Coral-roots

Orchids of Manitoba, Plants, Wild flowers of Manitoba

 

 

These are not Manitoba’s most beautiful orchids. But they are among the most interesting.

Manitoba has 37 different species of orchids. They vary greatly from the small and mundane to the large and glorious.  Perhaps none though are stranger than those within the genus Corallorhiza(Coral-roots). We have only 3 of the genus in Manitoba. The name is derived from the Greek word korallionwhich means “coral” and rhizawhich means root.  This refers to the fact that these orchids spend most of their life underground away from the light. They live among the roots of trees and other plants in the forest. The ones in Manitoba rarely live in wetlands, though one comes pretty close.

Coral-roots are mycoheterotrophs meaning that they are not autotrophs, or primary producers, but rather heterotrophs, or secondary producers who cannot produce their own food like the green plants, but rather derive energy from consuming plant and animal tissue. Specifically, they derive their nutrition from nearby mycorrhizal fungiunder the ground who in turn get the nutrition from nearby roots of trees. Their underground life-style does not allow them to produce their own food from sunlight like green plants. Instead they take advantage of a beneficial mutualistic relationship with the neighbouring trees and the mycorrhizal fungi in the ground between them and on them. Since the orchids host the same mycorrhizal fungus that are found in the roots of the adjacent trees the coral-roots are able to use the fungi as a conduit to share the sugars produced by the trees. Trees have green leaves so they are able to produce food, unlike the coral-roots that are unable to produce food because they lack the green chlorophyll.

This is a colony of spotted-coral orchids.

The spotted coral-roots are my favourite. Notice how they  entirely lack green. That is why they are unable to produce food.

Notice how the size of these are reflected by the size of the mosquitos. They are about the same size

 

The striped coral-root orchids are very distinctive with their prominent dark red stripes.

 

 

 

These are coral-roots but they have some green and thus are able to produce some food and are likely not entirely dependent on the associated mycorrhizal fungus under the ground for nutrition.

All I can say for sure is that orchids are fascinating.

Hopi Spirituality

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact, New Attitude to Nature

The San Francisco Peaks are the hugest mountains in Arizona and they can be seen from nearly everywhere in Northern Arionza. The Peaks are sacred to the Hopi, an Indigenous People of the American Southwest.

The Hopi Reservation is entirely surrounded by Navajo lands.  The landscape is harsh and barren, so at least it appears. Actually it is far from barren. The Hopi have cultivated crops here for a thousand years.

The Hopi are deeply religious people. Their religion is a big part of their ordinary lives. Their religious ceremonies often focus on kachina which are spirit figures that symbolize nature in all of its forms. Carver wooden dolls, called kachina are ubiquitous in gift shops in the area. During the growing season kachina dancers get in on the act by representing the spiritual figures.  Through the kachina the Hopi worshipped the living plants and animals that they believed arrived each year to stay with the tribe during the growing season.

Most of the Hopi villages are on or near three of the three flat topped mesas. They are name First, Second, and Third Mesa. We drove by the first two. When we were in the area a couple of years ago we drove by 2 of them and took note of the homes at the top but we had been advised it would not be a good idea to stop and photograph them from in town as friends of ours who had lived with them for a year had told us we would not be welcome. We did photograph them from a distance and I included a photograph in an earlier post.

Currently, the Hopi  continue the agricultural practices and many of the ceremonies of their Anasazi forebears.  Hopi villages still contain underground chambers called kivas which are said to represent the hole in the ground through which it was believed people emerged into the world.  There is also a  Hopi legend, that makes a lot of sense to me, that  humanity has 3 times led to the destruction of the natural world by failing to honour the Creator’s divine  laws. However, 3 times humanity has come back into being. Let’s hope they (we) do a better job this time around.

 

Pueblo People of American Southwest

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact, Indigenous Religion and Philosophy, New Attitude to Nature

 

There are many beautiful places in the American Southwest. It is easy to feel connected to them.

One of the things I learned from the television series Native America, was that the Pueblo people of the American southwest were doing the same thing as the Indigenous People of the Amazon Rainforest thousands of miles away. As Robbie Robertson the narrators said, “The Pueblo people seek the same thing: to find their place in the world. They discover it in America’s Southwest.” Many times living out there, I thought I found it too. This is my place too. Maybe not my only place, but certainly my place.

