Sahasrara puja at the Hangar

For Sahasrara puja, we were blessed to join everybody in the hangar. After puja, we celebrated Mother’s Day, and the children were invited to cut and offer the cake to Shri Mataji.

At the school, children decorated Shri Mataji's altar with a “thousand” petal lotus for the Sahasrara celebration and offered moon cakes, which were made by the children in the afternoon cooking class.

Volcano eruption

The children had a lot of fun creating paper-mâché volcanoes and conducting the classic baking soda and vinegar experiment all by themselves. Along the way, they learned how to work as a team while crafting, painting, and finally triggering the eruptions.

Sahaj game from the Bay Area yogis

Outside workshop, followed by a thunderstorm, and a rainbow. Children worked on each other and, with Auntie’s help, were learning to feel others’ vibrations.

Afternoon class, editor’s pick: Tie-dye in onion peel with Auntie Vivienne, egg carton caterpillars with Auntie Aika, and apple pies with Auntie Elishka.

Finalizing our Peace Garden

Page from the past

There is a legend about this area (from Rochester to Albany) from a dark time of war among 5 tribes and the Deity named The Peacemaker, who came to deliver a message from The Great Creator: A peace message; they would be stronger together than apart, and gave them the Great Law to live by.

Jigonsaseh, Mother of Nations, first embraced the law, and together with Hiawatha, a great leader whose family had been killed in the wars and was grieving alone in the Canajoharie woods, set out to heal the evil war chief who had seven ‘crooks’ in his spine. Upon hearing the powerful message, he embraced it too, and the Iroquois Confederacy was born.

Planting the Great Tree of Peace with the eagle standing guard at the top, the tribes ‘buried the hatchet’ and set out far and wide to spread the message to other tribes and US Founders like Benjamin Franklin. Many of the principles of the Great Law survived in the American Constitution.

The Fort Plain Museum & Historical Park

This Native American oral tradition inspired a whole-term project and theme for our bye-bye party. At the beginning of the term, we planted a tree in our peace garden. Recently, we finished the centerpiece with the children: The Guardian Eagle Totem. This story inspired us throughout the term to create art with Native American motifs, such as headdresses, stone and wire necklaces, canoes, and block-printed T-shirts. All these props were used for the grand finale long-awaited by the children—the bye-bye party.

Bye-Bye Party

We had an epic time following the Peacemakers’ footsteps. Through the woods, we had to fulfill tasks that the Peacemaker prepared for us. Saving eagle eggs, crossing above a serpent’s nest, and following a trusted friend blindfolded! Children were challenged to do things they never tried before - cross a slack line, pick up geometrical dodecahedron-shaped eggs with sticks, and walk blindfolded through the forest. They all enjoyed it and wanted to just keep going. But we had to head back to the “camp”, where they had to fish for their breakfast, shoot their lunch with a bow and an arrow, bake their lunch on the campfire, and collect the most essential things for survival, such as birch bark and blueberries.

As you enjoy the adventure with us, listen closely – can you hear the whispering of the Peacemaker?