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Hamilton Spectator
06-06-2025
- General
- Hamilton Spectator
Good things grow at the Gardens
Planting Day at Gardens of Hope this year was heavier on the weeding than the planting, but after a hard day's work, and more that followed, the land is once again prepared to serve as a source of inspiration – and nourishment – to the community. 'It's the most beautiful gift,' said Gardens of Hope founder Karyn Wahsontiiostha Murray. 'To see it come alive after the dormancy of winter and waiting for spring to pass and all the bugs to come back and hatch, and then you just see people at work in there, it's the first beat of hope of the season. I'm so excited to see whatever's going to come.' Around 40 people came out for Saturday's event, which began with a consecration to the land and was capped off with a barbecue. While there were some community members on hand, Murray focused on rallying the garden's partners to avoid burdening the community. 'My aim for Gardens of Hope is never to take from the community, it's to give to them,' said Murray. 'If people want to come because they want to enjoy nature or be part of it or because it's good for them too, they're welcome to come, but never do I want people from Kanesatake to have to work there to gain anything.' For those who attended on Saturday, the hard work didn't dampen the mood. The clouds were floating overhead, the breeze carried the sound of laughter, and, in Murray's words, the trees sounded like they were just listening. 'There was a moment where I showed up with a few more plants, and just seeing all these people having a great time and just working together, it really warmed my heart to see the project, the way I have the model set up, works,' she said. One of the nonprofit's partners is the Christian organization InterVarsity in Quebec, which brought six students to spend nine days visiting the community and camping at Oka Park. They've spent roughly half of their time pitching in at Gardens of Hope. Aware of her own church's role in establishing and operating residential schools, and having grown up as a settler on Akwesasne territory, Foster saw a need to familiarize students with Indigenous realities. 'When I came to work with students, I was aware that students, especially Christian students, did not understand the role of the church in colonization and Christianization, nor was there any effort among Christian students to make amends for that or to make that right or even to learn. That was the genesis of this camp,' said Jill Foster, a campus minister based at Concordia University with the organization. The camp is also inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. 'One of the calls to action we're trying to fulfill, apart from the learning, is to contribute financially and in-kind to a healing project that is community initiated, community led, and community directed,' she said. Alongside connecting with community members who show the students around the community and teach them about Kanesatake culture and history, the group has laboured at the Gardens of Hope. 'Every time for some reason we end up with students who are so open and have hearts that are good and understand what's happening,' Foster said, noting the students' desire to be of service to the community and their joy in connecting with the land. 'It's been a great experience,' said Rebecca Estimé, a student from Haiti who will be attending Concordia in the fall and is participating in the camp for a second time – it's InterVarsity in Quebec's fourth year bringing students to Kanesatake. 'Seeing the garden as a pillar of hope and just giving back to the community is something I personally believe, that I like to practice a lot in my everyday life,' Estimé said. 'Seeing that on a big scale in this garden, just harvesting everything not just for somebody's profit but for everybody's profit is something I hold dear in my heart, and I would just like everybody to see that and be able to take part in this work that is being done in the Gardens of Hope.' To Murray, this is all in the spirit of what she is trying to accomplish with the nonprofit project, which she founded shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic. She continues to find ways to contribute to the community, whether through providing plants for local students' fundraising efforts, as she did recently, or holding no-cost markets to feed Kanehsata'kehró:non. 'I'm just grateful that I get to steward the land and that people can benefit from it,' Murray said. 'That's the gift of multiplication. That's the gift of preservation.' Some of her goals for the year include setting up a food forest in the middle of the field, where fruit trees will be introduced. 'People can just go and pick their pears right next to their apples and their blueberries,' Murray said. This year the community can expect different types of corn, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, and ancestral beans. Murray also wants to learn more about the practice of seed-saving. Besides her own plans, she is pleased to see other agricultural projects flourish in the community, such as the community gardens at the Kanesatake Health Center farm, which was also set to have a planting day at the same time, but which was postponed to tomorrow, Saturday. 'We're all in with the same aim – sustainability, sovereignty,' said Murray. 'I really think it's going to help us in the future Those kids are all going to grow up re-learning all these basics that it seems in the last 40 years have just sort of vanished.' marcus@ Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. 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Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Archaeolgists Find Treasure at Ancient Pagan Cult Site
Archaeologists recently stumbled across a medieval pagan cult site in the Netherlands where they found a bounty of treasure. The findings were published in the journal Medieval to the article, gold and silver coins located with metal detectors in the town of Hezingen 'prompted archaeological excavations that have brought to light the remains of a 7th-century open-air cult site possibly connected with immigrants.' Hezingen was erected within a massive circular structure with wooden posts surrounding a peculiarly designed building which experts hypothesize to be the home of an elite leader, known as a Herrenhof. At the site, researchers found gold coins and jewelry which they believe were 'deposited there at regular intervals over a period of about 100 years.' A phosphate analysis revealed that animals were very likely sacrificed on the land before the area was abandoned around 700 A.D., which was 'at least half a century earlier than the formal Christianization of the area."Because paganism was not a monolithic religion, meaning there was not one specific god or deity worshipped by believers, and practices varied by location and over time, this recent discovery presents a remarkably rare insight into the regional cultist rituals which predated the birth of Christianity in northern Europe. The presence of the gold and silver coins would indicate that the site was used by cultural elites, as lower-status citizens would not have access to such treasure. But despite the cultish and ritualistic nature of the area, scientists say there is nothing to indicate which specific gods were worshipped at Henzigen or that any supernatural forces were summoned. "I think that this cult site was mainly used by local elites to emphasize their own status, and of course, you do that pre-eminently with valuables,' lead author Jan-Willem de Kort, an archaeologist from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, told 'The finds at the other cult sites are probably more the result of personal offerings and thus less precious."Kort continued: "The research was also born out of necessity, as the site was threatened by nature [sic] development. This would involve removing the topsoil to encourage the original vegetation to come back." Experts believe that ritualistic ceremonies were conducted at Hezingen in an attempt to please the gods and ensure strong harvests for the forthcoming year. 'The gods that may have been worshipped in Hezingen can be learned from a Saxon baptismal promise, handed down in a 9th-century codex,' the authors explained. 'This vow mentions the gods UUôden (Wodan), Thunær (Donar), and Saxnōte (Saxnot), who the reader of the promise must renounce.'
