Fourteen-year-old Manu David poured hand-blended teas and brought cups to the women of all ages who filled a workshop room at the Elders & Youth conference.
“There's raspberry and chamomile tea, and then there's nettle and minced tea,” she said.
David and other girls made the teas during a gathering for girls coming of age, called Nodoyedee’onh. Her family has been reviving this Dene tradition through sharing circles, where everyone takes turns talking about what’s in their heart.
They also harvest plant medicine, make their own body products and work on traditional skills like sewing and beading.
“It's really fun,” David said. “It's just like, everybody gets together and we just share about anything and everything. It's just a good time to, like, gather around and to do fun stuff and to learn.”
At the Elders & Youth conference, young girls shared their experiences from those gatherings, which are also called the Moontime Circlers. Participants were also invited to take part through a conversation and hands-on activities.
“I just felt so proud of these girls for being so willing to share their knowledge,” said Helena Jacobs, who has been working with the girls during Nodoyedee’onh. “I feel like the work we're doing with them right now is healing multiple generations.”
Jacobs, who is David’s aunt, said that several years ago, her family started to gather every few months around the full and new moons. They invited elders to share their knowledge gifted from Dene relatives in Alaska and their Cree and Ojibwe family from Canada.
They realized there was a broader interest in reviving coming-of-age ceremonies. Jacobs said that about a year ago, they partnered with the Alaska Native Birthworkers Community and transitioned the family gatherings into a community event for teenage girls.
“It's been really healing to support them and to just empower them with knowledge about their bodies and just surround them with a lot of love and support throughout these big transitions in life that can sometimes feel kind of scary or isolating,” Jacobs said.
At the Elders & Youth workshop, the participants joined in a circle and shared tears and laughter from their own stories.
Qimalleq Teter is Yup'ik and Cup'ik from St Mary’s and now lives in Fairbanks. She said she came to the workshop because she wanted to learn how to guide her four-year-old daughter, but realized she herself still wants guidance.
“You get of age of different things, all throughout your life,” Teter said.
Teter said that in Yupik culture, the ceremonies are not just for when a girl hits puberty. They are for other milestones too, like when a woman catches her first fish, makes her first thing and has her first baby.
Teter said the workshop reminded her that it's not too late to honor transitions in her life.
“I think maybe deep down, I just really wanted this for me, not just for my baby, so Quyana,” she said.
The workshop closed with two activities. Women and girls wrote affirmations for themselves and others and connected them with a string. They also made heating pads filled with rice and fragrances.
Organizers invited Alaska Native women who want teenage girls in their families to attend the moontime gatherings to sign up at the events page on the Alaska Native Birthworkers Community website.
