A message from one of our wise elders, Loius S. Bernier JR
Hello Friends and Neighbors,
The recent “The Last Powwow” has prompted deep reflection. If this gathering truly marks the end of a long-standing tradition, it is more than the loss of an event—it is a reminder of our shared responsibility to help preserve Indigenous culture, elder-guided wisdom, traditional ceremonies, ecological knowledge, and the bonds between generations.
We invite people and communities of all faiths and backgrounds to stand together in respectful support of Indigenous cultural continuity. Let us honor elders, encourage youth, support community-led gatherings, and build relationships rooted in respect, appreciation, and mutual learning.
The Creator’s world is enriched by diversity. True unity does not erase our differences—it protects and celebrates them. Just as a healthy forest thrives through many species, humanity flourishes through many nations, languages, songs, and sacred traditions.
May this moment become not a final farewell, but the beginning of renewed commitment and cooperation. Together, may we help preserve what is sacred, strengthen what is vulnerable, and honor the dignity and wisdom of Indigenous peoples for generations to come.
Please read the full Appeal below.
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Thank you,
Louis S. Bernier, Jr.
P.S. If this message resonates with you, please consider sharing it with your friends, family, and community networks.
An Appeal to All Communities:
In Support of Indigenous Tribal Continuity, Sacred Culture, and Universal Unity Dear Respected Elders, Community Leaders, Faith Representatives, Families, Friends, and All Well-Wishers,
With deep respect and sincere concern, we offer this appeal to all communities who value sacred culture, ancestral wisdom, spiritual continuity, and the dignity of every person under the shelter of the Supreme Lord.
The announcement that the recent celebration may mark “The Last Powwow” and the discontinuation of the Annual Gathering of the Tribes is not merely the end of an event. It is a solemn moment of reflection. It asks us to consider what is gradually being lost when spiritually inspired customs, Indigenous tribal gatherings, elder-guided
ceremonies, sacred songs, traditional arts, and intergenerational community bonds are
allowed to fade without collective response.
A culture is not preserved by memory alone. It is preserved by living practice, honored
participation, respectful transmission, and courageous cooperation.
The diversity of the Creator is not an accident. The many peoples, languages, songs, ceremonies, foods, garments, symbols, agricultural traditions, healing practices, and sacred remembrances of the world are not obstacles to unity. They are expressions
of a higher unity—varied, purposeful, and beautifully arranged within the Supreme Lord’s universal and variegated design.
Therefore, we appeal to all communities:
Let us not allow sacred cultures to disappear in silence.
Let every church, temple, mosque, synagogue, spiritual fellowship, rural cooperative,
intentional community, Indigenous council, permaculture village, and family-based
congregation consider how they may strengthen one another through respectful cultural
exchange, shared service, and compassionate understanding.
This is not a call for appropriation.
It is a call for appreciation.
This is not a call to erase distinctions.
It is a call to protect them within a higher unity.
This is not a call for one tradition to dominate another.
It is a call for all sincere traditions to stand together in reverence before the Supreme
Source of all life.
Indigenous tribal customs carry memory, discipline, beauty, ecological intelligence,
gratitude, ceremonial order, and sacred relationship with land, ancestors, community,
and Creator. When these customs weaken, the loss is not borne by one community alone. The whole human family becomes poorer.
In the same way that pollinators quietly sustain the flowering world, traditional cultures pollinate the human spirit with meaning, responsibility, reverence, and belonging. When these living traditions disappear, the soil of society becomes weakened. Families become more isolated. Youth lose guiding stories. Elders lose honored platforms.
Communities lose sacred rhythm.
We must therefore ask:
- Who will listen to the elders?
- Who will carry the songs forward?
- Who will welcome the children into meaningful identity?
- Who will honor the land as sacred trust rather than disposable resource?
- Who will stand beside Indigenous communities—not as spectators, but as respectful allies?
The time has come for renewed cooperation.
Let communities gather not merely for entertainment, but for mutual upliftment. Let
festivals become recommitment ceremonies. Let cultural exchange become spiritual education. Let shared meals, songs, dances, prayers, crafts, ecological projects, and service initiatives become bridges of trust. Let our congregations learn to recognize the Lord’s generous variety as a sacred invitation to unity, not division.
We therefore humbly propose that all communities of good faith consider the following
commitments:
To honor Indigenous elders and cultural keepers with attentive hearing and public
respect.
To support lawful, respectful, and community-approved gatherings that preserve
Indigenous customs, languages, music, crafts, ecological knowledge, and ceremonial
memory.
To encourage youth participation, sacred culture is not merely displayed but inherited.
To build alliances among spiritual communities, ecological communities, tribal
communities, and self-sufficient rural communities.
To create recurring spaces for cultural exchange, cooperative service, and shared
reverence for the Creator’s natural order.
To protect diversity without fragmentation, and to seek unity without forced uniformity.
The Supreme Lord’s creation teaches this lesson everywhere. A forest is not healthy because every tree is the same. A meadow is not beautiful because every flower has one color. A community is not strong because every person has one history. True unity is not sameness. True unity is harmony.
Let us therefore strengthen our spiritually aligned fortitude. Let us encourage our congregations, families, and community networks to stand together in defense of sacred continuity. Let us repair the fractures of modern isolation through communication, understanding, cooperation, and compassionate truth.
The end of one gathering should not become the end of a sacred relationship.
Rather, let this moment become a seed. Let “The Last Powwow” become not a closing of the door, but a call to conscience. Let it awaken all communities to ask how we may serve, support, preserve, and cooperate more deeply. Let it inspire a renewed movement of reverence for Indigenous peoples, for ancestral wisdom, for land-based spirituality, and for the Supreme Lord’s magnanimous variety throughout creation.
With humility, respect, and hopeful determination, we appeal to all communities:
- Stand together.
- Listen deeply.
- Honor sincerely.
- Cooperate compassionately.
- Protect sacred culture.
- And recognize, within all genuine diversity, the Lord’s universal unity.
- May all communities be respected.
- May all elders be honored.
- May all children inherit living wisdom.
- May all cultures rooted in truth, reverence, and service flourish.
And may the Supreme Lord guide us from fragmentation toward sacred cooperation.
With sincere concern and respectful appeal,
Louis S. Bernier, Jr.
Harmony Permaculture Network
New Talavana Dhama Community, MS-USA
(Langaganesa dasa – ACBSP-1974)
In service to cultural continuity, sacred ecology, and cooperative spiritual unity.