various historian, Louie Kamookak, is searches and in 2008 began working with the best known for his extensive Parks Canada team that found the shipwrecks research into the lost Franklin in 2014 in the area that the Inuit stories had expedition that was essential for pointed to all along. the discovery of the HMS Erebus shipwreck in 2014. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society made Kamookak an honorary vice-president in Kamookak was born in 1959 at a seal- 2016. He also received a Governor-General's hunting camp on the Boothia Peninsula near Polar Medal, the Inuit Heritage Trust Taloyoak, Nunavut. He learned hunting and Recognition award and in 2017 he was fishing skills out on the land with his father and invested as a member of the Order of Nunavut grandfather and began to attend school when and the Order of Canada. he was 12. Lessons about the ill-fated 1845 Arctic expedition led by Sir John Franklin sparked his life-long interest in the mystery. He Sadly, Louie Kamookak passed away of a remembered his great-grandmother's stories of serous illness on March 22, 2018 finding artifacts such as forks and spoons on the north shore of King William Island. He became a schoolteacher, working CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW to watch a with youth in his hometown of Gjoa short video interview with Louie Kamookak Haven, Nunavut and passing on as he talks about how Inuit oral tradition led traditional knowledge. to the discovery of Franklin’s ships. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBpHC4ZQ3Ok

