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[4]By Alana Pickrell [5]
PETERBOROUGH – The Trent University Native Association [6] and Trent Central Student Association [7] are holding an all-day ceremony in honour of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls on Wednesday.
Gzowski College [8] opened its doors to both students and community members, inviting everyone to take part. The event is part of the annual Sisters in Spirit gathering, [9] which takes places every Oct. 4 across Canada.
At Trent, the event took place on the ground floor of Gzowski College, where there was a craft circle and memorial museum, and the Faryon Bridge, [10] where a candlelight vigil was to take place Wednesday evening.
[11]Barbara Mantiowabi teaching how to make prayer bundles at the Trent gathering space. Photo by Alana Pickrell, QNet News
At the craft circle, volunteer Barbara Mantiowabi was showing participants how to makes prayer bundles – personal healing kits that hold pieces of cloth containing tobacco, cedar, sweetgrass and sage wrapped with seven matches, as well as a turtle symbol to represent the connection to Mother Earth, a shell, a feather, fresh cedar, purple sparkles to represent magic and a rose petal representing Mantiowabi’s connection to her mother.
“These things have really saved my life,” she said. “When I couldn’t handle the things in my life, I would put my head down and I would craft.”
QNet News is on the scene all day.