Indigenous Peoples Day event at Meadows Center on Sunday

On Sept. 8, 2018 the City of San Marcos made history by proclaiming the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day, celebrating the Native American culture that has been part of this city for 13,000 years.  On Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., San Marcos will celebrate its second annual Indigenous Peoples Day at the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, on the shores of the sacred springs of Spring Lake.  The event is co-hosted by the Meadows Center and local nonprofit Indigenous Cultures Institute founded by the Miakan-Garza Band, a state-legislature-recognized tribe of Texas.

“We’re inviting all communities to celebrate our Native culture at this sacred site,” Indigenous Cultures Institute Board of Elders Chair Dr. Mario Garza said. “Our indigenous people are part of the greater community of humankind that will come together to save our Mother Earth from the imminent threats to our future.”

The event will begin at 10 a.m. with a blessing by the shores of the San Marcos River headwaters, an area considered sacred by some Coahuiltecan people who believe this to be their origination site. After the blessing, the public and all participants are invited to share breakfast and then take a free tour on the glass bottom boats to experience the sacred springs.

In the outdoor space in front of the Meadows Center, there will be several indigenous arts booths that will provide a preview of their work featured on the following weekend at the Sacred Springs Powwow, Oct 19-20.  The event will also feature several environmental activities for children including the popular mud ball making booth.  Children can combine seeds into a mud ball that can then be taken home and planted for a beautiful array of flowers.  Food will be available through the Hispanic Business Student Association and Sigma Lambda Beta from Texas State University.

The Indigenous Arts Summer Encounter students will perform danza at 11:30 a.m.  The Aztec dancers from the Kalpulli Ayolopakzin in San Antonio will perform at 12 p.m. and there will also be a guest performance by Matthew Davila on his sacred drum. 

At 2 p.m., the film L’eau est la Vie (Water is Life): From Standing Rock to the Swamp will be screened in the Meadows conference room.  The film follows water protector Cherri Foytlin as she leads viewers on a no nonsense journey of Indigenous resistance to the Bayou Bridge Pipeline (BBP) in the swamps of Louisiana. Several principals of the film will be in attendance for an audience talk-back. The screening was made possible through collaboration with the San Marcos Cinema Club and their Lost River Film Fest scheduled for Oct. 17-20.

This celebration has been a long time coming, according to the Institute.

“In 2018 the City Council’s resolution happened so quickly and unexpectedly that we had a very short time to plan our first celebration,” said Maria Rocha, executive director of Indigenous Cultures Institute, the nonprofit that has spearheaded the new-holiday effort. “Nikkye Vargas had been working on this for three years; and in 2018 our niece Isabel Mata joined her team to conduct research, work on an action plan, send emails to the Council, and set a meeting with the mayor. They were ultimately successful.”

The Institute plans to continue this annual event in cooperation with the Meadows Center, San Marcos Cinema Club, and other groups and organizations. For more information visit www.IndigenousCultures.org.