"All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer"

June 21, 2012 in Grand Teton National Park

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world peace and prayer dayBuffalo Field Campaign announces an extraordinary event occurring in the Grand Tetons. The 17th annual World Peace & Prayer Day (WPPD) will gather people of diverse faiths and nationalities at a spectacular site of the Teton Mountains on the afternoon and evening of June 21, 2012 to bring balance and harmony to the earth and its animals through ceremony and united prayer.

World Peace & Prayer Day was founded 17 years ago by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe. Its credo is, "All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer" and it unites peoples of different indigenous traditions and spiritual practices for ceremony to heal and maintain the beauty and natural wonderment of the earth; to preserve its resources; and pass on the wisdom and traditions for creating a more peaceful world to our children. Over the years, WPPD has taken place across the Americas and in Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Japan and New Zealand. This year WPPD activates the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as a powerful sacred site and honors Tatanka as a keystone species and an emissary of all animals. The event will take place in Grand Teton National Park about twenty-six miles north of the town of Jackson.

For three days before June 21, a Sacred Fire will be tended near the site to activate the energy of the land. This fire will be initiated by Chief Arvol Looking Horse himself, during a special Opening Ceremony on June 18th at 4pm. Speakers from Buffalo Field Campaign will also present. All are invited to this ceremony and a shuttle bus will drive from Jackson's Ranch Lot on Cache Street at 3:15 pm.

The World Peace & Prayer Day ceremonies on June 21 will commence at 4 pm and last until sundown. An Opening Ceremony will be followed by speakers from indigenous traditions as well as Mike Mease, co-founder of Buffalo Field Campaign, who will talk about the ecological issues and spiritual significance of this ecosystem. Traditional drum circles and an All Nations, All Faiths prayer will be interspersed with meditation and offerings from the public: prayers, poems, song and dance that honors the energy and beauty of this sacred site. Children and youth are encouraged to attend and participate in the group events.

In addition to the events of the 21st, special bison-spirit ceremonies held at the site at sunrise on June 20th will create harmony between the humans and the sacred animals who share planet earth. All "Keepers of the bison"-medicine people, educators, activists and animal lovers-are encouraged to join in.

To augment the healing and maintaining of bison energy, Chief Looking Horse and a group of friends and supporters will take a three-day journey along the "Spirit Highway Route" to the WPPD site, beginning on the morning of June 16th with Peace Pole planting ceremony at Bear House Mountain, aka Devils Tower.

The group will carry the bison energy to a second Wyoming sacred site, the Big Horn medicine wheel near Cody for a ceremony on the 17th, then travel through the East Gate of Yellowstone National Park and through the last remaining, wild-and-free bison grounds. Chief Looking Horse has created the Spirit Highway Route to activate energy from all three sacred sites, greatly magnifying the effect of the 2012 WPPD "Life Fire of the Bison".

WPPD honors all of earth's sacred sites-those places that indigenous traditions know hold the keys to the earth's power to sustain life. Many locations worldwide will host their "All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer" celebrations in synch with the event in the Tetons.

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