Advertisement
Gather at the park entrance, 7pmPark on the Hwy 55 access road
“Every snowflake begins as a dust particle far up in the sky that accumulates water as it floats down through the darkness. On its travels, it freezes, forming stunning crystal facets, transforming into a completely unique, one-of-a-kind thing of beauty.” Kate Freuler’s meditation on a snowflake starts our Coldwater new year reminding us that we are the water people on the water planet. All life on Earth requires water.
The National Park Service claims “we own Coldwater.” The concept of “owning” flowing water is, of course, absurd. Only in the capitalist world is land or water owned. We belong to the land, the land doesn’t belong to us.
Coldwater has been flowing about 11,000-years—even under the last glacier. The record of humans in this area is dated to 9,000-years ago since a 9,000-year-old bison spear point was uncovered during an archaeological dig at the Sibley House in Mendota, the b’dota, Dakota for the area of convergence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers.
Coldwater flowed about 144,000 gallons per day before the Highway 55 reroute in the 1990s, down to about 66,000 gpd now. Water is what climate change is all about: floods, droughts, warming oceans and extreme weather that makes the daily news.
Coldwater is an acknowledged Dakota sacred site. Friends of Coldwater seek to honor our 11,000-year-old landscape ancestor and the people whose dust we stand upon. So we return and return to remember the spirits that feed this Indigenous sacred place.
Full moon walks have been celebrated at Coldwater Springs each month since 2000. Traditional group howl when the moon peeks out.
Sunset 4:56 pm (24-minutes later than last full moon)
Moonrise 4:31 pm (exact same time as last month)
9-hours, 13-minutes of daylight (20-minutes more than last month)
Moment of the full moon: 4:27 pm
Snowflakes take 75 minutes at 1.5 mph to reach Earth from 10,000 feet.
DIRECTIONS: Coldwater Springs is between Minnehaha Park & Fort Snelling, in Minneapolis, just north of the Hwy 55/62 interchange. From Hwy 55/Hiawatha, turn East (toward the Mississippi) at 54th Street, take an immediate right, & drive all the way down the frontage road where you can park at the pay meters.
Gather at the cul-de-sac, which is the Coldwater Park entrance.
Free. All welcome.
https://www.friendsofcoldwater.org
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
5601 Minnehaha Park Dr S, St Paul, MN 55111, 5604 Park Place Dr, St Paul, MN 55126-9127, United States,Shoreview, Minnesota, Circle Pines
