The festive season is a perfect time to tell ancient legends that wrap us in their magical atmosphere, perhaps in front of a fireplace or a hot chocolate. This time we have to go back centuries, to the tales that were passed down for generations around a fire and under the stars. In the vast prairies of a still untouched American continent, the natives lived in peace and harmony with Mother Earth. Their relationship with the animals was intense and almost inconceivable to us, precisely because it was rooted in something that in today’s hectic life continually escapes us: sacredness. The animals were a tangible expression of Wakan Tanka revealing himself to humans, in the enchantment and mystery of his existence. The tradition of some tribes is that each person is connected to nine different animals that will accompany them through life, acting as their guide. 

Today, the reality we live in looks totally different. Currently, about one million species are threatened with extinction due to reckless human pollution, illegal trade, poaching and climate change. 

Some of these such as dolphins, turtles and sharks live – or rather, survive – in marine habitats totally devastated by plastic. Suffice it to say that one in two turtles that inhabit our seas has plastic waste in its stomach, and more than 40,000 of them die every year in the Mediterranean Sea. Fifty per cent of the sharks swimming in the Mediterranean Sea are at risk of disappearing forever, while the lives of dolphins are put to the test by the numerous plastic fragments and poachers. 

Looking at these shocking numbers, we have decided that for Christmas we want to give a gift to our Mother Earth through her most emblazoned representation and reconnect with our ancestral relationship with the animals that have inhabited her long before us. 

With the help of WWF Italia, we have adopted these three endangered species and will give our small contribution to protect their existence and make it better, as it should be. 

Christmas is not about objects but about actions. This is not a gift you can put under the tree or share with friends like a bottle of wine but it has a meaning that is very important to us. It reminds us that we are all connected and that we must never stop seeking connection with the creatures of the universe because the relationship that is created between us and them is something priceless that cannot be bought.