Sotɩč is the word for Winter to the ʔayʔaǰuθəm speaking people of ɬəʔamɛn (Tla’amin), kómoks (Comox), χʷɛmaɬkʷu (Homalco), and ƛohos (Klahoose). AHS Advisor Dana Gustafson (Tla’amin) explains, Sotɩč is a time of rest and celebration, where families get together to reconnect and share stories and time with one another. During Sotɩč, many feasts are shared around the table with family and friends, as well as the sharing of food with loved ones who are now in the spirit world. Ceremonial burnings are done for Ancestors and can be done anytime but are usually connected with special events or occasions that are of importance to the family, led by ƛaχƛaχay (Elders) or Knowledge Keepers.
Sotɩč is also the time of year when we rely on the traditional food that has been harvested earlier in the year and preserved such as berries, dried, smoked, and jarred salmon. Families will use their berries to add dessert to the family feasts, and salmon is used in many ways. Some communities are fortunate and can distribute Sotɩč food baskets full of traditional food items to support families through the cold months ahead. “We love the Sotɩč season and celebrations, but we also look forward to ƛiʔčos (Spring) and the awakening of Mother Earth,” says Dana.
Community Teachings & Opportunities:
In British Columbia, Family Day is on February 19th, 2024, this year, making February an ideal time to explore traditional parenting teachings in your community. AHSABC continues to host and provide ‘Traditional Parenting by Janet Fox Facilitator Training,’ and we are proud to host our 4th session this month.
We would like to take this time to honour the late Janet Fox Pon and her important teachings! She was a Cree Elder/Knowledge Keeper who was dedicated to reconnecting with Cree ways to support the continuation of Indigenous parenting in communities across the country. It was her belief the reconnection of these ways are part of the healthy path.
In many Indigenous cultures, there is a special word with spiritual meaning to refer to the person after they have passed on to the spiritual world. Non-Indigenous people may use the words the late and deceased, but this is not the case for most Indigenous nations. In Nêhiyawêwin (Cree) the suffix –pun or –pon is added, explains Dr. Winston Wuttunee (Red Pheasant FN) in Anishinaabemowin, this suffix is “–baa.”
AHSABC offers this training throughout the year and encourages programs to tailor the training to local nations’ parenting practices. Embracing Indigenous parenting practices helps families reconnect with their culture and strengthen their parenting skills. If your program has not enrolled in this training yet, please contact ecespecialist@ahsabc.com.
Parenting tools and teachings discussed in the Janet Fox Traditional Parenting Program are also important for the children to participate in the AHS program environment. Children love to have these experiences and are proud to share these teachings with their families. These teachings can be woven into your daily conversations with program staff and families.
For example, one of the parenting tools covered in the program is the baby swing.
The team at Tansi AHS in Chetwynd BC drew inspiration from the Traditional Parenting by Janet Fox Training and incorporated many teachings in the classroom! With permission from their Licensing Officer, the baby swing known as Wîwîp’son in the Cree language, to their classroom.
In mainstream society, various ‘motion therapies’ resemble this practice and are employed to enhance physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Extensive research in this field has revealed numerous health benefits. Indigenous swing therapy, derived from teachings since time immemorial, stands as a healing method that offers much-needed affection and care, sorely absent in contemporary society. Elder Dorothy also shared her personal experience with the nebelh’, baby swings in the Nedut’en Dialect.
Jessie Louie, from Klahoose First Nation, remembers being six years old in 1959, watching her dad make a swing for her baby brother. “My dad made one for my mom over their bed where she could put a cedar baby basket in it,” she recalls. Her parents, Johnny Alex Louie and Emma Theresa Louie were both from Toba Inlet and had 10 children. “It was made from rope that could pulley the swing up and down,” and she remembers pushing the swing back and forth with her sisters to help with her brother.” Jessie is now a grandmother to seven, and a great-grandmother to two. She has dedicated her life to preserving her language and walking a good path.
