The Messenger

36,000 years ago, Nun Cho Ga arrived with its first shaky steps, a new life had entered this world. Eager and curious. The grass covered hillsides were lush with food, water, and family love. The spring landscape was a paradise for life. A short time into this world, under darkening skies, what was joy became tragedy, and a different journey began. A journey through thousands of years when on a similar spring day, dreams brightened in the frozen earth. The baby mammoth had arrived to an unfamiliar world and into the arms of a new community.

Nun Cho Ga has inspired us to feel the “sacred” in the world. Indigenous caretakers, open to this inspiration, responded with care and dignity. Their spirituality has opened minds to a different way of knowing.

Robin Wall Kimmerer cited native scholar Greg Cajete in her book “Braiding Sweetgrass” by writing: …”in Indigenous ways of knowing, we understand a thing only when we understand it with all four aspects of our being: mind, body, emotion and spirit”. The revelations of science may give us knowledge about the mind and body, but it does not give us the complete picture when you consider emotion and spirit. Only once you consider the four aspects does Robin believe that the whole human finds the “beautiful path”. 

I would like to believe that Nun Cho Ga is leading us on a beautiful path as we navigate its care and the shared responsibility to ensure its message is conveyed in a good way. A baby mammoth has presented us with a wonderful opportunity to listen, to learn, to explore, and to grow, culturally, and as a community together.

Nun Cho Ga is a messenger, a symbol of hope, and we are blessed to receive her gift.