Sacred fire burns bright throughout hearings
Elder Sherry Copenance says it is a ‘spiritual doorway’ that will remain until the end
A sacred fire burns brightly inside the white tent where the inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls is holding its hearings in Whitehorse.
The fire, no bigger than the size of a dinner plate, was lit before sunrise Monday by an Indigenous firekeeper and will burn until the hearings are over.
There are many teachings to be found within that fire, explains Elder Sherry Copenance, who is travelling with the inquiry.
“I will share them and what I have been told is all teachings are true and for me, I must respect the ones I hear . . . the fire is one of the ways we start a ceremony or any sacred event. It is a spiritual doorway that opens to a spiritual realm so we can communicate and have relations through the fire,” she said.
“It is also used for our ancestors, the ones who have gone on before us, so we can put tobacco in the fire and acknowledge our ancestors,” she said.
Only sacred items or food is put into the fire. “We are very strict about how the fire is treated,” she said, adding items can be tobacco, sage, cedar and food for ancestors to honour and feast with them.
Fire also brings people together. “We are able to gather around it and celebrate. Why we are here on Earth? It is also used for birthing ceremonies and it is used when we go back to the spiritual world.”
There are tobacco ties (little pouches) all connected sitting around the inquiry’s fire. The pouches are either blue or white and they represent life or creation and the murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.
If people want to make an offering, they are asked to put a pouch of each colour into the fire, Copenance explained.
The sacred fire is never left alone. It will be watched as long as the inquiry sits. And when it is time to leave the Yukon, the fire will be allowed to go out naturally.