Representatives of Indigenous nations from throughout the western hemisphere attended the ceremony commemorating one of the most important days of the Mayan calendar. The Mayan calendar has tracked and predicted astronomical events for more than 5000 years, and is the basis for the sophisticated Mayan astronomical, mathematical and scientific knowledge which was highly developed long before the coming of the Europeans to this continent.

The traditional Mayan priests still practice this knowledge, despite having been forced underground for almost 50 years since the time of the Spanish invasion. At that time they were expelled from their temples and killed in large numbers, along with any of their followers who refused to reject the traditional culture and beliefs in favor of Catholicism.

Only in the past four years has the traditional Mayan religion begun to once again be practiced openly in Guatemala. However, the Mayan priests have not yet been able to reclaim their temples, which are prime attractions for the tourist industries of Guatemala and Mexico. "They charge the tourists lots of money to see our sacred places," Senior Lucas explained, "they now call them ruins, but they were the ones that ruined them."

Senior Lucas explained to the participants in the ceremony that the day of the solstice is sacred because the earth had completed its journey to the south, and was now turning back to the north. The basis of the ceremony was to honor the sacredness of the four cardinal directions and all of nature, a spiritual principle which Indigenous Peoples hold in common throughout the hemisphere. Senior Lucas stated that the conducting of this sacred ceremony in the far north, in Alaska, and in the presence of many Indigenous nations, was foretold by Mayan prophesy and was an event of great historic significance for the building of Indigenous unity and the resurgence of the Mayan culture in Guatemala.

The theme of the conferences, in which 700 delegates from more than 80 Indigenous nations and 150 organizations participated, was:

Workshops, discussion sessions and presentations focused on issues of environmental protection, indigenous knowledge related to resource management, sustainable development practices, subsistence, restoration of contaminated sites, treaty and land rights, sovereignty and self determination.

Tom Goldtooth, national spokesperson of the Indigenous Environmental Network, reaffirmed the importance of the Mayan ceremony to theme and purpose of the gatherings. "The spiritual beliefs and practices of Indigenous Peoples, which recognize the sacredness of our earth mother and all the natural world, is the reason that we need to gather each year in different areas of this vast island.

These gatherings are both educational to Indigenous peoples involved with environmental and natural resource protection and provide an effective way for our people to reconnect in the unifying principle that all life is sacred and interconnected. We are very honored by the presence of Senior Lucas and other spiritual teachers and elders from many nations who joined us. It is their wisdom and guidance that will further establish the direction for our work on behalf of the common people of this world."

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