In the Beginning Times

An Afternoon with Christinia Eala American Horse

June 27 4:00 PM

Shadowcliff Mountain Lodge, 105 Co Rd 663, Grand Lake, CO 80447

Shadowcliff is honored to welcome Lakota elder and activist Christinia Eala American Horse for an afternoon of storytelling in the Chapel.

Christinia will share stories drawn from more than four decades of work at the intersection of Indigenous rights, healing, and community, including her experiences standing with water protectors at Standing Rock and with Indigenous families and the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. She will also share traditional Lakota stories, including a teaching about the four nations of the world and the sacred covenants each was given to protect the water, the earth, the air, and the fire, and what it means for all of us that those covenants have been broken.

Christinia's visit to Shadowcliff is part of the 2026 Groundwork Residency, a program that invites community-rooted organizations to spend a week in residence at Shadowcliff resting, working, and sharing their knowledge with the Grand Lake community.

The event is free and open to the public. RSVP is recommended.

About Christinia

Coming from a deeply rooted foundation of social activism and movement building, Christinia Eala has championed human rights in many capacities over the years. As the founder and director of development of Tiyospaye Winyan Maka, meaning ‘Extended Family of Women of the Earth’ in the Lakota language, Christinia has led important work addressing crisis and systemic change for over 42 years now.​​

She is originally from the Rosebud Indian Reservation and moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, at a young age in 1955. Christinia takes care to walk in a sacred manner, keeping in mind these powerful words, and walking in the knowledge that Great Spirit is with each of us and we are destined to join our relatives under the Sacred Tree just as Tasunke Witko spoke of. While Colorado has remained her home base, Christinia’s dedication to a traditional way of life and her extensive work with Indigenous families in crisis have led her all across Turtle Island.

Christinia currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Boulder County United Nations Association chapter, as well as the Advisory Board for Colorado’s Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. She has held longstanding partnerships with several Indigenous-led nonprofits and organizations, such as a deep partnership held with the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and the national ‘Toward Right Relations’ campaign with FriendsPeaceTeams.

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