Dramatic Play:
In your dramatic play area, consider adding cultural parenting items from your nation, such as baby moss bags, baby swings, baby belts, Inuit coats (Amautis), wooden baby sleds, and traditional clothing for dolls. You can also incorporate items like baby bonnets, cedar hats, and historical archive pictures from your local nation, laminated and posted at the child’s eye level. AHS gifted each program a Moss bag made by Metis Elder Linda Vanwirengen. Please see attached hand out for planning, send home to families and use to make a cultural display board.
For more traditional parenting resources:
- Children’s Educational Indigenous Cultural Kit:
http://wiwipson.com/resources/childrens-educational-cree-cultural-kit/
Books for children on Traditional Parenting Practices to add to your Early Childhood Environment.
- Darlene Auger’s, Little Woman’s Lodge Stories: https://eschiabooks.com/little-women/
February Programming Ideas:
In the AHS program environment, February is a month to continue Winter teachings and explore topics like sharing, love, and family more closely. You can focus on red, associated with these teachings from your local nation(s) and explore other colours on the medicine wheel. Medicine wheel colours may vary depending on the nation.
In Cree, February is referred to as Mikisiwi-Pisim, the eagle moon. In many areas across the province of BC and in other places in Canada, this is the month when eagles are visible in large numbers due to it being mating season.
Circle Time:
Invite guests to share cultural materials.
Jolene Alexander from Little Chiefs AHS in Quesnel, in Lhtako Dene territory shares “We have had the opportunity to have Brent and Sarah Edgar present their costal masks and show pictures of themselves dancing with the masks and wearing their regalia at Powwows.”
Read stories on the eagle this month. Sing action songs that have children fly like eagles! Host Elders and Knowledge Keepers, and wildlife practitioners in to talk about the behaviours of eagles, what they eat, how they hunt and spiritual practices.
February Science Ideas:
- Take the children out to notice changes in nature, look for examples of frost to show them.
- A follow-up activity inside would be How to Make Frost in a Jar to learn how frost forms.
- At circle time bring out an outside weather thermometer, to discuss how it checks the temperature.
- Follow up outside with a thermometer that is in the outdoors and have the children help guess the temperature.
- Look in your community for areas prevalent for eagles and safe to bring the children to explore. Have them look for eagles, watch their flying patterns, look for feathers etc.
Follow up with discussions on:
- How do birds stay warm in the winter?
- Why are feathers waterproof?
- How do feathers help birds to fly?
- What are bird’s nests made of?
Music and Movement: Little Cedar Trees AHS
Outdoor Exploration:
Birdwatching for eagles can be a fascinating and educational experience. You can also incorporate nature-based activities that promote self-regulation, such as silent study or sensory wake-up activities. These activities encourage children to slow down, observe their surroundings, and engage their senses in nature.
Silent Study:
Here is a wonderful activity for you and children to slow down, relax and immerse yourself in your surroundings with them. Start with short periods of silence where children sit quietly and listen to the outdoor sounds. Choose a spot where you can observe items in nature. After they have had their moments of silent study, they can draw what they saw or heard. You can gradually extend the duration as the group becomes more comfortable with this activity. To begin, you may open this activity with a land acknowledgement or express gratitude through words or songs in your Indigenous language or share a land offering. Creating a routine for this activity can enhance your connection with nature-like the skills acquired by children out on the land hunting, trapping, fishing, berry picking, or fixing hides.
Sensory Wake Up:
Encourage children to engage their senses in nature walking or exploring, through verbal cues or songs.
What do you:
- Hear?
- Smell?
- See?
- Taste?
- Feel?
Creating awareness and responsiveness while on the land while giving an opportunity to add vocabulary in both Indigenous language and scientific terms for plants or natural processes, for example.
Walking Meditation:
Practicing mindfulness and meditation can easily be woven into a nature walk. Walking slowly and carefully like a turtle, or at a light and gentle pace like a fox. Listening quietly to nature as they walk and topping frequently to touch and wonder about different items on the ground, smelling and putting their hand on their chest to feel their heartbeat while taking different types of breath, they can feel themselves exhaling. Ask for observations and reflections at the end of the walk! Start with small periods of time and increase as familiarity and rhythm grows.
