It was a great privilege to help feed the fire at her community's Treaty 11 commemoration this summer, writes Karalyn Menicoche of Fort Providence, N.W.T.
Posted: Dec 21, 2020 7:00 AM CT | Last Updated: December 22, 2020
Former N.W.T. premier Stephen Kakfwi has been celebrating at the solstice for decades, but says this year s ceremony carries special importance.(Hilary Bird/CBC)
Many years ago when Dec. 21 rolled around, Stephen Kakfwi would pop off his socks and shoes, dash out into the freezing darkness of an N.W.T. winter, and do a jig, barefoot, in the snow. The two youngest ones started crying, because they didn t know why I was outside in my bare feet dancing, Kakfwi said.
It was Kakfwi s way of marking the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year and the day when the sun begins its long return to the North.