Liturgy From Bogota

I am in Bogota accompanying the last stage of a long march of the indigenous peoples of Colombia. The mobilization of Colombia's indigenous peoples started on October 10, just before I arrived. A few days after I got here, it made national headlines because Colombian police opened fire on the marchers. As of today, they have reported 130 injuries and 3 deaths among the marchers.

After that happened, I heard national television reports quoting the president of Colombia saying that the indigenous were being manipulated by the guerrilla and are terrorists. The march began in the Cauca region of Colombia, home to many of its indigenous peoples. After being fired on, the group decided to take their concerns to a national audience, and began marching from Cauca, through Colombia, ending in Bogota this week.

As I understand it, Colombia's indigenous have a similar situation to those in the US. Most of them were murdered by European settlers. Those that remained are living on their ancestral lands under agreements with the government that they will have sovereignty. Apparently the government is trying to take away those rights. In addition, the government is nationalizing sources of water, which has led to contamination from multinational companies exploiting natural resources.

One of the things I hear them talk the most about is preserving the quality of their waters, a resource that belongs to all. The march began yesterday with a water ritual. There were two presiders, a man and a woman, both high-level national indigenous leaders. They began with what amounted to a sprinkling rite, meaning that everyone in the circle was sprayed with a little water. Then elders from several of the communities present performed water rituals from their own traditions. The presiders talked about the importance of water as a source of life and as foundational to their traditional way of life. As such, there is a need to preserve the waters and keep them from being contaminated.

I was thinking about the importance of water in Catholic ritual as well, and that water is one of those symbols that crosses cultural boundaries. Although Catholics might talk about it differently, at the root of our water rituals is the understandingthat water is the source of life. Wouldn't it be awesome if during our own sprinkling rites, or at baptisms, presiders talked about it in those terms, and made the connection between water and environmental integrity?

I was also thinking that the ritual that started the march is something that Catholics can also identify with: the importance of ritual as foundational to all our actions. And I was thinking that the this particular ritual was a good example of how to honor all traditions without taking anything away from any of them. And I was thinking that so often Catholics go to "mission" lands and try to force Catholic rituals on people who already have their own very meaningful rituals. And I was thinking that it would be great if the Catholic Mass could be "inculturated" by indigenous water rituals so that we could appreciate in the same way the need to honor water as the source of life. And I was thinking what a great witness it was to have a man and a woman presiding together.