‘A time to reflect’: June 21 marks National Indigenous Peoples Day and summer solstice

National Indigenous Peoples Day is more than just a day — its a time of celebration.

Fawn Redwood from Cowessess First Nation is co-hosting the virtual event on June 21, and for her it is a day to recognize Indigenous peoples.

“It’s an opportunity to celebrate and honor all of our diverse cultures of First Nations, Inuit, Metis, people and our contributions to Canada,” Redwood said. “For example, the Treaties. We are on Treaty 4 land, and recognizing the history that is involved and our relationship right now in the present.”

National Indigenous Peoples Day falls on summer solstice, a day that has been celebrated for thousands of years. In the sky, the Sun travels its longest path making it the longest day with daylight and marking the first day of summer, or mid-summer.

City of Regina’s cultural diversity and Indigenous relations adviser Bradley Bellegarde says summer solstice holds significance.

“With the new solstice, it means everything that happened in the spring, you can let that all go,” Bellegard said. “Whether there was trauma, whether there was pain… and then you move on and you start fresh.

“Every season is a new life, it’s a new chance, it’s a new birth. So you don’t have to carry those burdens.”

A special time celebrated with ceremony and feasts, the day will incorporate traditional practices. This year, the theme is a celebration of food.

“We really wanted to recognize the oral traditions and emphasize the value of Indigenous food related knowledge, our roles our responsibility our relationship between the land animals, plants, and of course, one another,” Redwood said.

“We wanted to kind of focus on some of our traditional foods. For example, dried meat, pemmican, all of the available berries and root vegetables that are considered traditional, but then there’s also our colonized food as well. For example, bannock is a very huge one. We’ve adapted with colonization to have that as a staple within a lot of our homes and communities. So that’s also going to be a part of it as well.”

The Facebook virtual event will feature recipes and a bannock demonstration. People are encouraged to share their own recipes.

Also lined up as part of the festivities will be powwow dancers, jiggers, talks on food sovereignty and speeches from honored dignitaries.

“It’s really just a time to reflect and recognize where we are in our present and look forward to our future as well,” Redwood said.

“It’s about encouraging people to get out into your community, learn about your Indigenous people that are around you. Learn what nations are close, to understand what it is to be an ally.”

The event can be found on Facebook at 2021 Regina National Indigenous Peoples Day.