The Hopi have a very complex religion with a rich mythological tradition. Just as it is with so many other religious groups, including Christians, it is not easy to find any customs or beliefs that all Hopi accept. Each village or mesa may have slightly different versions of their central myths. Some also suspect that stories told to outsiders are not genuine but merely told to tell curious people something, while holding the real versions close to themselves. Hopi people are often reluctant to share their sacred doctrines. Hopi are also often syncretic. They are willing to adopt sacred practices or beliefs from others when they find them helpful. For example if a practice helps bring rain why not use it?

Many Hopi creation stories revolve around Tawa, the sun spirit. Contemporary Hopi continue to petition Tawa for blessings for their newborn children. Tawas is the creator who formed the “First World” and its original inhabitants.

They also have interesting accounts of Masauwu or Skeleton Man who was the Spirit of Death and Master of the Upper World, or Fourth World  so that people who escaped the wickedness of the Third World could be safe in the Fourth World. Sometimes Masauwu was described as wearing a hideous mask. At other time Masauwu was described as handsome.

Maize or corn is central to Hopi subsistence and also religion. It is a central bond among people. In essence Hopi often see corn as physical sustenance, spiritual renewal, ceremonial objects and instruments of prayers. Often corn is seen as the Great Mother. In a literal sense this actually true. People who take in corn convert it into their own flesh inside their bodies.

The Hopi found their center in the American Southwest. It was the end of their migrations. They believe they are doing what Masauwu told them to do–connect to the world. Be a part of it. Indivisible from it.  This is a theme I shall return to over and over again as I discuss Indigenous religious experiences or doctrines. By finding the center place Hopi believe they have honoured the commitment they made when they entered the world.

Along the way on their spiritual journey Native Americans created Chaco, balanced between the underworld and the heavens. They found 6 directions aligned to the movement of the sun and stars all aligned to the cosmos. This is another central concept of many Indigenous religious beliefs and practices. That was why Chaco drew people from thousands of miles away. Visitors brought hallowed objects like turquoise stones, tropical bird feather, seashells, and chocolate.

In the television series, Patricia Crown said, “Both cacao and scarlet macaws are tropical species that were brought from a great distance into Pueblo Bonito. There’s no question that there was this very large area of shared beliefs in ritual activities.” Chaco was a place where people came from vast distances to share with each other what they had learned. What could be more holy than that? “People share knowledge and beliefs based on thousands of years of observing their world. They have ceremonies to influence the very forces of nature that are still practiced today.”  Hopi traditions say that Chaco was a special place to study the forces of nature. “It grows out of a deep connection with the earth, planted in time immemorial, developed over tens of thousands of years and shared across 2 continents by the pioneering people who created this world. They are Native Americans. Their teachings remain as relevant today as ever.”

Navajos looking for art and peace and finding death

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact

 

On our tour of Canyon de Chelly  we saw two different types of indigenous art.  We saw pictographs (which are also called pictogramme or pictogram)  which are icons that convey their meaning through a pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs can be considered an art form or a method of communication such as language or symbols.

Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings or carvings) are a form of pictogram created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, abrading, or carving. Petroglyphs are found around the world and are often associated with prehistoric people.   Petroglyphs were also used by Ancient Puebloans to provide astronomical markers for the different seasons.

The difference between the two is that a petroglyphs are images drawn on rock or painted on a rock surface whereas petroglyphs are actually cut out of or carved out of rock.

Our tour guide, Dan also drew our attention to the fact that both petroglyphs and pictographs are fading.  Like old men. That is a natural process caused by weathering and slow deterioration through time. Like the First Nations of the west coast of Canada who are allowing their totem poles to rot into oblivion rather than artificially preserving them, the Navajo have decided to let nature take its course. Sometimes that just makes sense.

