Overview
Ireta P’urhépecha is a community collective dedicated to preserving our Indigenous culture and identity. We have come together to strengthen our ancestral knowledge. We are committed to reciprocal relationships with our Native relatives from these lands, as well as to establishing solidarity with other communities striving for our collective liberation. Our goal is to foster a strong cultural identity for future generations.
Brief History
The collective Ireta P’urhépecha was established in 2008 in Washington State by members of the P’urhépecha community from Michoacán, Mexico with the intent of preserving P’urhépecha culture and traditions. The collective has gone through various stages. Initially, its founding members identified themselves as “Añoranza P’urhépecha” as a symbol of the longing for the culture left behind. Later on, the collective decided to identify itself as “Orgullo P’urhépecha” or P’urhépecha Pride. During this time, the collective organized the First P’urhépecha Encounter of the Northwest. The success of the first gathering led to the first event in the Seattle area to celebrate the P’urhépecha New Year, also known as the Fire Renewal ceremony. This event brought people from many P’urhépecha communities across Washington and Oregon. Since then, the P’urhépecha New Year has been organized in this area of the pacific Northwest and the event has grown, bringing people from communities in California, Oregon and others. In 2018, the collective made a third transition to its current name “Ireta P’urhépecha” which roughly translates to P’urhépecha community, as it better represents the P’urhépecha community values. These values are based on the knowledge and ways of our ancestors, in the virtue of communal work, and the support of social justice, environmental justice, and economic justice.
Our Mission
We are fully committed to collaborate with the local P’urhépecha population, as well as establishing solidarity with a diverse community of allies in minority communities and other groups of first nations peoples in order to lay the foundation to a solid cultural and reciprocal base.
Our Objective
We have come together with the objective of recovering our ancestral knowledge and strengthening our roots in order to be able to put them in practice in this transitional territory and therefore establish a strong base of our knowledge for future generations.
In order to fulfill this objective we organize the following activities through an annual cycle:
- P’urhépecha New Year – Kurhíkuaeri K’uínchekua – First weekend of February
- Community Assembly – Tangurikuaecha – Monthly, every first Sunday of the month
- Tsiinajperaku – Sanacion Comunal – Second weekend of August
- Sweat lodge – Jurhingekua – Bimonthly, every other Sunday
- Community garden – Tarekua – February through November following the corn cycle
- Day of the Dead/ Fiesta de ánimas – Ketsitakua – November 2nd
- Acknowledgment – Mainperakua – Last weekend in November
In our projects, we prioritize creating hate-free environments. We fully support women’s liberation and embrace cultural diversity, welcoming all communities that experience discrimination, including 2SLGBTQIA+, members of the Black community as well as other vulnerable communities. At the events and spaces we organize, we are committed to supporting individuals who are striving for sobriety; therefore, our events are alcohol and substance-free.