In North American Indigenous cultures, grandparents and elders are traditionally revered. But grandmothers have an incredibly honoured status since, as women, they are blessed with the Creator’s gift of nurturing life. As grandmothers they nurture their children’s children with their gifts of memory, wisdom, and unconditional love.
Newsroom (26/07/2022 2:58 PM Gaudium Press) On July 26 in the evening local time, at the feast of Sts. Anne and Joachim, Pope Francis will open the week-long Lac St. Anne Pilgrimage, attended by tens of thousands of Indigenous Catholics annually. People have experienced physical and spiritual healing here, similar to those experienced at Lourdes.
Lac Ste. Anne was first called Wakamne (or “God’s Lake”) by the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, who live on the west end of the lake and Manito Sahkahigan (or “Spirit Lake”) by the Cree. The lake was called “Lac Ste Anne” by Rev. Jean-Baptiste Thibault, the first Catholic priest to establish a mission on the site.
The pilgrimage grounds have been sacred for generations and are widely known as a place of healing. According to Alexis’ oral history, a charismatic Nakota chief from the south-east followed his vision and led his people to the shores of the sacred lake Wakamne (God’s Lake – Lac Ste Anne). Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation people lived on the site long before European fur traders and settlers arrived. The lake and the surrounding area are rich in natural resources, and during the early fur trade, it used to supply Fort Edmonton with fish. To this day, it remains a spiritual center celebrated during each annual pilgrimage.
Father Joseph Lestanc organized the first annual pilgrimage to Ste. Anne, in July 1889, after an inspirational visit to Ste. Anne d’Aurey shrine in French Brittany the previous year. Over the years, the Lac Ste. Anne’s pilgrimage has continued on an annual basis and continuously during the week of July 26 (the feast day of Ste. Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandmother of Jesus).
There’s a beautiful icon of Jesus, and St. Anne is featured in traditional regalia of the Plains First Nations with Lac St. Anne as the backdrop. Andre Prevost completed the icon, commissioned by Metis elder and Catholic priest Father Garry Laboucane, in time for the 2017 Lac St. Anne pilgrimage. Prevost explains the iconography as follows:
The differences within this icon are two-fold, aside from it being set within a First Nations context, unlike most traditional icons of Ste. Anne, where she is depicted along with the Theotokos, the prime focus of this icon is Ste. Anne as ‘grandmother.’
She is portrayed as a Plains First Nations grandmother in traditional regalia and with her grandson Jesus Christ, also in regalia. Saint Anne embodies the grandmother figure, a respected place in Aboriginal societies, and pivotal within the preservation, teaching, and formation of ‘the culture.’
This icon is set within the dance, a culmination of this teaching with her grandson, who is so loving and honouring of his grandmother. St. Anne embodies the grandmother figure, having a respected place in Aboriginal societies and being pivotal within the preservation, teaching, and formation of ‘the culture.’ This icon is set within the dance, a culmination of this teaching with her grandson, who is so loving and honouring of his grandmother.
The dance is central to Indigenous culture and based upon honour, respect, joy, and the ‘learning from the elders’.
This dance setting has Ste. Anne and Christ are portrayed as the ‘Head Dancers.’ ‘Head Dancers are the designated female and male dancer, who are appointed to lead all the other dancers. This position is one of honor, with all other dancers offering the deserved respect. No other dancer will dance for any given set of songs until the head dancers commence.’… This symbolism is central for the icon, both within the actual cultural setting but also within the global community of Faith.
Pope Francis’s pilgrimage will lead him to Quebec, Canada, where he will go to the Shrine of St. Anne de Beaupré before concluding his pilgrimage by visiting the Inuit city of Iqaluit. This basilica shrine is also known as a place of healing, and thousands of Indigenous people in Canada have seen it every year. From coast to coast, the Pope will be praying for true healing and reconciliation under the protection of St. Anne.
Hopefully, with St. Anne and her grandson Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer, we are being led to a new era of reconciliation.
by Raju Hasmuk with files from Andre Prevost’s website https://www.andreprevost.com/)
