Feeding the River

by

Scott Frazier

"It is finally snowing here. The earth is very thirsty and the moon is filling up with prayers for water. I went out this past weekend to walk on the land of my family. The wind was good and gave my a good bath. I remembered many good memories of my youth and walking the streams following trails made by the deer. It was a great time.”

Very dry here today – it’s been real hot so far and it’s early in the morning.

I have a glass of water here, it’s in ice form. It is going to measure how long it is going to take me to say what is on my mind about Feeding the River

I wanted to share some of the stories about feeding the river or water and some of my history; when I was young my Dad took us fishing. He was stationed in Oregon after the Korean War. We fished every weekend there and were taught to respect the water.

We didn’t recreate in the water. We didn’t go swimming we fished. We fished and through those times we looked at the water respectfully; it’s Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. We didn’t throw things in the water nor did skip rocks. You know, I didn’t learn to skip rocks until I met up with boys from school in Oregon.

I’m going to deviate for a second. When I spoke in Mexico City, I was invited by the Indigenous Environmental to say a few words. At the time I was the Executive Director of Native Waters and I traveled all over to talk about water. I said to them: “When we talk about water, which is a sacred element, we should be respectful.”

One of the times I was invited to a tribal college to talk about water. I did my whole spiel on water and the three elements. A professor who invited me, stood up at the end of my presentation and informed the class that unlike me, we don’t speak about water with the other three elements. So he pretty well disrespected my talk.

I traveled and talked about water in many places. I went to Lake Balaton in Hungary, one of the most beautiful places. I fed the river there.  I also went to New Zealand and I was invited to the Maori Queen’s – Mori. I fed the water there. They took me to their private spring and we said prayers there.

As the program director of Native Waters, I told my superior about a ceremony we called Feeding the River. I explained it’s out of respect for the water. Because of this reverence, we don’t use the water for recreation. I told this story about going down to different water sources and offering respectful words to the water.  My supervisor recorded this and was going to publish it as a teaching guide. I realized then how easy it is for people to disrespect your ideas without permission and attribution. This made me aware that since it is so easy I am not going to tell you how I Feed the Water. Instead I am going to tell you about the things I respect about the water. Like I said, when I was young, we fished and I saw water as something that was to be respected.

In 1981 the Bighorn River Case was decided. It basically took control of the water from the Crow Tribe (The case of Montana versus the United States). The river is closed now.

Before the loss of the river, it was beautiful.  There were grasses along the riverbank and the riparian area was just gorgeous. There was no garbage there.

The Crow Tribe felt the need to Feed the River. A few weeks before the event I went there; I camped and I fished. I was eating and one of my Clan Uncles, Hank came to visit me. I asked him about Feeding the River. He said: “Yeah they are going to Feed the River and should have been doing it all along .” I shook my head as he left.

I asked one my Aunts: “ What are we going to feed the River?” And I thought about how my grandma would come over and look at you. You might as well just crawl into a bag of hammers because she would give you a look as though she recognizes you may be on the face of the planet, but you are not very bright. I watched her do that to many people and she did it to me more than once. It made be laugh. It is a good memory of her.

The day of the Feeding of the River we went out to the river, the people gathered and it was just after the loss of the river. They had a ceremony and it was hard to understand because there were motor boats involved and people taking your photograph which turned out to be the FBI.   So it was a very, very confusing day.

So l later I asked my clan uncle, I asked him about it. “You know”, he said: “I am a very simple man.” But he was very wise at the same point.

We as Sundance People we go away from the water. And you know, we miss it. So in those days we say things and so we go to the water and we acknowledge those things to the water that we missed you so much. But they are good memories when you are fasting or something and you go away from the water. I go to the water and acknowledge it.

When I was the Executive Director of Native Waters I traveled all over the world in an airplane. And a lot of the water I tasted in places that people live, some of it was beautiful water. And some of it was not. It was really hard to realize, people have to live with that. Feeding the river is not “a day”, it is a way of living. And I will say it again: there is Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. You better live with all of these things in a proper way because we are part of it. Feeding the river it takes you to a moment of where you realize something is bigger than you, and you need it.

And so I go to the river and I see different things. The animals are there, insects are there, and all of the elements, Earth, wind, Fire and Water are there. 

So now I have talked to you about water and feeding the river. And I suggested you do it. It could be a ritual and it could be a ceremony. Sometimes those things match up. After a while it becomes a ceremony that evolves. My point of reference for you is for you to feed the river. What does the river love…the river loves everything, it loves everything! There is nothing on this planet or off this planet that the river doesn’t like or love. And it will accept anything. And if it is too strange, it will just change shape.

So remember there are kinds of ceremonies and there are kinds of rituals. Do your rituals in the light don’t do them in the darkness. There are too many things that are there that are willing to accept your prayers. Do them in the light. You want to be able to see what’s coming and what’s going and where you are in the moment.

Enjoy your day and try to do something with water today. Enjoy.

About the Author: 

Scott Frazier is Santee and an enrolled Crow Tribal Member. He has a Masters Degree in Tribal Protocol and Communication. He began his work with EE as a program coordinator for Native Waters, a water education program for teachers, in 2001. He was asked by The Indigenous Environmental Network to represent Native Waters at the Forth World Water Forum in Mexico City in 2006 where he addressed the assembly about the sacredness of water.

He presented numerous workshops around the world throughout the years. For many years he has been involved in buffalo issues as well as diversity and environmental consultation to Indigenous people.

Photo Credit: Scott Frazier

Footnote: This article comes from a YouTube talk by Scott Frazier. It was transcribed and edited by the author and Joe Baust, the NAAEE blog moderator for Connecting to Nature. Scott and I  agreed on the final post above. In editing I tried to not take away from the intent nor the beauty of his verbal sharing. I trust you will read this blog post as Scott speaking to us.