JOSÉ ESCUDERO RAMOS
MADRID, 11 NOVEMBER 2018
(original web text IMO Magazine)
Thursday 1 November we were able to attend Expotural, the Nature Fair, Climate and Sustainable Tourism that took place at IFEMA between the 1 al 4.
I have to say that when you let it flow, life gives you precious moments, magical, that we can even see them as authentic miracles.
I didn't know about the Expotural fair, It was just the weekend before at another fair, a Marbella, to which they invited me at the last minute, how I met her through Edtih, my new friend and kindred spirit. I tried to accredit myself as press but when I tried they had already closed the registration period, Luckily Edith got me two invitations.
We arrive at the appointed time and go directly to the place inside the pavilion 6 where the water blessing ceremony will be held for which they have brought indigenous people from 16 different ethnicities from the five continents, who along with a couple of dozen Buddhist monks and lamas, They had a beautiful blessing ceremony. Lama Thubten Wangchen leads the blessing., director of the House of Tibet and active parliamentarian of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile.
We stand as close as we can to the table that will serve as the ceremonial altar., a little far, separated by several rows of seats for both the indigenous people and some special guests. We stand for a while waiting for the procession to arrive, presided over by the strident sounds of Tibetan trumpets..
While we wait I observe the situation and put a little thought. ¿How is it possible that they do a water blessing ceremony to raise awareness of the environmental problem?, bringing in means of transportation that contaminate so many people? I see there are people in suits, possibly invited by the brands that sponsor the event, separated by safety ropes to differentiate the VIPS from the rest of the town. The ceremony begins and they talk about how we are all one, We are all water and very spiritual phrases that do not fit with the separation and division of people into zones and the pressure exerted by the security service to try to prevent us from setting foot beyond a line.
Presenters say speeches that silence people, Yes, most of the guests, whether they are vips or not, and even some monk or indigenous, They spend their time recording or doing directs” with their cell phones, living a reality through a digital screen. All very curious and to meditate.
Presentations of all indigenous people begin, and that's when the magic begins. Ethnicity is ethnicity, They go up to the altar to leave a little of the love of the people who come together for a cause, That's when my mind stops judging and understands the ritual and the sacrifice.. They don't do this by sending a message into the air., they do this for me, so that I can feel and tell it, so that my mind travels to every corner of the planet and feels that water run through my veins. I transcend and see myself collecting the water from that river, that ocean or that sea. I feel that love of the indigenous that, once again it is visible, that has a body, that has a voice. I feel the water mixing in the vessel donated by the Dalai Lama especially for this day…and I don't care if the character is his holiness, Is he a hermit or an executive?, because today we are water, we are One, We are Mother Earth.
They go through the altar to empty their bottles, the containers, indigenous people of the Masai tribes of Kenya, Mapuches of Chile, toucan from Brazil, Wanchu of Colombia, Sherpas of Nepal, Inca of Peru, Aboriginal people of Australia, Azeri from Iran, Wayú of Colombia, Hopi Indians of the United States; Tenganan in Bali, Xochimilca of Mexico, Boruca from Costa Rica, Greenland Inuit, Sami from Finland and Berber from Morocco.
They all deposited the water, part of us, in that precious container and to finish the ceremony the lama Thubten Wangchen blessed her with a spiritual song so full of energy that while listening to it, fire sprang from the palms of my hands.
Excited by the vividness, I understood that nothing is coincidental., I had to be there that day, at that time that's why they invited me to the Marbella fair the week before, being able to sleep on the beach, waking up at 5 in the morning with the beautiful sound of the waves in the background, cuddling my soul, preparing her for this ceremony. we are water, I should not judge other drops of water either by the color or the format of their bottles.… nor put mind, just let it flow like that water in the river flows of life…That oft-repeated river of life is what has brought us here and for that I am grateful..
After that beautiful experience, I tour pavilion six as if floating, I see stands of autonomous communities, sustainable tourism… The Aire Libre stand catches my attention where they offer the possibility of sponsoring a tree in what they call The Argán Forest. To do this you have to leave your information and they will plant a tree with your name in Morocco, as a symbol of sustainability and twinning between peoples. The trees, planting itself in its habitat, They create the link between nature and godfathers and godmothers. An idea that leaves strong roots of connection with nature.
We continue walking through the fair, We were able to talk with some of the indigenous people invited to the water blessing ceremony, a real opportunity to get to know geographically distant cultures but united through spirituality.
Since, years ago, We read an article that said the Hopi Indians were the happiest beings on the planet., They have caught our attention, So when we had the chance to talk to one of them, we didn't hesitate for a second and went to introduce ourselves.. We asked him and he told us that certainly in the past, when the natives were more rooted to Mother Earth, Yes, they were happier but what they call progress has distanced them from the spirituality that their ancestors had.. He told me that they live in Arizona, in a small town located at the top of a valley, this is where they cultivate the land. They perform ceremonies to their gods to thank the crops, the water, the earth. He has invited us to go see some of them. Ruben, that's what it's called, came with his son. At its stand it sells crafts and maracas with the colors of the four races of the planet., blancos, red, black and yellow and some drawings that symbolize the planet Earth and the water that unites us all. I wanted to buy one but it was a bit expensive..