What is Sing2G7? Sing2G7 is an apolitical international engagement programme with a vision to enable children to raise their voices in song and be heard by world leaders. Sing2G7 was conceived and is run by a tiny team of volunteers with the support of creative professionals and seven strong partners, including Truro Cathedral and Truro School. Gee Seven is a toe-tapping new song by Sir Tim Rice and Peter Hobbs, written specially for us to share with children all over the world. Watch Khayelitsha Children's Choir, South Africa the video, play the backing tracks, download the Well over 300 choirs and schools are singing sheet music and lyrics, and join us and Gee Seven all around the world - a total of over thousands of others, to sing to G7 and make your 25,000 young voices from 27 countries voices heard on issues you care about! As Greta including: Alaska, Antigua, Belgium, Australia, Thunberg says, ‘No one is too small to make a Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, difference!’ Japan, Kuala Lumpur, Malawi, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Scotland, CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW to listen, and sing along, to the children of Truro Cathedral. Selangor, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, UAE, Ukraine, USA, Vietnam, Wales. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2fUdLvSa3k submitted by Cathy Paterson song. we said - of course. The song was “Yellow YELLOW BIRD Bird”. From that time on this has been our On the occasion of Kirsten and Parkes favourite Caribbean song. wedding, September 21, 2019, we were invited to Our story is not yet finished. He mentioned he celebrate our wedding anniversary (66) as the also did some painting and would we like to see oldest married couple present, by going to the some of them. Once again, we said of course. He dance floor. When the music started, we showed us one of Maracas Bay done from the immediately recognized the song, “Yellow Bird”. place we were sitting. We were totally enamored This is our favourite Caribbean song which by this little boy and despite his severe handicap Rachel and Kirsten had arranged to be played. was making his way through life. They did not know This painting is why this is our the original of the favourite song. We painting we bought will now tell that from him so many story. years ago. This is Many years ago why we are so (1968) I was working attached to our as a civil engineer favourite song - on a marine terminal “Yellow Bird”. in Trinidad, my We now have co-workers told me new memories of about a beautiful, our song connected secluded beach at to Kirsten and Maracas Bay. I Parkes’ beautiful mentioned this to wedding. Nina, and she said, let’s go on your day off, and so we did. Maracas Bay It was the perfect Trinidad Frank and Nina place to spend the Saunders day. We settled down to enjoy our mini vacation. It wasn’t long until a young boy with a severe case CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW and enjoy the of club feet arrived and asked if he could join us. calypso sound of the Kingston Trio singing We said - of course. We talked to him about his Yellow Bird family and disability. He had with him a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaBi4hvUmXs homemade banjo. He asked if he could sing us a UPDATE ON KIRSTEN Some Guys Get You may remember Frank and Nina shared a Spoiled Rotten!! story, Great News from Proud Grandparents, in the Fall 2019 VOICE, about their granddaughter, Norm Childerhose celebrated his 80th birthday Kirsten Walsh. Kirsten had been selected as one of on Thursday. To surprise him, Marian took him to four women to eventually break the officiating Baretto’s Caffe, just off Don Mills Road (they gender barrier in the NHL. have just opened their patio) for eggs, prosciutto on a croissant followed by cappuccino! Then along came COVID! Like many things progress was stalled. Things now look like they will At lunch time their kids dropped in bearing once again be moving forward. Swiss Chalet, for a picnic on the deck. Kirsten, who lives in Pittsburgh, has been And for dinner they are off to Sorento’s (south officiating minor league hockey in Pennsylvania, on Don Mills) to enjoy dinner on their patio. often doing three games on a weekend. She is looking forward to the next phase of her hockey So glad they had an absolutely beautiful day in which to celebrate!! life. Frank Saunders Tom Joyce LET HYMN IN: The silencing of indoor singing is senseless An opinion piece by Ysenda Maxtone Graham submitted by Marla Miller ‘And now we sing our final hymn, number But what about us, the hymn-singing masses? 466.’ Remember that? The euphoria of We’ve had to endure more than a year of dismal congregational hymn-singing? The well-organised hymnlessness: dry services without the necessary types always had the book open at the correct page, gravy of communal singing to make us feel part of it balanced precariously on the pew. The rest of us all. ‘My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,’ as the hurriedly flicked to 466 while singing the first verse, psalmist put it. Listening to a choir singing a hymn, knowing it by heart from a thousand school though better than nothing, is not an acceptable assemblies. ‘Our shield and defender, the ancient substitute. You feel excluded, sitting there in bovine of days…’ silence while others sing the words you long to belt out. Some congregations have taken to humming I can’t believe I’m writing this in the past tense, very softly behind their masks, longing to mouth the but it has been so long - almost 15 months - since words but resisting for fear of a backlash from the anyone not in a choir sang a congregational hymn. diocese. Even in New York, famous for being almost How I miss that light-headedness, almost faintness, manically Covid-compliant, the rules have now been of standing up after a long service and singing your eased, I’m told by Jeremy Filsell, the director of heart out, filling and emptying your lungs, fortified by music at St Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. the tiny wafer and sip of sweet wine. The experience Congregations are allowed to sing hymns if masked was always tinged with relief - ‘Phew, we did it, and socially distanced. survived the sermon, wasn’t too bad, gosh, still managed to be an hour and a half long…’ But mainly I spoke to the Rev. Mark Roberts, rector of my it brought us all together into a heightened state at home town of Sandwich, Kent, who said that the that final moment before the doors were flung open absence of hymn-singing had been very hard for his and we were released back into the cow-parsley congregation. ‘Lots of people,’ he said, ‘might not churchyard. remember the words of the Bible, but they do remember and need to sing the words of well-loved Much has been written about the Department for hymns, to sustain them through hard times. Singing Culture, Media and Sport’s absurd edict, is at the heart of praise, praise is at the heart of announced last month, that only up to six amateur worship, so to remove singing is to begin to neuter singers are allowed to sing indoors in England, even what worship is about.’ in a large ventilated hall, church or cathedral, while everyone is allowed to shout in pubs, sing in football The soprano Katherine Jenkins, who presents stadiums and huff and puff in gyms. Not only is it Songs of Praise and worships at St David’s scientifically dubious - the doctor and voice expert Church in Neath, Wales, tells me: ‘Perhaps we Declan Costello’s experiments last year proved that didn’t really appreciate how much we loved hymns singing produced no more aerosols than speaking - till we lost them. They bring us together, take the it’s a rule clearly dreamed up by philistines, because emotion up a notch. When we’re allowed to sing the number six makes no sense in musical terms, them again, it will be a very emotional moment.’ most choral music being in four parts or eight parts but rarely in six. ED. Always a good laugh when you see the Anglicans complain about a 1½ hr sermon! The rules have forced amateur choirs to rehearse in the acoustic-less outdoors (only 30 allowed even there), or to run 12 consecutive rehearsals for six CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW if you would like to singers each, or more often to cancel their rehearsal read the entire article, published in the magazine bookings and long-planned summer concerts. on June 12, 2021 https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/let-hymn-in-the-silencing-of-indoor-singing-is-senseless World Refugee Day - June 20, 2021 Together we heal, learn and shine. The world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. An unprecedented 70.8 million people around the world have been forced from home by conflict, hunger, climate change and persecution at the end of 2018. Among them are nearly 30 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. There are also millions of stateless people, who have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education and medical services.

