Huajatolla Heritage Foundation

David Behrens & Celinda Reynolds Kaelin

Hujatolla Heritage Festival, Update

Will be joining us at this year’s festival.

Celinda Reynolds Kaelin is a poet, author, lecturer, and ethnohistorian who is privileged to work and study with indigenous Elders and spiritual leaders from over seventy First Nations.

Celinda is a Cherokee grandmother who has dedicated her life to the healing of the Sacred Hoop, and follows the Lakota spiritual traditions as a Pipe Carrier and a Sun Dancer. She has completed fifteen Sun Dances with the Lakota. She is proud to be an adopted member of both the Lakota Nation and the Ute Nation.


Celinda Reynolds Kaelin

She is a member of the World Council of Elders, and has traveled extensively with these traditional spiritual Elders, performing Earth healing ceremonies in North and South America. Kaelin is adjunct professor at Colorado College, and is the author of six books, including, Journey Song: A spiritual Legacy of the American Indian (Four Directions, 1998), Pikes Peak Backcountry (Caxton, 1999), American Indians of the Pikes Peak Region (Arcadia, 2008), and Ute Legends (Caxton, 2017). 

Neither Wolf Nor Dog

Kent Nerburn

Huajatolla Heritage Foundation is very pleased to have this important movie come to our area. It follows the book very closely and carries the same significant impact in the helping to improve understanding of many Native American issues.


Playing at the Fox Theater in Walsenburg, Colorado
April 8th & April 25th

It is particularly timely as HHF is hosting Kent Nerburn right here in Huerfano County September 14th and 15th. It is very exciting to have this impactful artist and author come to our area. Representatives from HHF will be present at both showings to answer questions you may have about the upcoming workshop.

Kent Nerburn

The Beautiful Full Moon

Update

The worm moon in Native American tradition—occurring no less on Spring Equinox, colors the world with feelings of hope and change.  After last years horrific fires all our moisture is welcomed, but winter weary bones are really appreciating the spring like sunshine.  There is a hill that you come down into the village of La Veta.  It is fascinating around equinox time, both spring and fall, as the flora changes so rapidly it is almost like seeing time lapse photography in real time.  The changes occur so rapidly with the grass greening up, the fields become peppered with little black calves and the tree buds start to swell.  It is a welcome sight!

There also were many good things that were happening behind the scenes with Huajatolla Heritage Foundation.  The Festival is continuing to shape up to be an extraordinary event.  Our second major event for the summer started taking definitive shape with the confirmation by the amazing author, Kent Nerburn (Neither Wolf nor Dog and many more) that he will facilitate a workshop September 14 and 15.  He has suggested a preliminary title for the seminar/workshop/event “The Mindful Eye:  Looking at the World as a Work of Art.”.  We are working on many details, but registration information will be posted here as soon as available. Visit his site at
https://kentnerburn.com/

Kent Nerburn

The other exciting happening is our partnering with the Sangre de Cristo Center for Youth to offer both classes in art and dance.  Sharona Whitley will be offering art classes that explore cultural connections. Ashely Vandergriff will be offering a 10-week hip-hop dance class open to any youth in Huerfano County between 8-18.  Both of these classes will be offered for free thanks to our generous Art in Society grant. For more information on Sangre de Cristo Center for Youth you can find them at
https://sccy4youth.org/