 

Our tour guide, Dan, explained to us that the tribes had been peaceful until the Spaniards arrived in Canyon de Chelly .Things changed when the Spaniards arrived. After that wars broke out between the Navajo and other tribes as a result of competition to trade with the Spanish. According to Dan, many of these skirmishes were intended to gain favor with the Spanish whose main goal was gold and silver. It seemed strange to Indigenous people, but the Spaniards lusted after gold and silver for some inexplicable reason. Raids occurred and were inevitably followed by reprisals. The long peace was over.

Of course skirmishes broke out with the Spanish as well. These were usually quick raids, and reprisals over animals and land. After all, the Spanish were invaders. They did not discover the Canyon they invaded it. The days of peaceful co-existence were over.

The Navajos took refuge in the Canyon de Chelly’s winding canyons, sheer walls, small caves, and rock outcroppings. They fortified trails with stone walls, shelters in rock alcoves, and stock-piled food and provisions including, importantly water.

 

It is difficult to see on this photo, but I wanted to show the scale of how small the cliff dwellings were compared to the massive cliff. The homes are about 1/3rd of the way up from the ground.

At different times the Spanish, the Utes (another tribe) and US cavalry breeched the Navajo defences, leaving death in their wake. In 1846 the US Army had claimed the land that is now Arizona and New Mexico from Mexican forces. It was a typical battle between colonizers fighting for control over a country without asking the inhabitants what they wanted. No one cared about them. After all the inhabitants were savages weren’t they? Exactly what the Europeans did in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.  As a matter of fact, they also did it in Canada during the 7 Years War of 1756 to 1763.  Although efforts at peace were made, they were largely unsuccessful. Conflict followed for 17 years with frequent American intrusions into Navajo territory.

In 1863 Colonel Kit Carson, considered an American hero, began a brutal campaign of what we would now call ethnic cleansing or genocide. The American government wanted to remove the Navajos to New Mexico and Carson was its instrument. Forced removal of people is one of the indicia of genocide according to the United Nations definition. In the winter of 1864 he and his troops entered Canyon de Chelly and pushed the Navajo toward the canyon mouth. The Navajo were not able to resist the overwhelming forces against them for long. as a result most of the Navajo were killed or taken prisoner.

A modern hogan

In the spring, Carson and his men returned to complete the destruction of the Navajo nation. They destroyed the remaining hogans in which the Navajo lived, ravished their orchards and crops, and killed their sheep. After that, the Navajo could do nothing to avoid starvation.

Those Navajo who survived the massacres were forced to march (‘The Long Walk’) in humiliating fashion, more than 300 miles to Fort Sumner New Mexico. Many died along the way from hunger, thirst, or fatigue. The years of internment at Fort Sumner were no less brutal. Poor food, inadequate shelter, and disease ravished the survivors who refused to give in.  After all this was not their home! They wanted to go back home to Canyon de Chelly and other places in Arizona. In 1868 the American government gave in and allowed the Navajo to return to Arizona and Canyon de Chelly.

Of course, when the Navajo returned to Canyon de Chelly, their crops were ruined, their livestock gone, and their orchards destroyed. Why did the Americans destroy their orchards?  Life was harsh all over again. Many of those who made it all the way back faced starvation again!

Dan casually mentioned to us that he had gone to “boarding school.” When we cross-examined him on this statement, he acknowledged this was an involuntary residential school. His parents had no choice but to send him. He went far away from his family to California to attend school as a young lad. In his understated manner, he said that the school was “not enjoyable” and the people who ran it were “strict.” He was not permitted to use his language and was told to forget it. He rebelled and managed to retain his language. He was justifiably proud of that achievement. In the face of brutal oppression, people like Dan have preserved their culture.

Once again I have to ask: who was civilized and who were the savages?

Navajos of Canyon de Chelly

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact

 

A couple of years ago Chris and I signed up for a guided tour of Canyon de Chelly.  This is the second largest canyon in the knitted States. You know which is the biggest. Our guide and 4-wheel drive operator was a Navajo called Dan.  He started up by driving right into the river at the bottom of the canyon. I was stunned. Of course Dan knew exactly what he was doing. Everything was fine. The water was not very deep. He advised that only occasionally did he get stuck in the river and then would have to call for help. He knew a lot about Navajo history and was happy to share his knowledge.

In Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “d Shay”) in northern Arizona archaeologists have found 4 distinct periods of Indigenous culture.  The first known here were Basketmaker people around AD 300. They were followed by the Ancestral Puebloans who created the astonishing cliff dwellings in about the 12thcentury AD. After that came Hopi people who lived here very successfully for about 300 years and then left.  They were able to take advantage of the fertile soil. The Hopi left in the 1700s and moved to the mesas a little farther to the west, but they did return to farm during the summer months. After that it became the cultural center of the Navajo Nation.

According to the Hopi this was all part of a migratory pattern of life. Archaeological evidence and Traditional Knowledge both indicate that there was seasonal farming in the region, pilgrimages, and occasional stays in the canyon. This pattern continued, without permanent occupation, until the Navajo arrived in the late 1700s.

The Anasazi built this in 1035 A.D. Dan pointed a wonderful rock formation that we passed. It was called Junction rock. It was stupendous and I took a number of photographs of it. Dan was very kind about my frequent requests to stop so I could take pictures. He was very patient and new photographers and their manias. He was not in a hurry.

 

 

 

Next we saw White House, a world famous structure.  The structure is named after the white walls of one of the buildings. It was located about 550 ft. (160 m.) from the canyon floor. It was also a significant distance from the rim.  A precarious case to build, but incredibly secure once complete. This was a group of rooms tucked into a tiny hollow in the cliff. Like it did form the rim, from the ground it seemed as if has not been touched by time. The dwellings were originally situated above a larger pueblo much of which has disappeared.  This ruin is the only one within the park that can be reached without a Navajo guide, but it requires a substantial walk down a steep path. Some people do that. The walk is 2.5 miles long from the rim to the canyon floor.

The darkest point in the history of the canyon was (of course) when the “civilized” Spaniards arrived. In 1805 a Spanish force tried to subdue the Navajo Nation for the greater glory of God and the Spanish crown.  They claimed the Navajo were raiding their settlements. Of course, the Spanish were really invaders! What do you think would have happen if modern Spanish descendants from Mexico arrived today to drive out the Americans? When the Spanish arrived the Navajos fled by climbing to the rim of the canyon and hid in caves high up the cliffs. The Spanish fired their guns into the caves  and later one of them bragged that he had killed 115 Navajo including 90 warriors. The rest were of course women, old men, and children. The Navajo claim that most of the warriors were gone at the time of the attack and most of the people killed by the “civilized” Spanish were women and children. Only one Spaniard was killed and that happened when he attacked a Navajo woman  and she fought back and both of them plunged over the cliff to their death. The cave is called Massacre Cave by the Anglos. The Navajo call it “Two fell over.”

 

We learned from Dan that the Navajo are actually an Athabascan-speaking people.  They called themselves Dené.  Nowadays, the Navajo call themselves Deni. It is astonishing to find this close connection to the people of Canada’s north. Chris and I both remember the Dené village near Churchill and the tragic story of their forced relocation not entirely unlike the forced relocation of Navajo in 1864. I intend to blog about this. The name Navajo was given to the people by the Spaniards, and the Navajo don’t even know where that name comes from. Dené, the name they prefer, means ‘the People.’  I found similar stories around North America. Nations throughout North America referred to themselves as ‘the People.’ In some cases it even seems that only the people (themselves) are human beings.

The cliff dwellings are not always easy to spot.

In any event, the Navajo as they are commonly called here, entered Canyon de Chelly about 400 years ago.  They brought domesticated sheep, goats and culture shaped by centuries of migration and adaptation. Like the many people before them, they used the canyon to facilitate their way of life.

Canyon de Chelly was famous throughout the region for its fine farmland, especially corn fields, and peach trees. They established orchards on the canyon floor. According to Dan, the Navajo were so successful because of minerals that seeped down the canyon walls into the canyon making the land very fertile.  He pointed out to us black stains which indicated the presence of manganese in the water that dripped down canyon walls. In other places we saw blue stains an indication of cobalt. According to Dan, the sandy soil on the floor of the canyon is so rich in minerals that the Navajo farmers had no use for fertilizers. Unlike modern industrial style farmers, they had no need of fertilizer. All in all, they were pretty smart farmers long before Europeans arrived.

