Liberty / Ancestor Pole ProjectLong Beach, CANovember 17 @ Sunrise-SunsetFree Admission

Location: Long Beach, CA @ Granada Ave & East Ocean Blvd. (on the beach)

Join the Farmlab Team as we continue to honor November as Native American Heritage Month by participating in the Liberty/Ancestor Pole Day Celebration at Granada Launch in Long Beach, Ca.

Join the group in building a Toroovetaam, a living sand sculpture, right on the beach. Bring your buckets, your shovels, and the family, as all are encouraged to join in the fun.

Please dress warmly -- the coast can be chilly this time of year.

More Info

Liberty/Ancestor Pole Project:
Toorovetam Sand Sculpture

Prepared by: Cindi Alvitre, Olivia Chumacero & Craig Torres, Cultural Workers/Curators
October 1, 2007

Project Summary

Objective
Members of the local tribal community as a public event to observe Native American Month in Los Angeles County created the Liberty/Ancestor Pole project. This project serves as a community collaboration including indigenous communities of the Los Angeles Basin, selected environmental and cultural organizations, and the general public.

Two projects are included in the overall event: The Day of Dead Ofrenda, and the Toroovetam Living Sculpture. Both events were organized to create awareness of indigenous presence in Los Angeles County and their continued connection to our Mother Earth, at a time of global crisis. Most importantly, this project fulfills a prophecy given by elders in prior generations who predicted that we, as humans, would find ourselves in a time of crisis resulting from exploitation and abuse to our planet. It was also stated that the indigenous people of this nation would teach American society how to be” humans beings” again, as we consciously enter into the realization of prophecy in 2007.

Project Description: Toroovetaam Living Sculpture
Location: Granada Launch, Long Beach
Date: November 17, 2007
Time: sunrise to sunset

Beginning at sunrise, tribal community will gather with advocates, and the public, on the beach to create a sand sculpture of the sacred four dolphins circling the planet. The logo for this project embraces the image of the Toroovetam, caretakers of the earth, as they circle the planet, connecting the sun and the earth, and the four cardinal directions.

It was predicted by our elders, that our generation would find ourselves in a time of deep human/environmental crisis. Additionally, the elders stated that we, as indigenous people, play a critical role to fulfill our responsibilities as caretakers. The connection of the dolphin (the human being of the underworld) to the middle world, ceremonially gather together to perform ceremony for healing of the past, present and guidance of the future. Ceremony has been separated from our everyday act, as evident from the actions of humans in the destruction of our mother earth.

The Day will Proceed as Follows:

Water Song: At sunrise all cultural workers will gather on the beach to conduct sunrise ceremony and prepare the beach for the construction of the sand-sculpture

Clean-up – a part of the ceremony will be trash pick up

Creation: The remainder of the day will be dedicated to community in the construction of the Toorovetam Sand Sculpture, a symbolic act of community collaboration through environmental education, art, and activism.

Moomat Ahiko: At sunset, and upon completion of the sculpture, we will dedicate the piece and conclude with sunset ceremony.

The DREAM:

IN the beginning of time, honoko...honoko...the descendants of the Tongva people lived on the islands off the coast of, what is now, southern California. They lived good lives, and the land provided for the people for many generations until the population grew to a point when the land could no longer sustain them. Creator saw this and instructed the people that they would have to leave the island. He wove a bridge that extended all the way across the ocean to the mainland. The people were told to pack their things and walk, but on this very long journey they were never to look down. The journey was long and as curiosity would have it, somebody looked down as they crossed the rope bridge, high up into the sky. As he looked down he became dizzy and fell off the side of the bridge. Down, down, down he went towards the ocean. As others looked to see him, they also fell....the people were falling from high above, down into the ocean waters where they would ultimately drown. Creator saw this and did not want to see these good people suffer such a fate. The miracle occurred as the people on the bridge watched in shock and sadness anticipating the drowning of all those who fell. Instead what they saw was human bodies turning into grey, sleek shinning dolphins, half water-being and half-human. Today, those ancestors still swim the sea and hold the status as Torovim, the caretakers of the world.

2007 - the reversal of dream came to an elder in the tribal community. In her dreamtime the Torovitam came back to the land, to take their place and teach the humans how to take care of mother earth in a time of deepest devastation. The Dreamtime of the people comes alive as we honor their message through the creation of the sand sculpture, bringing ceremonial form to these sacred ancestors.

Additional information: 323 226-1158 or [email protected]