I was also able to speak to Higinia, the representative of the Borucas of Costa Rica, belongs to the Culture Council that serves to strengthen the ancestral roots of the Borucas. He also belongs to the Indigenous Constitutional Court, There are only three indigenous courts in Costa Rica, They are governed first by their laws and then by those of the state. They are governed by love and respect for neighbors and colleagues.. Higinia is a woman very involved in her community and ensuring that the memory of her ancestors is not lost..
He told us that children are moving away from the essence of being because of electronic devices., just like what's happening here. It's a global problem, we are making children live parallel realities creating virtual lives while moving away from the here and now, but ¿How can they not do it if that's what they see from the elders??
The water is still pure in his village but not in the city. She remembers that she ran barefoot across the land and tells us that her ancestors lived 80 o 90 years, now they die of diseases at 40 years. As a child I ate fruits picked straight from the trees., They removed the shell that fell to the ground and served as fertilizer, Now children eat unhealthy and packed products, the packaging becomes trash. In Spain we can buy peeled mandarins packed with polluting materials, unnecessary packaging because nature provides the most sustainable packaging that exists. But something is going wrong. The feeding, pollution, stress. Higinia notices when she goes to the big city, to San José, can't live there, too much hurry. when you return home, when he crosses the Hill of Death, now find other energies, purer, more connected with nature and that is what it asks for, May we reconnect with the essence of nature as the ancestors did. We have to take care of our house he tells us. And he gives us some advice: let's walk barefoot, let's play with the games from before, that we have more human contact, let's play in the “ravine”, the river that runs through the town, now it is much smaller than before and that we take care of our ancestors, of our elders. The Baruca live in the mountains 1.500 meters above sea level. Their ancestors went to the sea to collect what they needed to eat or to create natural medicines or dyes for fabrics. Despite being from the mountains, they know well the nature that heals, both sea and mountain.
To finish, he told us some words that he remembers from his grandfather. ¿Why hunt so much if with one animal you eat many? Every time they hunted they asked permission from the Guardians of the mountains and treated the animals with all respect., They did not want the food to be wasted so they shared it with people who do not have the opportunity to go hunting., like the elderly, pregnant women or mothers.
William Njapito Kumum, the young Masai of Kenya, offered us a discount on their Photo Safari Tourism Resort if I mentioned it in the article, so you can now browse his website www.kandilicamp.com and plan your next safari with him and I don't mention it because of the discount, is that during the conversation we had he seemed to me to be a being who has a lot to contribute. I told him I could mention his resort but I don't need his discount because I don't think I can go to Kenya. Then he told me “Visualize that you are there.”. Visualize because your mind creates realities, It is how I have been able to come to Spain”. A whole speech from the authors of self-help books, but said straight from the heart of Africa. He also told me that they live loving nature and are very connected with it..
We also spoke to Foojan, the Azeri woman whose eyes were like Black Sea pearls, The shine they have reveals a spiritual woman. I asked about how spirituality is lived in Iran and he told me that it is very secretive because they are afraid to express their ideas and they are losing that spiritual side.. I remembered a pacifist movement that was created about six years ago, Israel loves Iran, She didn't know him and she got excited when I showed her the reactions to the message from an Israeli who recorded a video saying a message of love Israel loves Iran and which was returned by an Iranian Iran loves Israel, and then Israel Loves Palestinians arrived in an anti-politician campaign that wants to generate hatred but in truth, The upright citizen wants to live in peace and be able to love. When I showed him these messages I could see how his eyes became moist..
Nathan Patterson is an Aboriginal Australian, I saw him while he was painting a type of very colorful mandalas, a selection of them decorate some calendars that he sold in one afternoon. You can see his art at www.ilukadesigns.com.au.
We talk to Koyott, Xochimilco indigenous, tells us that the indigenous people “are Mother Nations of Mexico and the lands of being, we didn't make sacrifices, “That is an urban legend to discredit our civilizations.”. We are 9 millions of Nahual speakers in Mexico. It's time to rebuild everything beautiful we have, “Permaculture is a way of building our houses sustainably”. In short, it is growing in the present, recovering the best of our ancestors to build a great future.. We have agreed with Koyott to organize a meditation for peace at the same time in Mexico and Madrid. A meditation on responsibility and gratitude to twin Spain with Latin America, being aware that it is not necessary to talk about hatred or forgiveness, there is a responsibility that everything our ancestors have done, whether good or bad, It has served so that Koyott and we can be talking at this moment thanks to everything we experienced previously. Gratitude meditation and responsibility for our past lives, our ancestors and us. We are what we are now, thanks to all the history of humanity. We will meditate on the right day and organize it.
To finish, we talk to Angelica, Wayuu indigenous people of Colombia. They live in the province of La Guajira, over the Caribbean Sea, near Venezuela. Angelica brought bags, very typical dresses from their area and other crafts at a very good price, its paraeta was full of color. He told us that the Wayuus live in a very extensive and very desert area., There used to be two rivers that supplied the villages with water, but a dam has been built and the flow of the rivers has reduced..
We were talking about the possibility of collaborating with a project to provide water to their towns.. We hope to do something beautiful for the environment, for the Wayuus and for humanity, well that's what it's about. Every good you do for your neighbor you do for all humanity and here, as said in the water blessing ceremony, we are all One, So what we do for the Wayuus, we do it for us.
As Hyginia said, even though we don't speak the same language, we understand each other perfectly because we don't speak with our minds, we understand each other with our hearts.
The energies experienced at this fair have been very special, We hope we can feel them forever.
we are water, let everything flow.
Thanks for doing so well.