 

 

Ancestral Pueblo People (Anasazi)

Ancient Humans, Fear, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact

The American Southwest which I have visited for the last few years, is area that receives a mere 10 inches (25 cm) of rain each year, but has supported inhabitants for at least 12,000 years. Paleo-Indians arrived at about 12,000 years ago and they learned how to live there.

Thousands of years later, the Ancestral Puebloans, Indigenous People of the American southwest and are also known as Anasazi, arrived, but that name was given to them by Navajo for it basically means “Ancient enemy ancestor.”  That is not the most complementary name. The Ancestral Puebloans are thought to have settled near Mesa Verde in about AD 550 where they lived in pithouses and later astonishing cliff dwellings. By about 800 AD they had developed significant masonry skills and began to build housing complexes using sandstone, which is fairly common in the region. From about 1100 to 1300 AD they used their impressive skills in weaving, pottery, jewelry and tool-making.

Kivas are round pit-like room dug into the ground and roofed with beams.   The kiva was the religious and ceremonial center of Ancestral Puebloan life and is still used by modern Puebloans. It usually had no windows and the only means of access was through a small hole in the roof. Small kivas were likely used by one family. Larger ones could be designed for the entire community, like a church in Europe.

Ancestral Puebloan ruins can be found in Chaco Culture National Park and Mesa Verde National Park as well as Canyon de Chelly. This is the White House in Canyon de Chelly.

By AD 1,300 the Ancestral Puebloans had abandoned many of their long established settlement sites perhaps on account of climate change. Things got much drier around about the time they left. There was a 50-year drought that placed great strain on their civilization. A large population could not be sustained in the desert with its minimal resources and led to a lengthy period of social upheaval.

The Ancestral Puebloans did not disappear but live on today in Puebloan descendants. The Ancestral Puebloans or Anasazi, lived there from about 500 until some time in the 12th century.  They are the ones that created the numerous evocative ruins found in the area including those at Mesa Verde in Colorado, and the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and Canyon de Chelly and Camp Verde in Arizona.

 

 

Many people forget that the Ancestral Puebloans were farmers who began to cultivate maize (corn) and pumpkins. Eventually they added beans, squash, and other vegetables to their arsenal. They even domesticated turkeys from a native subspecies.  It is interesting that eventually “Through trade and plunder, the same turkeys would eventually make their way south to the Aztec empire in Mexico. Conquistador Hernan Cortes later appropriated some and shipped them home to Europe. From there, farmyard turkeys traveled back to the New World with colonists of the East Coast. All domestic turkeys descended from the wild turkeys originally tamed nearly two millennia ago in the North America’s drylands.”

 

The descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans include the Hopi whose pueblos are reputed to be the oldest continuously occupied towns in North America. They began to occupy territory a little farther west of Canyon de Chelly.  We drove through First Mesa, where they live to this day, even though our friends Dave and MaryLou advised against it.

 

Then we drove near to Second Mesa, another settlement still occupied by Hopi people.

 

A very interesting question is “Why did Anasazi leave their cliff dwellings?”  I thought about a brilliant book—Desert Solitaire written by Edward Abbey. It is a fantastic book. One of the best books I have ever read on the American Southwest. Abbey compared the ancient Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloans) to modern Americans. Abbey said, “Apparently, like some twentieth century Americans, the Anasazi lived under a cloud of fear.” Why else did they go to such trouble to build their homes where they did?  As Abbey commented,

Fear: is that the key to their lives?  What persistent and devilish enemies they must have had, or thought they had, when even here in the intricate heart of a desert labyrinth a hundred foot-miles from the nearest grassland, forest, and mountains they felt constrained to make their homes, as swallows do, in niches high on the face of a cliff.

Their lives must have been severely cramped by their overpowering fears. As Abbey said,

“Their manner of life was constricted, conservative, cautious: perhaps only the pervading fear could keep such a community together. Where all think alike there is little danger of innovation.”

