The Native American Studies Program in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will hold its annual Peace Tree Ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, next to the WVU Peace Tree near Elizabeth Moore Hall.
Cedric Woods, a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, will deliver the annual Peace Tree lecture, “Making Relatives, Making Peace: A Path to Wellness,” at 6:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair, Gluck Theatre.
In the event of rain, the ceremony will move indoors to the Mountainlair, Gluck Theatre.
Woods is this year’s ceremony guest of honor. He is the founding director of the Institute for New England Native American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His work focuses on supporting Native health and wellness, creating and expanding higher education opportunities for Native students, and developing collaborative relationships with tribal communities, federal and state agencies, and universities. He brings more than two decades of experience in tribal government administration and academia to his current projects supporting Native communities throughout the region.
The Peace Tree Ceremony and Lecture are supported by the Reyer Visiting Lectureship Program for Native American Studies and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
The Peace Tree tradition comes from Haudenosaunee (Iroquoian) history. According to Haudenosaunee oral tradition, the creator sent the Peacemaker to unite the warring Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk nations by planting the original white pine Tree of Peace at Onondaga an estimated 1,000 years ago. The tree symbolizes the formation of the original Haudenosaunee Five Nations Confederacy (later Six Nations, with the addition of the Tuscarora).
The annual ceremony continues a WVU tradition that began with the planting of the University’s first Peace Tree by Chief Leon Shenandoah, Tadodaho of the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy.
The ceremony provides an opportunity for members of the University and local communities to come together around peacemaking and collective problem solving.
Those attending will be invited to tie a prayer ribbon to the Peace Tree, symbolizing any good intention they choose.