Water

In deepest gratitude to the waters, the snows, the rains, our rivers, our acquifers, our watersheds, our oceans and our Mother Earth. We remember that All Waters Are One and at this time we hold in our hearts and minds our beloved Santa Fe River and our Rio Grande, our Mother Rivers, as they travel to the Gulf of Mexico, where we send our prayers.

This is Dominique Mazeaud and I on June 5, 2010 about to read the above words at the Santa Fe Watershed River Festival, where we did a performance ritual at river side with the Women In White, Amy Christian's Spirit of the River puppet from Wise Fool (with the magical Fish) and singer/soundsmith Aimee Conlee. The photographs are by my daughter Halley Roberts.

Declaration of Water
Pai Yee Siw Ni

As children of water, we raise our voices in solidarity to speak for all waters.

Water, the breath of all life, water the sustainer of all life, water the voice of our ancestors, water pristine and powerful.

Today we join hands, determined to honor, trust and follow the ancient wisdom of our ancestors whose teachings and messages continue to live through us.

The message is clear: honor and respect water as a scared and life-giving gift from the Creator of Life.

Water, the first living spirit on earth.

All living beings came from water, all is sustained by water, all will return to water to begin life anew.

We are of water, and the water is of us. When water is threatened, all living things are threatened.

What we do to water we do to ourselves.
What we do to water we do to ourselves.
What we do to water we do to ourselves.

(Read aloud by the Women In White - this was adopted at the Hopi Navoti gathering October 23, 2003, Second Mesa, AZ)

Amazing Aimee Conlee singing a Brazilian Prayer to the Orisha of Water

In procession along the river, carrying the water we brought from our homes.

Singing our words for water (in some 150 languages) alongside the Santa Fe River, where we returned our water to the river.

For the right to life, for the respect of nature and the uses and traditions of our ancestors and our peoples, for all time the following shall be declared as inviolable rights with regard to the uses of water given us by the earth:

Water belongs to the earth and all species and is sacred to life, therefore, the world's water must be conserved, reclaimed and protected for all future generations and its natural patterns respected.

Water is a fundamental human right and a public trust to be guarded by all levels of government, therefore, it should not be commodified, privatized or traded for commercial purposes. These rights must be enshrined at all levels of government. In particular, an international treaty must ensure these principles are noncontrovertable.

Water is best protected by local communities and citizens who must be respected as equal partners with governments in the protection and regulation of water. The peoples of the Earth are the only vehicle to promote earth democracy and save water.

(The Cochabamba Declaration, 8 December, 2000, Cochabamba, Bolivia - created when the people re-took their water from the corporation Bechtel)