The Grandmothers are getting ready to travel to New York next month to celebrate the Grandmothers Wisdom book launch and then we will travel to upstate New York for a historical event at Menla, LIFT THE EARTH, where we will be joined by other spiritual leaders.
Are you being called to action to support Mother Earth and world peace? Many have requested guidance on how to respond to the chaotic state of the world. Join us in traditional dialogue, ceremonies and circles, and participate in indigenous wisdom on these topics.
In love and peace,
Grandmother Mona Polacca
Book Launch
September 18, 2019
Tibet House US, New York, NY
Our much-anticipated book promises to be a ground-breaking portrayal of traditional spiritual women in history and will be an inspiration for all. These stories are ageless wisdom of earth-based cultures that can benefit all people in today’s climate of disconnection.
Please join the Grandmothers and special guests in New York City for the book launch of Grandmothers Wisdom: Reverence for All Creation.
Tickets are selling fast!
September 18, 2019
4:00 – 7:30 pm
Tibet House
22 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011
Join the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, Dr. Henrietta Mann, Nena Thurman and other special guests for the book launch of“Grandmothers Wisdom: Reverence for All Creation”.
The Earth is our loving grandmother. For all time, Cheyenne storytellers, generation after generation, have repeated this belief with both their minds and their hearts. As they say, The Great One, Everywhere Spirit, created the universe and all life with power so vast it defies human imagination. Entirely with the force of thought, the four powerful spirit beings came into existence to witness creation and to eventually safeguard and shelter all life, especially human beings. Next came the water of life, the fire and light of the sun, the infinite sky air, and compassionate Earth. The Great One, Everywhere Spirit, contemplated creation and thought the Earth to be the most beautiful of all, then declared that the Earth be known as our grandmother.
Grandmother Earth is also, more commonly, referred to as Mother Earth. Indeed, she is first woman, first mother, first teacher, oldest mother, and oldest grandmother. The Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers whose magnificent lives are encapsulated in the work of this book represent Earth’s titanic spirit, power, beauty, and love. Individually and collectively, they are rooted in the Earth and carry her wisdom as a perpetual trust. They are committed to sustaining their Earth home and to educating and defending the hearts of all the world’s children.
Please join us in celebrating the manifestation of “Grandmothers Wisdom: Reverence for All Creation”, life and the continuation of this movement of peace, spiritual activism, honoring Mother Earth and future generations.
Seating is first-come, first-served.
Reception and book signing to follow. To join the signing line, we ask that you please purchase a copy of the book available at the event.
Youth Champions for Peace:
Securing our Common Future with the United Nations onboard the Peace Boat
The Ribbon 2020 – Tangible Hope for No Nuclear War
The Ribbon was founded by Justine Merritt who had visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in 1982. She was greatly affected by the tragedy caused by the Atomic Bomb. After arriving home, it came to her to create a Ribbon, and decided to have a Ribbon event on the 40th memorial anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It was in the middle of the Cold War between The United States and The Soviet Union, and using nuclear weapons could happen again at a moments notice.
On August 4, 1985, in Washington, D.C., fifteen miles of Ribbons encircled the Pentagon and other important monuments: With the message of “What I cannot bear to think of as lost forever in a nuclear war”. The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima was also encircled.
The Ribbon International is now a Non Governmental Organization in Association with the United Nations. Since 1985, many Ribbons have been created around the world. People carry Ribbons and pray for Peace at many occasions such as; community memorial gatherings and marches related to nuclear, peace and environmental issues. Ribbons have been exhibited in various places as well.
Nowadays the world is closer to the tragedy of nuclear war or a nuclear accident more than ever before.
On August 1st 2020, the 75th Anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The Ribbon International is planning to have a Ribbon event in New York City and in other cities around the world. Please join us, and pray for a world without nuclear weapons and never another nuclear tragedy. (If you cannot join, please pray with us wherever you are.)
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How to make Ribbon
(Please also see our website: www.theribboninternational.org)
- Cut a panel of sturdy cloth, double thickness, of any color.
- Finished size: one meter by a half meter (or one yard by a half yard)
- Sew 20cm (9 inch) pieces of ribbon to each corner so the panels may be easily tied together.
- On this panel, sew, paint, write, embroider, weave, knit, tie-dye or use any other kind of ornaments to express what you most love about the world and want to protect from what is endangered on this earth.
- If you wish, write your name and/or any message on the back of the panel.
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BECOME A LOCAL CONTACT FOR THE RIBBON IN YOUR COMMUNITY – organizations, schools, places of worship, individuals, artists, teachers and many others have adopted the Ribbon project for such celebrated days as Earth Day, World Peace Week and United Nations/Global Citizenship Day to promote local awareness and action. Create Ribbons to display at local events, advertise in newspapers, organization newsletters, on radio and TV.
| THE NEW RIBBON: TANGIBLE HOPE | ||
| THE UNITED NATIONS HAS DESIGNATED SEPTEMBER 21 | THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE Honor this day of global cease fire |
CREATE RIBBON EXHIBITS FOR PEACE |
To help support the Ribbon project and keep it growing around the world please send tax exempt donations made out to – Peace Action Education Fund, 40 Witherspoon St., Princeton, NJ 08542, USA and direct it for The Ribbon International.
