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Come Walk in My Moccasins Newsletter December 2025 |
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In this Issue:
Books: Lemming's First Christmas, Winter Lullaby, A Winter Celebration, Winter Counts: A Novel Our Arts: Winter Count: Embracing the Cold Our Music: Jingle Bells in Kanyen'keha Our Words: Winter Our Stories: Nanabush and the Spirit of Winter Our Traditions: Snow Snake Recipe: Tangerine Pudding |
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| Lemming's First Christmas
Infant and Toddler
When Lemming overhears some children singing about Christmas, she can't help but wonder about this new holiday. Qimmiq the sled dog knows all about Christmas. It's the time of year when Santa brings presents to put under your tree!
But...what is a tree? There aren't any trees where Lemming lives, in the treeless Arctic, so she decides to go on the hunt for a tree in order to have her very first Merry Christmas.
Filled with charming holiday illustrations featuring sweet Arctic animals, this book offers a warm and inviting new take on beloved Christmas traditions. (excerpt from Goodminds.com) |
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| Winter Lullaby
Preschool and Kindergarten
Geese are calling, a chilly wind is blowing, and the sky is turning gray. Winter is on its way. For Mama Bear and Small Bear, that means it’s time to tuck into their den for a long sleep. But Mouse is scurrying by, and Chipmunk is still gathering nuts beside the lake. And look at Hare and Skunk, still romping through the leaves! Why can’t Small Bear stay up, too? To each question, Mama Bear responds with the coziest of answers, finally painting a dreamy picture of the brightening colors and new adventures that will greet Small Bear in the spring. But first comes sleep, in this irresistible invitation to drowsy little cubs everywhere. (excerpt from Strongnations.com) |
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| A Winter Celebration
Primary
Wahwahbiginojii David Anderson's A Winter Celebration is a heartwarming story about what might have happened during the first winter celebration when an Anishinaabe family and a Christian family gathered together on this Land to celebrate the winter season. At this time of year, both cultures celebrate in their own way. A book about how two cultures and two traditions can come together in a way that is respectful, responsible and builds relationships. (excerpt from Strongnations.com) |
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| Winter Counts: A Novel
Young Adult
A groundbreaking thriller about a vigilante on a Native American reservation who embarks on a dangerous mission to track down the source of a heroin influx.
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.
They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.
Winter Counts is a tour-de-force of crime fiction, a bracingly honest look at a long-ignored part of American life, and a twisting, turning story that’s as deeply rendered as it is thrilling. (excerpt from Strongnations.com) |
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| Winter Count: Embracing the Cold
Featuring more than 150 works from the early 19th century to the present, this exhibition brings together Indigenous, Canadian settler and European perspectives on the subject.
Winter Count delves into concepts of tradition, identity and heritage as it explores how individual artists engage with winter motifs through objects, paintings, sculpture and works on paper. Historic Indigenous belongings are juxtaposed with works by contemporary artists like Inuit printmaker Pitseolak Ashoona and Cree artists Duane Linklater and Kent Monkman, highlighting ancestral knowledge, storytelling and contemporary critique. The exhibition then draws comparisons between Canadian painters such as Maurice Cullen and Clarence Gagnon and French Impressionists Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, focusing on their distinct approaches to capturing the effects of light on snow. Finally, it reveals a shared visual language among Canadian artists like J.E.H. MacDonald and Lawren S. Harris and their Canadian and Scandinavian counterparts through the lens of winter.
Named for the pictorial records used by Indigenous nations from the Plains like the Lakota, Winter Count reflects on themes of survival, adaptation and kinship, portraying winter as a transformative force that shapes human experience.
This exhibition is a collaboration between the departments of Indigenous Ways and Decolonization, Canadian Art and European, American and Asian art. (excerpt from National Gallery of Canada) |
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| Jingle Bells
Sing along to Jingle Bells translated to Kanyen'keha. (.43 second video) |
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| Winter
Learn to say "winter" in Kanyen'keha (Mohawk language) and Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language). (.28 second video) |
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| Nanabush and the Spirit of Winter
In this video by Wabano Centre, Edna Manitowabi tells the story of Nanabush, and what happens when he visits the Spirit of Winter.
There are some stories that are only told at certain times of the year. Nanabush stories are told in the wintertime. Listen to Odawa/Ojibwe Knowledge Keeper, Edna Manitowabi, as she shares stories of Nanabush that she heard as a child. (4:32 minute video) |
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| Snow Snake
This video by Syracuse.com shows Snow Snake at Onondaga Nation. Snow snake sport includes players that stand at the end of the track, encouraging the snake to go or stop. (.48 second video) |
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| Tangerine Pudding
Kennedy shares a recipe for tangerine pudding. |
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Indigenous Language Resources |
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| Mohawk Language Learning Resource This open education resource (OER) may be used a supplementary resource to learning the Mohawk language at the beginner level. In the first part of the OER, the basic morphology, of the language is introduced through pronouns, pronoun prefixes, particles, and verb roots. The second part introduces vocabulary builders. Finally, in the third part, basic conversational language is explored.
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Language Resources created with the intention of learning and developing your knowledge of the Michif language. The resources featured are trilingual including the following languages; Michif, French, and English.
Anishnaabemowin - Our Language Our Culture
Ojibwa language booklet
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Tsi Tyónnheht Onkwawén:na provides Mohawk language and culture programming at the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory (the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte). They run several programs, including Totáhne (At Grandma's House) for preschool children, Kawenna'ón:we Primary Immersion (K-4) and Shatiwennakará:tats, a year long program for Adults. |
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Free Anishinaabemowin printable resources, lesson plans, and videos to help learn the language |
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| Ohné:ka Healing Project Educator's Resource Guide Created by Abraham Francis and Dr. Sarah Konwahahawi Rourke in collaboration with the Indigenous Arts Collective, designed to reconnect youth and communities with traditional teachings and the sacred responsibility to Water. |
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| Nurturing Childhoods Through Indigenous Ways of Knowing Explore teachings, strategies, and resources that guide the inclusion of Indigenous ways of knowing in early learning environments. This is a FREE online course provided by the University of British Columbia. |
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| Toronto Zoo- Turtle Island Conservation Toronto Zoo's Turtle Island Conservation programme (TIC) respectfully shares the hopes and goals of First Nation partners in our committment to the preservation of biodiversity. TIC partners with First Nation communities to preserve community knowledge and significant natural and cultural landscapes.
Resources available in Ojibwe and Mohawk. |
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Sources for Indigenous books:
Indigenous Book Lending:
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| We need YOU!
Help us become more inclusive of the many First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples among our readership. Share an Indigenous recipe, song, or traditional art through Come Walk in My Moccasins. Contact kahwatsire@mbq-tmt.org if you are interested in becoming a guest contributor.
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| | Indigenous Family Literacy Circle Partners:
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| Come Walk in My Moccasins is created by the Indigenous Family Literacy Circle and sponsored by Journey Together through Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. Click here to download or print the Come Walk in My Moccasins pamphlet. |
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Copyright 2016 Indigenous Family Literacy Circle 465 Advance Avenue, Napanee, Canada | |
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