For more ideas, check out Heartbeat of the Earth,Connecting Children to Nature through Indigenous Teachings by Launa Purcell (Lil’Wat, Xa’xtsa) with photos by Wes Snukwa7, (Nlaka’pamux) This easy-to-read, 80-page handbook is full of a wide range of activities and photos for children of all ages inspired by Indigenous teachings from across the province.
Lofty Ideas:
Eagles are nesting this month and can be seen in large groups. This is a great month to turn your loft into an eagle’s nest. Have the children help fill the top of the loft (Nest) with comfortable pillows and other items that they think the birds would need. Add eagle stuffed animals or puppets, wooden or plastic eggs, plastic worms and bugs and other items the children suggest. The bottom of the loft can contain pictures of the eagles and a science table can be set up with eagle feathers and magnifying glasses etc. Hang up the word for eagle or eagles’ nest in large letters in your community’s Indigenous language for the children to see every time they play in “the nest.” For programs that do not have a loft, this project can easily be built out of pillows and a blanket on the floor on a tarp or in a large box.
Literacy, Innovative Idea:
Bring literacy outdoors in this outdoor activity that was created by Elder Shirley Salmond & the Sas Natsadle AHS team in Fort St. John! Read The Giving Tree, by Leah Dorion (Métis) in which Moushoom shares memories of finding the “great giving tree.”
Elder Shirley explained, “It was such a unique experience giving back (offering) to Mother Earth! The teachers gathered as many items as they could that were listed in the book, to offer to our tree.”
Book of the Month:
On the Trapline, by David Robertson (Norway House FN), illustrated by Julie Flett (Cree-Métis). As Moshom brings his young grandson to the trapline, the journey holds memories, meaningful places, family stories. Connection, heart and wonder are shared through warm storytelling and gentle illustrations.
Outreach & Activity Kits:
Make a homemade game that teaches traditional language and helps children strengthen counting, sequencing, memory. Send this game home with an Indigenous recipe and ingredients, a swim pass or similar family activity, family craft, or a family wellness kit with traditional ingredients and a teaching to send home.
Parent Involvement:
February 19th is Family Day!
- Make a family board dedicated to this day with Indigenous teachings, family photos and opportunities for families to celebrate in the community.
- Post opportunities on program web pages, in your monthly newsletter, social media pages and on program apps such as Dojo or Hi Mama.
- Celebrate each family by making a family tree display in your program.
- Hosting a family feast.
- Invite families to join for a special lunch or craft activity.
- Host a family picture opportunity.
- Have Elders and Knowledge Keepers host a gathering for children and families to focus on the teaching of their nation(s) spiritual beliefs and protocols on the eagle. The eagle is important to most Indigenous nations.
Elder Involvement:
Consider inviting Elders to be part of team-building days, PAC meetings, and staff meetings. AHS mentor Sheena Rogers explains, Elders can provide valuable insights, guidance, and support in various aspects of AHS programming, including cultural activities, protocols, values, and relationships. Their presence can significantly contribute to the success of meetings and discussions on important topics. Sheena gives an example, “We had a family who was having some struggles, and we were trying to support them. We held a meeting with the caregiver, the Elder and me. The Elder changed the dynamic of the room and added valuable information to the conversation, and I felt like the meeting was more successful because of their presence.”
Dakelh Elder Maureen Thomas of Saikuz First Nation has been helping to promote cultural teachings with the children and families at Hohudul’eh Bayoh Indigenous Head Start and also helping the programming team to incorporate culture and language in all aspects of daily programming and special events.
Cooking, Food Prep:
February is a great month to bake nutritious muffins with the children. Look for muffin recipes that are low in sugar and feature natural sweeteners such as applesauce. Feature two different muffins a week and create a muffin recipe book for each child to take home. Identify each child’s favorite recipe. Try adding ingredients that were picked and then preserved by drying, freezing, or canning in the summer. These ingredients are widely used in Indigenous communities such as mountain blueberries, huckleberries, saskatoons, high bush cranberries, salal, salmon berries and cloudberries as these are all high in Vitamin C.
Create a food board at the entrance of your building highlighting recipes that the children have eaten that contain food ingredients from their lands and waters.
Recipe of the Month: Soopallalie Ice Cream
February is a month that many nations bring out canned and preserved foods from the summer and fall. Canned Soopallalie (buffalo or soap) berries can be used to make the perfect February treat to bring back the taste of the freshness of ripe summer berries.
There are as many Soopallalie recipes as families! Here’s a recipe shared by an organization supporting Indigenous men’s health. This fruit dish is made from soopallalie (buffalo or soap) berries. Berries were collected by placing a cedar bark mat under the soopallalie bushes and then hitting the bushes, causing the berries to fall onto the mat. The gathered berries were put into wooden boxes made especially for carrying berries, and then rolled down a damp board. The berries would fall into a basket, but the twigs, leaves, and dirt would stick to the plank.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canned soopallalie berries
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
Directions
- In a clean metal, porcelain, or glass bowl combine 2 tablespoons canned soopallalie berries with 1/4 cup water.
- Using a mixer, beat the berries until a foam forms. Gradually add 3 to 4 tablespoons sugar (up to 1/2 cup may be added if desired).
- Continue beating until the foam is stiff. Serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.
Note: If using fresh berries that were previously frozen, 1 cup of fresh berries is equivalent to 2 tablespoons of canned berries. Crush 2 tablespoons of fresh berries and mix with 1/4 cup of cold water. Begin beating the mixture, then add the remainder of the fresh berries. Follow the above recipe beginning at step 2.
Book recommendations for this month can be found on our website resource page Book List.
Art Centre:
Fresh ideas for your art area:
- Simulated eagle feathers and smaller simulated feathers in natural colours.
- Red, pink, and medicine wheel colours of cellophane, felt, pipe cleaners, cardstock, paper.
- Paints in the medicine wheel colours and materials cut into circles for creative projects.
Create a flyer and post asking parents to send in materials recycled from their homes! Encourage parent participation by collecting materials like wrapping paper, paper towel tubes, plastic container lids styrofoam containers, juice can lids, fruit cup or yogurt containers, unused materials or hide odds and ends, extra pieces of wool and furs, buttons, lace, ribbon, jingles, and more. Experiment with paint recipes such as Shiny Paint and Edible paint.
Craft Ideas:
Weave a family theme into craft projects!
- Host cultural or creative craft opportunities for the whole family, with activities for moms, dads, and families together.
- Children can decorate picture frames for family photos, create family trees using their handprints, make family-themed magnets using juice can lids, and more.
Block Play:
Put foam blocks in the water table this month. Encourage children to build structures but instead of a steady surface they will be challenging their skills by building on top of water. As children try to build and test new ideas, they add to their knowledge of the properties of water. This will also further develop reasoning and other cognitive development skills. As the children are building with blocks an educator can help them practice their colours in the program’s Indigenous language.
Sensory:
For a quiet sensory activity that promotes pre-school readiness, fill smaller bins of sand with scrabble alphabets. Provide shovels and tools for digging, and have children dig out letters. This activity can be a one-on-one experience where children recognize letters, spell their names, or form simple words.
Sensory dough can be a fun and engaging activity it can also be a relaxing and calming activity. Explore various sensory dough recipes for February, such as Valentine’s Day Frozen Sensory Dough or rose-scented playdough.
- Easy Valentine’s Day Frozen Sensory Dough Recipe
- Therapeutic Rose Scented Play Dough, or try it with sweetgrass essential oil!
- Set up a winter themed tactile area that children can manipulate and create different stories and conversations with.
Health Support
At AHS programs across the province, program teams work hard to provide wrap-around social support to families. They support holistic wellness for the children daily through activities such as smudging, brushing, traditional languages, songs and words of gratitude, provide words of comfort, praise and acknowledgement. Mental health is a very important topic but can sometimes be difficult to explore with families.
Here are some resources to support your program families!
https://www.fnha.ca/Documents/FNHA-mental-health-and-wellness-supports-for-indigenous-people.pdf
https://ymhc.ngo/pages/heart-to-heart-campaign
https://ymhc.ngo/pages/ymhc-parent-family-workshops
https://ymhc.ngo/pages/daily-compassionate-messages-of-support
