Hello friends, Happy New Year! Here’s hoping for a better 2022 for you and your family. Enter this new year with a gratitude for this new chance to create your dreams.
Among a full slate, this year I will focus on my historical fiction novel “ECHOES AT EHKOLA”. For a synopsis click here. Books – Keith Canedo
One of my goals this year is to complete and publish by the end of the year (I know, pretty ambitious). Below is a first draft excerpt.
CHAPTER ONE – Forsaken
The winter of 1839 was hard. The frozen winds howled like packs of hungry wolves. Harsh ice flurries felt like hundreds of tiny needles penetrating his face and uncovered parts of his body. Screaming in anguish, he raised his arms in defiance at the bitter blizzard sky, ahh gatono tsawonesuga aniyvwiya, gatono tsawonesuga aniyvwiya, why have you forgotten your people? Falling to his knees and clutching his empty stomach, the tears from his face froze before they hit the ground. Resigned, he slowly sat down, crossed legged and placed his face to rest in his ice-covered hands. In his mind he could hear the faint rhythmic music of the flutes, drums and rattles while dancing around the big hot fire in a happier time, but that vision brought little actual comfort. Feeling conquered was foreign to him, finally facing with an opponent he was powerless to fight.
He always trusted in the tribal ways and traditions handed down from son to son. Their sacred hoop had always guided the journey of his people through the natural sequences of their lives. His belief was that although the mystical forces of nature at times could be difficult, they must always be honored. Giving thanks to Father Sky, Mother Earth and Spirit Tree as they cast out their benevolence in the four directions bestowing happiness and health was a path he devotedly followed throughout his lifetime. And despite challenges met on their journey, to always honor life’s voices and abundance. He also understood that existence upon this precious land, carved by nature and sculpted by the hand of the Great Spirit Above, came in cycles.
He knew nothing of the of the rotation of the planet. But knew when nvda would rise early and move high across the sky, radiating its heat and nourishment, revealing the time to plant. Followed by a cooler time when it was lower in the sky. Signaling the time to harvest and hunt, to collect and store sustenance for the cold and frozen times. Followed by the miracle time when the land would awaken from its slumber, fresh and renewed when the green would return and the waters and animals would run freely again. As reliable as the stages of nature, so were the cycles that guided the times of the people’s existence upon the land and respecting that they were not alone. It was instilled that everything around him had a spirit. The grass, the flowers, the water, the hills, mountains and sky. And it was the responsibility of the people to live in harmony with all of the spirits.
If done so with honor and respect, their existence would be rewarded. And above all, to remember that in the cycle of the sacred hoop, as in life, there is also beauty in death.