NEWS RELEASE
BAYS MILLS INDIAN COMMUNITY
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BAY MILLS — Bay Mills Indian Community will start construction on a new Firekeeper’s Lodge next spring, thanks in part to grant funding of $106k from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota. The Shakopee are well known for their philanthropic efforts to support education and culture.
The new lodge, which will be located adjacent to the Bay Mills Cultural Center on Tower Road, will help keep the Anishnaabe tradition of fire keeping alive on the reservation.
The Firekeeping Ceremony is a funerary practice that has been performed since time immemorial. The ceremony invites in a Grandfather Fire requires numerous helping hands and proper accommodations to host the Grandfather Fire, firekeepers, and visitors during the ceremonial send off.
“There has been a strong resurgence of cultural practices within our Tribal Nation,” said BMIC President Whitney Gravelle. “We want to create a supportive environment where families are able to safely send off their loved ones.”
Weather is often part of the challenge when firekeeping. Members wanting to host a Firekeeping Ceremony in the winter months need to come up with their own shelters to keep warm and facilitate keeping fire while enduring the harsh winter weather and winds from Lake Superior.
“I lost both my grandmothers in the winter months, and what is already a difficult time filled with grief and sorrow should not be made more difficult by contending with weather or the harsh elements,” added Gravelle.
The lodge will support community members and their loved ones by providing convenient, respectful, and reliable accommodations while also investing in and preserving traditional Anishinaabe practices.
The project will go up for bid in the winter of 2025 and will be posted on the baymills.org website.
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