What is World Refugee Day? World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees, and focus on their plight, around the globe. It falls each year on June 20 and celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. World Refugee Day is an What happens on World Refugee Day? occasion to build empathy and understanding for Each year, World Refugee Day is marked their plight and to recognize their resilience in by a variety of events in many countries in rebuilding their lives. support of refugees. These activities are led by Why is World Refugee Day important? or involve refugees, government officials, companies, celebrities, school children and the World Refugee Day shines a light on the general public. rights, needs and dreams of refugees, helping to mobilize political will and resources so How is The Donway Covenant United refugees can not only survive but also thrive. Church helping refugees? Many activities held on World Refugee Day A few years ago, our church raised funds for create opportunities to support refugees. Fairlawn and Humbercrest United Churches When is World Refugee Day? to help with their Refugee Sponsorship When did World Refugee Day start? programs. More recently, we are in the process of sponsoring two young people from Somalia World Refugee Day falls each year on to join family here in Toronto. We have raised June 20. It was held globally for the first time on $36,000, the amount needed for one year of June 20, 2001, commemorating the 50th their sponsorship. anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. submitted by Vivian Yarwood The Joy to be Found on a Neighbourhood Walk The gorgeous blossoms are at their best right now and there are many of these beautiful trees to admire in our neighbourhood. Northern Catalpa is a deciduous tree with a shapely oval form. Its strikingly bold and coarse texture Anne Anderson can be very effective in a balanced landscape composition. SUMMER ARRIVED at 187 WYNFORD DRIVE EARLY Marie Harvey photos by Tiffany Moraes

SUMMER SOLSTICE, JUNE 20th the sun. One of the most well-documented and elaborate is that of the Sioux, a celebration that Most ancient cultures celebrated the Summer continues to this day. It is called the Wi wanyang Solstice in some fashion or other - Druids, Vikings, wacipi, which translates to “sun gazing dance” Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Mayans, Aztecs, and centres around a sacred cottonwood tree Egyptians, Mesopotamians...... erected in the middle of a ritual circle. The tree is For some it was the beginning of a new year, “a visible connection between the heavens full of life and promise. For others it was the and Earth.” Teepees would encircle the tree to beginning of the hot, dry summer and a time of represent the cosmos. Participants fasted during mourning. the dance, their bodies decorated in the symbolic colours of red (sunset), blue (sky), yellow (lightning), Native American tribes celebrated the June white (light), and black (night).” solstice with great feasts and dances to honour

Church office is staffed for Minister: Rev. Jennifer Palin ‘phone calls and e-mails. Please no visits while we Music Tina Faye weather the pandemic storm. Facilitator: Church Emily McLean Administrator: Szekely Custodian: Kim Morgan Together in spirit while we practice physical distancing.

Celebrating almost 7 years of being an Affirming Congregation 230 The Donway West, Toronto, ON M3B 2V8 ‘ phone (416) 444 - 8444 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.donwaycovenant.com