JoVonne Wagner
ICT
An Indigenous foundation in Minnesota is set to host a first-time live event on Facebook to share the cultural significance of the summer solstice to encourage traditional knowledge education.
The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year but for some Indigenous communities, it also means an opportunity to reconnect. For the Tiwahe Foundation, an Indigenous philanthropy organization that strives to support Native people within Minnesota, both the solstice and the equinox hold value to the Nakota, Dakota, Lakota and Annishinabe peoples as it plays a role in their oral history and customs.
According to the National Weather Service, the solstice occurs twice a year, first on June 21, which marks the day in which the earth receives the most daylight hours due to the Earth’s tilt which allows the sun to rise at its highest level in the sky during the noon hour. The winter solstice, Dec. 21, marks the shortest day of the year with the least amount of daylight. The spring and autumn equinox are two separate days in the fall and spring in which there is almost no tilt to the earth that gives an equal amount of both day and nighttime.
These days signify the changing of seasons, and ultimately changing of weather patterns that is for some tribes, a key factor in learning about the environment and nature that they live from.
“We are not looking to try to indigenize existing models of giving or programming, but rather start from culture and language and start from our values and our teachings,” said Nikki Pieratos, Annishinaabe, the executive director of the organization.
Pieratos said the solstices and equinoxes played a role in traditional ways of learning. She said the Tiwahe Foundation meets four times a year during the solstices and equinoxes.
“We learn and talk about ‘What does it mean to be in the springtime, right?’ This time of rebirth and rejuvenation,” Pieratos said. “We talk about what the different right moon phases are for Dakota and Anishinaabe people, and how that impacts how we show up in the work.”
The foundation has planned an event on Facebook live that is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Central Daylight Time, Wednesday.
The Facebook live event, titled Solstice as a Sacred Site, essentially was created to educate and welcome the public in learning about the cultural significance of the seasons. Tribal elder LeMoine LaPointe, Sicangu Lakota, will present to discuss the summer teachings but will reserve to share an in-depth recording of himself talking about constellation stories for a closed gathering of Tiwahe organizers.
According to Pieratos, finding different avenues for inclusive connection to their communities, especially to those who don’t live near or on a tribal landbase, is pretty new. This will be the first time the foundation will host a public, live event on its social media about the subject matter.
“The main thing that we’re doing it for is to just start, it’s the very first time we’re doing it this way,” said Pieratos. “So just start and see, is this something that our community members and beyond value? Is this the right way to share it?”
The Tiwahe Foundation’s goal for the summer solstice presentation goes back into the foundation’s overall mission: A cycle of success that continuously shares and receives to uplift Indigenous culture and communities.
“Success to Native people isn’t success in dominant culture,” Pieratos said. “We need to keep leading with our values and we keep needing to provide solutions and opportunities that speak to the way that we view the world and the values that we have, which are incongruent to the values of Western society. And we don’t assimilate well.”
The link to the live event is posted to the foundation’s Facebook page.
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