That seems like a perfect description of the gated communities in modern North America subdivisions. From my experience, the people are fearful, nervous, and entirely lacking in courage. They fear everyone and everything. For example, many people in Arizona fear that Mexicans are coming across the border in hordes to take their best jobs, cleaning toilets in airports. Does that make sense? So they want to build a wall to keep them out of the country. Then the people fear that the Mexicans who someone got into the country, will send their youth to attack their homes.  So they build a wall around their tiny communities. The existence of these walls makes it perfectly clear—the people live in fear. Is that a sign of a guilty conscience or cowardice?

What will happen to the modern Americans in their insular communities? Will they survive or perish as the Anasazi did? Will the same forces like climate change that drove the Anasazi to abandon their cliff top homes cause the modern suburbanites to abandon theirs?  Abbey writing in the 1960s, long before the time the gated communities became so popular, described the situation this way,

Long ago the cliff dwellings were abandoned. Were the inhabitants actually destroyed by the enemies they had always dreaded? Or were they reduced and driven out by disease, by something as undramatic as bad sanitation, pollution of their water and air?  Or could it have been finally, simply their own fears which poisoned their lives beyond hope of recovery and drove them into exile and extinction?

What a great question?  In my view, it is likely that the modern American gated “community” will suffer the same fate as the ancient cliff dwellings of the Anasazi.  No wall no matter how high, can keep the barbarians out. The Romans learned that the hard way, so did the Anasazi, and so will the modern suburbanites. It probably won’t be actual external enemies that lead to their doom. It is much more likely that it will be the combined effects of pollution and minds being cooked in the juices of their own lurid fears.

Perhaps this is what the modern gated communities will look like in a hundred years?

Zuni

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact, Indigenous Religion and Philosophy, New Attitude to Nature

 

Jim Enote is an elder of the Ashiwi Nation, a Pueblo group in what is now New Mexico and Northern Arizona known as the Zuni. He says that when his people come to water they lift it and splash themselves with it and then they throw it in the direction of Zuni to encourage rain. They have a name for this very large area in Northern Arizona. They call it the place of emergence.  It includes what we now call the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon. I visited large parts of the area on a number of occasions. It is incredibly beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful on earth.

 

I don’t know the exact boundaries of Zuni territory but I believe these photos are from in or near their historical territory.

Monument Valley is in my opinion one of the most beautiful places on earth and I am surprised how few people who winter in Arizona never visit it or haven’t even heard of it.

 

In that region the Zuni produced petroglyphs that have been there for more than a thousand years. To the Zuni this is not just art; it is history. One of them shows a row of sheep descending to the water. It is an ancient lesson. To find water follow the animals.

Jim and the Zuni have been using ancient petroglyphs, images from pottery, and from tapestries, and have considered their thoughts and prayers and together with all that have been making unique maps based on these images. Those maps are unlike any other maps in the world. “Not limited by lines or topography, they depict cultural landscapes and living memories.” Jim Enote put it this way,  in the documentary series Native America that I watched this past winter, “The Zuni maps represent the world without defined boundaries.”

Many people are familiar with maps that contain streets and roads. But there is another way. The Zuni have found one of those other ways. As Enote said, “When they see Zuni hand painted maps, they realize there is a different way of looking at the world.” Isn’t that what travel and education are all about, finding different ways of looking at the world? Isn’t this why we converse with people of different cultures? Is this not what the world of ideas is all about? This is why I watch television shows like this one.

This different way of looking at the world is shared across North America. It is a reverence for place. Sacred caves, underground sanctuaries, grand canyons, real physical connections to earth. Its why many call it Mother Earth.

People like Enote when they visit a place like the Grand Canyon, with its steep walls of red rock, like those I saw at Canyon de Chelly, or Monument Valley, both in the same area, get the feeling that they are in a womb. They are inside Mother Earth. That is a deep and powerful connection! Enote said, in front of an incredible film of Horseshoe Canyon where I stood 2 years, “This is the place we came from so the river is like an umbilical cord. It’s all part of the Mother. The Mother is where we begin. Its our ultimate reference point.” Now that is a real connection to the physical earth.

I took this photo of Horseshoe Canyon getting as close to the edge as a person who is deathly afraid of heights could get. When he said that, I could not help but recollect the words of Paul Tillich that profound German theologian who defined God as our ultimate concern.

