Save the Date! Indigenous Wisdom Summit & Four Directions Ride

SAVE THE DATE!

June 23 - 26, 2023 in beautiful Eagle, Colorado!

We hope you'll join us next year at our Tipi Village in Eagle, CO for the 2023 Indigenous Wisdom Summit & Four Directions Ride! Come to welcome the Riders with a drum ceremony as they arrive from the Four Directions and stay for cultural presentations and intimate dialogues across cultures!

Ancient civilizations around the world have long held the Four Directions sacred. An Earth-based belief system that has provided guidance and protection, the Four Directions has been known to represent the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical aspects of human life as well as the developmental life stages, the four seasons and the elements of nature. In Indigenous cultures across the globe, the Four Directions are still regarded as sacred and incorporated into prayer, ceremony and way of life.

Tribal members and honorary riders (by invitation only) will ride in from the four cardinal directions on Friday evening, June 23rd, followed by a Tipi Raising ceremony. The remainder of the weekend will include a parade, Indigenous art and craft vendors, food and presentations.

The public is invited to greet the riders and stay all weekend for this free event!

More details will be shared as they are available. Please stay tuned on this page or sign up for our newsletter!

Why is an Indigenous Wisdom Summit important?

"I realized how important it is to spend more time with my grandparents; to listen to their stories and ask them questions. That is my biggest takeaway from the experience" - Gen7 Youth

Indigenous wisdom from all corners of the earth teaches us about the significance of the Four Directions, the power of the circle, that the horse is sacred, that water is life, that respecting and learning from ones elders is a sacred duty and that we must tend to the land today so that those who will live on it in seven generations will have a beautiful and thriving Unci Maka (Grandmother Earth).

WE BELIEVE that modern society as a whole desperately needs exposure to these Indigenous lessons, values and ways of life if there is to be healing as a People and a planet. As such, we strive to integrate the teachings from Indigenous wisdom into all of our programs and ways of operating. This annual event is intended to instruct and inform healing through honoring the Indigenous wisdom from the various Native communities that we work with - in all directions.

We invite you to join the Tipi Raiser's community and our Gen7 youth, as we welcome the Riders each day and to join the festivities. These are great opportunities to join in community, engage in meaningful dialogue and re-learn the ancient wisdom that our ancestors held and is deep inside us all. When Native and non-Native people come together in this way, opportunities emerge to understand each other's culture, engage in genuine dialogue and create lasting friendships.

In alignment with the Indigenous wisdom of reciprocity and gift economies, all Tipi Raiser's events and programs are FREE. We believe that those who join us on our mission receive the gift that is inherent in that experience and that they will give back to the best of their ability - in this way, we can all stay in balance. "When a society loses the sacred - when everything has a monetary value, the commoditization of human life cannibalizes itself." Basil Brave Heart

It is through grants and donations that we are able to subsidize all Tipi Raiser's programs, including the Summit & Ride.

More about the Indigenous Wisdom Summit & Four Directions Ride:

Guests are invited free of charge to all events and presentations (donations are deeply appreciated)!
Tipi Raisers covers stipends, transportation and all expenses for the approved Tribal members who join us.
Volunteers are invited to join us at our Tipi Village for the entirety of the event - or for whatever their schedules allow.

Indigenous Wisdom Summit and Four Directions Ride Donations

The Evolution of the Indigenous Wisdom Summit and Four Directions Ride:
The inaugural Indigenous Wisdom Summit/Four Directions Ride made its debut in 2022. The LakotaRide (which has been retired for practical and philosophical reasons, explained below) was the predecessor to this event.

The LakotaRide began in Breckenridge, Colorado in 2014 with just two riders going up and over the 14,000 foot Continental Divide and ending in Boulder a week later. It was initially conceived of in order to bring awareness and raise funds to bring building materials salvaged from the original Breckenridge Nordic Lodge to address substandard housing issues on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

For the five years following this epic launch of the LakotaRide, it gained momentum, riders, supporters and miles and became our signature event! Each of those five years, the LakotaRide moved across the heavily populated front range of Colorado and crossed over into the wide open spaces of Wyoming and Nebraska before ending, twenty two days and over 400 miles later, on Pine Ridge. The friendships forged, selfless generosity exhibited and depth of community established on these LakotaRides will forever be a gift in the lives of those involved.

In 2020 we commemorated the previous rides and riders through our virtual event- The Spirit of the LakotaRide. Both 2020 and 2021 Rides were cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

In those years, we have had time to look back and to look forward. As the small nonprofit has developed, we now envision an evolved signature event with lessons learned from past LakotaRides.

Practically speaking, we know what goes into these multi-state, multi-week rides and quite simply, our Ride team is not getting any younger. The sheer miles on horseback and the physicality involved to execute an event such as this takes a tremendous toll over time.

And from a philosophical standpoint, we have been approached more and more from other Tribes in the region - all of whom we're eager to partner with. And we understand that they, like the Lakota, have a rich culture and history that we can all learn from. Thus, the Indigenous Wisdom Summit with the ceremonial Four Directions Ride was born!