Bird Clans’ Earth Day Messages Land in Everglades

An Amazon delivery landed in the Everglades on Saturday, and it wasn’t from an online shopping spree. Instead, Arassari Pataxó, a member of a bird clan who lives in the Amazon forest of Brazil, arrived in the Everglades alongside the local Bird Clan of the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes of Florida. Both Clans, near and far, as well as others, came with messages to connect with nature and ancestors during the International Big Mamma Day Festival at the Miccosukee Village. They were among dozens of other presenters and vendors from throughout the region and world. 

Pataxó had a special delivery, a set of messages he told through his interpreter, Beatriz Carvalho, as well as hand-carved animals and instruments, which also carried messages.

After singing, dancing, and playing small wooden instruments to the audience members, who came from every direction around the Everglades, Pataxó shared in an interview how people could care for nature. It needs to begin with the heart, he said. Then, there are actions people can take, he advised. 

“People ask me all the time, ‘how we can take care of nature?’” he relayed. “You’re asking me how to take care of your mom,” Pataxó said.

Taking care of the Earth is about connecting to nature like your family, several presenters relayed in their unique ways, much like Pataxó, which is also the name of his tribe. His first name, Arassari, is the name of a small bird, like a toucan, that flies very high. 

Pataxó was invited by event organizer Betty Osceola to sing, speak, and share handmade crafts with visitors at the Earth Day celebration hosted by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida in the Miccosukee Village along U.S. 41 near Miami. 

People came from near and far, from around the world, including Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other countries, as well as from organizations based out of nearby Naples and neighboring communities. These included the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Naples Botanical Garden, and Friends of the Everglades, among many others, noted Osceola. 

Many of the organizations and vendors brought ways to improve the health of the planet and people, offering seeds for growing food and for replacing invasive species with native plants. 

“The modern times have been very harmful to us. All of us,” said Samuel Tommie, who played flute, sharing stories and prayer.

“We have the ability to heal, to heal each other,” said Tommie, who is a member of the Seminole Tribe of Indians of Florida.

“Elders say Mother Nature is sick now,” said Pataxó, with Carvalho interpreting. “That’s why I come here, even though I may rather stay in the forest,” he said.

“There is a need to fix it. Otherwise, it’s going to be too late for everybody,” he added.

“Everything in nature is sacred. It’s always teaching us something,” he said, echoing the lessons of Osceola and other local indigenous teachers.

He had carved wooden animals such as armadillos, monkeys, opossums, toucans, and arassari - of which he is named after - each with their own characteristics to teach us. Monkeys demonstrate agility, for example, he said. 

Spend time in nature, the presenters advised. Even as few as five minutes each day, Osceola has said. 

When you are in the sun, you feel that heat, that’s reminding you that you are nature, Pataxó said. 

The breath carries water, he said. 

“We’re mostly made of water. So, we’re always connecting. We are nature,” Pataxó said. 

Then, he played his handmade wooden instrument that could make at least 150 different bird calls. To learn to play, you need to learn to listen to nature, noted Osceola. 

“And nature is the answer,” said Pataxó. 

“The future is our ancestor. To survive the future, we need to look back to our ancestors,” he said, echoing Tommie, who similarly reminded attendees to live simply and from the heart.

The Billie family offered fry bread and other Indigenous delicacies from their cooking chickee, which they dubbed the Bird House, a clever fitting name for the Bird Clan family of the area's Miccosukee Tribe. They each wore the fashion from different eras as a nod to their Miccosukee and Seminole ancestors. 

Among them were four Billie siblings, including three adult sisters and their brother. 

Lois Billie wore modern clothing of the 1950 to 1960 timeframe with a patchwork skirt and shirt. 

Her sister, Delores Billie, had her hair in an older hairstyle, and her shirt had ruffles attached to the blouse patchwork as she sat toward the back, representing the past, she said.

Barbara Billie wore the fashion of the modern time with a patchwork skirt and a t-shirt, as she was at the forefront of the thatch-roofed chickee.

The fashion shows the evolution of the culture, and the clothes can be casual or elegant, Lois Billie described. Sometimes the patchwork features the Miami Heat, especially when the team is in the playoffs, Florida State University colors, or the colors, figures, and shapes of other national holidays, the Billies said.

"Even just the fashion is a story in itself,” said Delores Billie.

The people of the Everglades are often inviting people to visit and experience aspects of their culture and their surroundings, and to bring that appreciation of nature and ancestors back into their daily lives, where they live.

"The reason we are out here is because this is a very sacred place,” said Tommie of the Everglades. 

The tribes, including the Seminole, Miccosukee, and Independents, continue living in the Everglades since the three Seminole Wars because they are bonded to that special place, he said.

Once there is a change to help the Earth that begins in people’s hearts, there are actions that can be taken, presenters reminded attendees. And attendees reminded each other, too.

“It’s like a seed, one small action can grow into something bigger,” said Glory Jones, who came to the event from the Broward County side of the Everglades.

“Each year the event gets better,” said Kristen Bennett, owner of Glades Life, which offers Florida swamp and sea-styled items, as well as provides print and design work for Glades companies and celebrities, including Skunk Ape Headquarters, Wild Man’s Pizza and Gator Nate, through her Rustic Jade Designs. 

“Every day is Earth Day because we are Earth,” said Garrett Stuart, a resident of Ochopee, dubbed Captain Planet for his education of youth through Eco Preservation Project Inc., and a Buffalo Tigers Airboat captain. Stuart was the brainchild of the first Big Mamma Day a few years ago in collaboration with Osceola and many others. “We start treating ourselves better. We treat the Earth better. It goes in a circle,” said Stuart.