Lennox Island begins new tradition with Christmas Mawi'omi

The Lennox Island First Nation has hosted holiday gatherings before, but on Saturday it launched what will become a new tradition: the Christmas Mawi'omi.

The new gathering is about blending Mi'kmaw culture into Christmas traditions as part of a movement to reclaim the community's customs and teach them to the younger generation.

"Any opportunity that we get that's going to … reinforce the work that we're doing … to revitalize our language and our culture, then that's a great thing," said Chief Darlene Bernard.

"There's still a lot of the traditional … Santa and all of those things, but let's incorporate some teaching for our kids."

Members of the Mi'kmaq Heritage Actors performed a combination of traditional Mi'kmaw music as well as favourite Christmas carols, while still incorporating Mi'kmaw instruments like drums and the ji'kmaqn — an instrument made from black ash often played with the ko'jua, a Mi'kmaw traditional dance

The day also featured ko'jua instructional sessions and dance competitions.

"It's very gratifying because we work so, so hard and everyone here in this community is interested in the revitalization of our language and our culture," the chief said.

"At our Christmas concert the children sang O Holy Night in Mi'kmaw and I had tears in my eyes.… It was the first time that they sang a song like that, that's so complex like that, in our language."

The community also shared stories about Christmas traditions they practised on the island growing up, and wrote them down to preserve them for future generations. 

One story was shared around how community members would stick their Christmas trees in the ice around the land, still adorned with tinsel and decor.

"We're actually starting to see results of the work that we are doing. So I think this is just another thing to celebrate and … add our culture to it," Bernard said.

"Maybe the Easter Bunny needs to learn the ko'jua as well."