Aretha’s Amazing Grace

Movies, religion

 

Although it was only released in 2018, in 1972 a professional film crew filmed an amazing 2 concerts in a small  Baptist church in Los Angeles, where Aretha Franklin decided to return to her roots as a gospel singer.  The film is called Amazing Grace. This was no mega-church. Franklin had starred as a gospel singer from a very young age. She started out accompanying her father on his traveling religious revival shows and later she began recording songs in his church as the age of 14.

The 1972 concert was delivered at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts a suburb of Los Angeles California, and was backed by the Southern California Community Choir. As the leader of the choir and singer in his own right, James Cleveland said, it was not a concert it was a religious service. To me there is no finer religious music than southern African-America gospel. That is what religion is all about. That is why I like the gospel hour every Sunday during the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Despite the fact that the film was directed by Oscar award wining Sydney Pollack, who appears from time to time in the film, the filming was botched and the words were not properly synchronized with the images. Yet despite that, the night was (in my opinion) a miracle, and a second miracle occurred more than 40 years later when producer Alan Elliot worked out the technical problems and released the film in 2018. In the film there’s even a brief glimpse of a young Mick Jagger catching the Holy Spirit. Apparently Charlie Watts was also in the film, but I failed to recognize him. Perhaps that was because he did not yet show the years of his own heavy abuses.

The cinematography is simple or even amateurish, devoid of tricks or magic. But magic was not needed. The voice was all the magic anyone needed. Let me acknowledge at the outset that not all agreed with my enthusiasm. I saw it with my lovely wife and 4 friends.  Some of our group were not as impressed as I was. But they can write their own blogs. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone Magazine agreed with me.  He wrote, “And here she is, barely saying a word to the congregation, knowing instinctively that her singing is all that matters when the time comes to worship and to preach. That truly is amazing grace. How sweet the sound.”

Some of our group was disconcerted by Aretha’s passivity in front of her father. Why was she so passive? She said hardly a word. It is one thing to let your singing voice do your talking but was there more to it than that. At one point during the performance, her father, leaped onto stage to wipe her face because she was sweating so profusely. Aretha on the other hand was entirely meek and mild. All except her glorious voice. It rang loud and true.

Some of our party were disturbed when thanks to Professor Google we learned that Aretha’s father the Baptist Minister, C.L. Franklin, was ushered into the church to fawning applause. He was treated not as a minister, but a God. And we all know by now what happens when religious leaders are treated like gods. Exploitation or abuse is often quick to follow. Apparently that is what happened with Aretha’s father.

According to Aretha’s biographer, David Ritz, her father, a sweetly smooth talking Baptist Minister had more than a roving eye, particularly for young girls. It was said that the people of his congregation adored him, but kept a close eye on their young daughters when he was around. Ritz claimed in his book Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin, that his church services often transformed into bacchanalian orgies. “It was the point where Saturday night merged into Sunday morning and sin met salvation at the crossroads of African American musical culture. High on the Holy Ghost, dancing in the aisles of New Bethel, the saints celebrated the love of Christ,” Ritz wrote. “High on wine and weed, the party people celebrated the love of the flesh.”The Washington Post, reported it this way:  “Ray Charles once visited the church and, despite his own propensity for promiscuous sexual experiences, was shocked, according to Ritz”.

Did an overbearing if not abusive father cow Franklin into submission? I don’t know.  What I know, is that, Aretha Franklin, the legitimate Queen of Soul, had a voice that allowed her to escape any attempt to constrain her. Remember though that I know nothing about music. I just know I liked it a lot. Watching her perform, I agreed with what Travers said, “It’s the closest thing to witnessing a miracle — just some cameras, a crowd and a voice touched by God.”

The congregation and guests were also worth seeing. The guests included the voluptuous African-American singer Clara Ward proudly strutting into the church dressed to the nines and absurdly covered by a heavy mink coat on a hot L.A. night. I enjoyed watching the choir leader who was a close match for Franklin’s rational exuberance and some of the dancers were so good, to use a phrase of W, B. Yeats and Don Henley we could not tell the dancer from the dance. The members of the congregation and choir were often off their seats waving, dancing, and singing with joy.

If you want to see a miracle go see the film at Cinematheque in Winnipeg or a good theatre near you.