The Offering Procession
4 - 5pm, Saturday 4 March, 2023
Ceremony is a vehicle for belonging – to a family, to a people, and to the land.In commemoration of the 2022 flood events, we invite you to join the community in a procession through the CBD, down Keen and Magellan Streets, to honour the river. Sunflowers will be available for the community, and at the river’s edge we will create an altar as an intentional offering to the river. The concept of a gift goes back to earliest human rituals when offerings were made to deities in return for rain, sunshine, growth, protection, and fertility. When willingly offered, gifts are said to come back threefold. The community are encouraged to add their own biodegradable gifts to the altar, as a meaningful act of healing, belonging, and appreciation. Take a moment to acknowledge the river as an entity, and consider its value to our ecosystem and all living beings.
Uncle Gilbert will perform at Smoking, and Bundjalung woman Ella Noah Bancroft will speak about the intention of an offering and the significance of the river to the local area.
Meeting point: the stage on Keen street. Altar: on the riverbank below the Transit Centre.
Ella Noah Bancroft is a proud Bundjalung woman and has bloodlines to England, Poland and Scotland. Indigenous born artist, published author, mentor, consultant, she is an experienced speaker and facilitator advocating for the environment, social justice and system change. Ella was a key volunteer at the Koorimail flood hub in 2022. She is the founder and director of The Returning Indigenous Corporation, an Indigenous charity that brings health and wellness through a nature based approach and connection back to country led by Indigenous facilitators. Ella believes that by bringing communities of people to reconnect back with wisdom, each other and the land can solve a lot of the root causes of our current social and environmental crises. She has been on the board for Women Up North since 2019. Women Up North is a Northern NSW service for women, children and young people who have experienced domestic or family violence or abuse. Ella is an active member of her community.
Quote by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass.
This event is generously supported by Lismore City Council.
Photographs by Linsey Gosper.
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