Indigenous youth and elders benefit from sharing traditional knowledge as well as learning from each other and from the power of ancestral lands. Building leadership capacity in youth for their future role as culture and tradition bearers includes preparing them to walk in two worlds while ensuring that they feel strong in their indigenous underpinnings and confident in engaging with other cultures without jeopardizing their cultural identity.
Gatherings
Cultural exchanges and visits to ancestral lands and contemporary indigenous communities provide authentic and unparalleled experiences that nourish the whole participant, taking into account the interests of native youth in cross-cultural immersion.
Sonialisa Esquibel © 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Food Sovereignty
As a result of prior cultural exchange gatherings in rural areas of the Yucatan, Mexico, the highlands of Guatemala, and the American Southwest, the youth took ownership of the need to raise awareness in our communities about the importance of preserving native seeds, traditional agricultural knowledge, and native food ways.
media training
Yakanal collaborates with experts in multimedia technologies to support youth participants in the creation of videos and other digital resources as tools to empower their indigenous voice. The youth work closely with their elders to share cultural information, following indigenous protocols for the benefit of their communities and to inform the public at large.
mother moon
The Moon is our constant and subtle companion, influencing us through the force of gravity and causing the tides of Earth’s waters. The women of Yakanal rescue and revitalize ancestral knowledge related to Mother Moon in the context of fertility, childbirth, medicinal plants, textiles, natural pigments, and sustainable agriculture. They work with elders so that their knowledge continues to benefit their communities and is passed on to future generations.
Water and the Abuela Luna project
Video desarrollado por Escuela Ki’kotemal de Quetzaltenango, Guatemala como parte del proyecto Madre Luna – Mother Moon.
Ha’ Agua Water Tz’itz is a video-poem—a poetic documentary—created by the Yakanal indigenous youth cultural exchange and The Cultural Conservancy. Water flows throughout our lives, connecting us in our diversity, and together we send ha’, agua, water, tz’itz our gratitude, praise, apologies, and prayers. With these images, sounds, words and feelings we hope to connect ourselves more deeply to each other and to the indigeneity that roots us all in our lands by drawing from, and giving back to, the flow that connects us all. Ha’ Agua Water Tz’itz es un vídeo poesía—un documental poético—creado por el Intercambio cultural de jóvenes indígenas de las Américas Yakanal y The Cultural Conservancy. El agua fluye por nuestras vidas conectándonos en nuestra diversidad. Juntos, enviamos al agua, ha’, water, tz’itz nuestra gratitud, alabo, disculpas y oraciones. A través de estas imágenes, sonidos, palabras y sentimientos, esperamos que podamos conectarnos más profundamente unos con otros y con las raíces autóctonas que nos asienta en nuestras tierras, tomando y devolviendo todo lo que fluye y nos une.