GUIDE TO FASTING

 

Fasting has been an important ceremonial practice for traditional cultures throughout the world. Many cultures practice fasting ceremonies when:

  • Conducting important work
  • Addressing significant challenges and important transitions
  • Seeking guidance and direction
  • Deepening personal and collective intentions and commitments.

Fasting is a means of testing, practicing and deepening our personal commitment to our values and intentions. It calls upon us to make a small sacrifice of food and water and challenges us to move from intentions to action, from beliefs to experience.

Fasting is key practice within the Moose Hide Campaign movement as a means to demonstrate a personal commitment to honouring and protecting the women and children in our lives. It is also a way to support each other in our collective responsibility as men to ensure all women and children are free from violence in our homes, communities and our nations.

For the Moose Hide Campaign, the practice of fasting is also a hunger strike. We go on this “hunger strike” as a public nonviolent protest against the societal norms that have allowed injustice for indigenous women and children and a call to action for all men to end all forms of violence within our society. While this fast is proposed for men, we encourage women to join in this challenge by bearing witness and supporting in whatever way they feel called.

Making this simple sacrifice is a way to show yourself and your relations that you take this commitment seriously.

Fasting can be a trans-formative experience, and for us this ceremony is to rooted in a personal sense of commitment, action and purpose to honour and protect the women and children in your lives.

Beyond these broad notions, it is not our intention to define what fasting should or shouldn’t be, how it should or shouldn’t be done or why. Rather we hope to outline our reasons and approach to fasting within the Moose Hide Campaign for those who may find it beneficial. We hope is serves that purpose, and we hope you will join us!