APACHE STRONGHOLD

Wishtoyo Light Fire Malibu CA March 28- 31 The Apache Stronghold was welcomed back to Chumash ancestral homeland at Wishtoyo Chumash Village to host the first Lighting of the Fire ceremony. Lighting of the Fire ignites all the prayers across this country to fight the greatest evil we all face. It will take the old ways of prayer and ceremony to confront the effects of colonization and capitalism. Our elders witnessed the fracturing of our people, our religion and the destruction of our greatest gift Nigosun (Mother Earth). The Apache Stronghold arrived at Wishtoyo on Friday, March 29, 2024, to prepare for the ceremony. The Lighting of the Fire ceremony began on Friday, March 29, 2024, at midnight and continued throughout the day, Saturday. Welcomed all tribes, non-natives, and allies to join us in prayer. We call upon the world to light prayer fires on the same day. This will clear the path for us to confront the greatest evil and will protect us on our join forward. One Prayer, One Drum, One Circle!

9th Annual Oak Flat March/Run --February 15-18, 2024 People join in solidarity with our spiritual journey of prayer and ceremony in protection of Chi'chil Bildagoteel (Oak Flat). Each year hundreds of people walk/run together for the 45 miles from the San Carlos reservation, through the mining towns of Miami and Globe, up to Oak Flat. This walk is of spiritual importance to the Apache Stronghold and a way for us all to commit to the protection of Oak Flat each year that the mine has still not been built! Participants gather in solidarity at Oak Flat to protect all that is holy.

Notre Dame November 15-17, 2024 Notre Dame filed Amicus Brief with Supreme Court Case- Created Video and shown at Notre Dame Football Game. University of Notre Dame. https://youtu.be/RPKm8XZm_6k?si=cs0Q0hyt1h7SFbNP Fighting for Religious LIberty In Arizonas Tonto National Forest, Chichil Bildagoteel, known as Oak Flat, is a sacred space for the Apache and other Native tribes. Countless generations have used the site for religious and coming-of-age ceremonies and have gathered medicinal plants and acorns from its majestic oaks. But Oak Flat is in danger. In 2014, a land swap deal offered Oak Flat to a mining company that intends to place a copper mine leaving the site unsafe for humans. Apache Stronghold, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community organization made up of Native and non-Native allies, are intent on saving Oak Flat. While the Notre Dame Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic, launched in 2020, isn't representing the Apache Stronghold, it's very supportive of its mission and has filed multiple amicus briefs in support of protection for Oak Flat. The Clinic, one of the world's leading academic institutions on the subject, is representative of Notre Dame's values. Informed by its Catholic character, the University has always supported and promoted religious liberty as a fundamental human right. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at the Notre Dame Law School, is careful to note that religious liberty encompasses all faiths, and those without faith. The Religious Liberty Clinic was created because our freedom of conscience, our freedom to believe, and then live according to our beliefs, is the most important and fundamental freedom that we have. Not just as Americans, but as humans, he said.

Dzil Nchaa Sian (Mt. Graham) Sacred Run July 18-21, 2024 The 33rd annual mount Graham sacred run, Apaches and supporters gathered in Eastern Arizona to honor Apache holy places by participating in the 33rd annual mount Graham sacred run. The four day long run and prayer begins at the Old San Carlos monument on the San Carlos Apache reservation and ends atop mount Graham, a sky island Oasis surrounded by a sea of the Sonora desert. The Mt Graham sacred run spotlights the ongoing occupation of the mountain by scientific pursuits by research universities and institutes including the Vatican, the University of Arizona, Ohio State University, Notre Dame, Germany's Max Planck institute and Italys Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory.