Ray Young Bear on Meskwaki Spirituality

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Ray Young Bear on Meskwaki Spirituality

Written by Conor Gearin

This is BirdNote.

    [Western Meadowlark song]

Ray Young Bear, a writer and member of the Meskwaki Nation, says that birds are important to Meskwaki spirituality.

Ray Young Bear: There's a real high regard for birds within Meskwaki culture itself. Birds are the first spirits to welcome the dawn, the new daylight.

    [Western Meadowlark song]

Throughout the seasons, they are everywhere on the ground, in flight. And I think that is something that will go on forever without ever finding out just exactly why birds interest us.

He says the reverence that Meskwaki culture has for birds and other living beings makes it essential to protect them and the places they live.

Ray Young Bear: Once this interaction with nature and ourselves begins to falter, then our role as earth keepers in keeping the songs, the music, the tenets of being a Meskwaki will no longer be.

Ray Young Bear wants more people to understand these aspects of animism, the form of spirituality found in Meskwaki religion and many other Indigenous traditions.

Ray Young Bear: If you understand that each object that you meet with in your life, be it a rock, be it a tree, it has life. It's just a matter of you recognizing that presence and trying to be respectful of that presence.

    [Western Meadowlark song]

Learn more about Ray Young Bear’s writing on our website, BirdNote dot org. I’m Michael Stein.

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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Western Meadowlark ML432124141 recorded by Kevin Powers.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote   November 2022         
Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# youngbearr-01-2022-11-01    youngbearr-01