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Communities located near bodies of water, whether they’re rivers, creeks, aquifers or oceans, have long held spiritual connections to those waterways.
The spring-fed San Pedro Creek is where civilization began thousands of years ago in San Antonio, or Yanaguana, as it was known by the area's indigenous inhabitants.
Population growth and residential and industrial development have stressed water sources and have led to a disconnection as to why those waters were held so dear.
San Antonio’s Esperanza Peace & Justice Center is hosting its third Todos Agua gathering.
Musician and co-founder of Todos Agua, Azul Barrientos, said the weeklong event is meant to connect us once again with the traditions that have been lost over generations.
“Todos Agua is a gathering of ancestral memory, art, and also community,” she said. “We hope to bring in different voices from the community and connecting to water in a different way — not only as a resource, as a commodity, but also as a living spirit. …We've been carrying it for hundreds of years. We've been taught to disconnect from it and to see it only as something that we need to live, but not necessarily as part of us.”
Barrientos said one of the opening talks on Saturday, March 21, is from Juan Mancias of the Carrizo Comecrudo tribe. His ancestors depended on the Rio Grande.
“He's going to remind us and talk to us a little bit about the history of the waters around San Antonio — the springs, the territories that have been connected for centuries before we called them what we call them now,” said Barrientos. “And he will kind of ground the space for us to continue the conversation and where we are now, in this invasion of sacred spaces, of sacred waters.”
Todos Agua III will also include discussion on the booming data center industry and its enormous reliance on water, and how Mayan traditions can inform how we connect with water.
The weeklong event will also feature music by Barrientos and past Todos Aguas collaborator, Julián Herreros Rivera.
Barrientos says Rivera, a native of Chile, will still be a part of Todos Agua III, but can’t be here in person.
“Because of the political climate, we chose that he wouldn't come this year,” she said. “His concert and workshop is going to be on Zoom. And he continues to be a very lively part of this gathering.”
Rivera’s workshop focuses on singing as an art and how songs carry memory.
The weeklong event will feature a walk through San Antonio’s Brackenridge Park to learn about the plants that have long sustained the indigenous communities that called San Antonio — Yanaguana — home.
“The focus is to get to know the plants better. Get to know them again, and how it's been used before us,” said Barrientos.
The final event at Brackenridge will also include a talk on the creation story based on the ancient White Shaman mural and a mini workshop on writing.
“And we hope that that moment will lead us to connect to our own waters, whatever that may be, emotions or blood or ancestry,” said Barrientos.
Todos Agua III starts Saturday, March 21, at San Antonio's Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, and ends at Brackenridge Park on March 28. All events are free and some will be streamed live.
View a complete schedule here.
View a video of Barrientos performing the song "Agua de Estrellas" below:
