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Since the Little Ice Age thousands of years ago, the Indigenous nations east of the Mississippi River traditionally spent the Winter time telling stories, feasting, gambling, and generally making merry until the work of spring arrived--and along with their contemporary lifestyles, they still do! With the cold, wet winters of the American northeast, it is no surprise that, like people today, Native nations in pre-colonial times stayed indoors and were focused on keeping warm, eating well, and having fun. And that they did! Think three month party! When you live within a social structure where there is no working class or elite class, this type of life is possible. Everyone pulls together to live well.

In the Eastern Woodlands nations, winter is the time of Woman. To these nations, the cosmos are understood to be twinned and gendered, for example, Mother Earth/Father Sky. Hence, Winter is the time of Woman; Summer is the time of Man. In their cultural cosmology, winter is the most "woman" time of the year (turtles, resting, storytelling, lawmaking, grassroots politics) as summer is the most "man" time of year (eagles, traveling, international diplomacy, sporting events). This is called a world or galaxy based on the premise of Gender Complementarity or sacred, balanced halves. Yes, it is a highly-evolved, long-practiced social structure that is egalitarian. Two-Spirited people (2LGBTQ) fall within the continuum between the woman/man poles: these folks were not socially excluded or diminished before the European immigrants arrived. See my previous blog on Same-Sex Marriage for more information about this.

Once December arrives, I am routinely asked to recommend books for young people for winter holiday gift-giving that present culturally authentic stories about Native Americans. What a happy task!

There are so many wonderful books for children of all ages (and for those adults who love to read "children's" books--yours truly included) to learn about culturally-accurate Indigenous culture.

For folks who have the day off this Monday, October 12 in celebration of Columbus Day, the holiday may seem like a good enough idea.

"Indigenous women are going missing and being murdered at a much higher rate than other women in Canada—a rate so high it constitutes nothing less than a national human rights crisis."--Amnesty International

In my line of work, you have to develop patience.

Whether I am at the dentist or a dinner party, as soon as someone learns that I am a teacher and writer of Native American Studies the questions start flowing. Most questions are asked out of sincere curiosity, and I am usually glad to educate these folks. However, sometimes people will flatly say with a huff, "I  thought all the Indians were dead" or "Indians can't read and write." As I said, over the years I have developed a lot of patience! Because of so much benign, and sometimes obviously racist, ignorance, I have dedicated myself to teaching about Indigenous cultures and histories as widely as possible--most people are respectful and genuinely want to learn more. But what we need is everybody to work on raising awareness about Native people today, not just educators like me.

Photograph from the Miss Indian Nations Facebook Page of the United Tribes Technical College