We invite you to join the Ribbon project, there is no fee. Just create and display a Ribbon, you have then symbolically joined with others world wide in creating and thinking in terms of care and protection of the earth and its inhabitants.
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Pieces to Peace,
There will be no check-in table in Arlington in August
with an aging, greying teacher with a red Bic pen
waiting to grade assignments for more than ten miles of Ribbon.
All the pieces belong there:
all the symbols of a nation’s yearning for peace.
Who would want to judge the pieces?
Choose one as better than another?
Work of Art?
Work of heart?
Who would want to judge the pieces?
Lay aside a child’s rain-touched, felt tipped rainbow
for an artist’s gessoed work?
Who would want to say the eighth-grader’s acrylic basketball court
held more promise that the quilter’s careful stitches
holding her aching heart together after the evening’s late news?
Each one makes The Ribbon:
the pizza, poison ivy, pomegranate seeds
the ladybugs, mid-Hudson bridge,
poetry,
and creed;
each segment makes The Ribbon.
It is in the addition we find the sum:
for it is one yard
plus one yard
plus each yard of cloth
that we honor the diversity,
that we celebrate the unity.
Each piece makes The Ribbon;
each piece brings the piece.
Amen
JOURNEY. Justine Merritt
CA: Hope Publishing House
1993. (p.111) -Arlington, VA 1985
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Some Events in the Life of the Ribbon
1982: Justine Merritt is inspired to tie a Ribbon around the Pentagon in Washington, DC, USA from the theme; “What I cannot bear to think of as lost forever in a nuclear war”, and writes about it to friends on her holiday card list.
1985: August 4th: Over ten miles of Ribbons encircle the Pentagon and other Washington, DC buildings. The Atom Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan is also
–1986: In New Zealand, Ribbons connect US and USSR embassies. In South Africa, Black and White mothers unite using Ribbons to tell their government they don’t want their children killing each other. In Japan, Ribbons are used to protest the razing of Ikego Forest. 10,000 Ribbons link B’hai temple to the ocean in Austrailia and USSR World Leader Mikhail Gorbachev is presented a Ribbon by Justine Merritt.
1987: In Okinaw, Japan, Ribbons help surround the largest military base in the Pacific and are displayed in Zushi for the environment at Ikego Forest. In Holland, panels connect the US and USSR embassies. Tamel, Sinhalese and Christian segments are exhibited together in Sri Lanka.
1988-1989: In the Middle East, the Interns for Peace calendar shows Ribbons made by Arab and Jewish children.
1990: In London, Ribbons are exhibited in the Houses of Parliament. In Geneva, Ribbons are displayed in the Palais des Nations during the NTP Conference.
1991: In New York, Ribbons are exhibited at the United Nations during the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Conference. Included are panels created by Iraqi and American children. New York State Museum in Albany has an International Ribbon exhibit.
1992: Ribbons are displayed in Brazil and around the planet during the UN “Earth Summit.”
1993: Ribbons are displayed at the Human Rights Conference in Vienna, inspire an environmental Ribbon contest in Singapore and is cosponsor of the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago.
1994: The Canadian Ecumenical Council Calendar features Ribbon segments as part of UN related art. Gas City and Marion Indiana create and exhibit Ribbons in preparation for the UN 50th anniversary.
1995: Ribbon displays celebrate the UN 50th anniversary Year. With the help of divers, Ribbons are carried under water and connect Egypt, Israel and Jordon. Segments are contributed by Switzerland, Germany, Italy and China.
1996: International Mothers of Liberia use Ribbons to help protest the stealing of children for the army. Towns in the Ukraine create panels calling for a world without wars or violence. Ribbons are given to all the UN Missions. Mayors for Peace through Inter-city Solidarity learn of the Ribbon.
1997: Estonia uses Ribbons to celebrate peace. Ribbons are taken to Haiti to promote a culture of peace. In Magdeburg, Germany, the Mayor inspires the city’s population to create and display panels for Human Rights Day and other occasions. The Bonadssamlingen Museum in Stenstorp, Sweden exhibits Ribbons.
1998: Ribbons are displayed at the UNESCO Culture and Developement conference in Stockholm, Sweden. *1998 is the UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL YEAR of the OCEANS. Show on your Ribbon the beauty of our never ending oceans.
1999: Ribbon panels are displayed for Human Rights Day in Copenhagen, made in China, are exhibitied at the Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP99) in the Netherlands and created for the International Year of Older Persons.
2000 – 2006: Ribbons are given to all U.S. Congressmen for the UN Culture of Peace Year. Lake Havasu City, AZ, USA creates and display Ribbons for UN Day. Africans and Cubans receive Ribbons for peace. A Ribbon is given to Pope John Paul II in Rome in honor of the Decade for a COP and Non Violence for the Children of the World. 9/11 annually Ribbons are carried from the UN to the World Trade Center, NY with an Interfaith litany read.
2001 – 2010: The United Nations International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World. Show on your panel a “Culture of Peace.” Church Women United (CWU) initiates the Ribbon as part of their celebrated days of prayers for peace such as World Community Day.
Founder Justine Merritt and Michele Peppers present Ribbon panel to Pope John Paul II, in honor of the United Nations resolution for the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non Violence for the Childrend for the World (2001-2010), October 17, 2001
