Celebrate First Nations Cultures – March 2021
Posted on March 1, 2021
FNEAA celebrates First Nations diverse and beautiful cultures in the month of March 2021. There are many ways to experience, celebrate and honor First Nations cultures in the month of March. Learn more about your culture from your grandparents, parents, and elders in your community. Be safe and protect family members by using phones, Internet, and social media to connect to pass on knowledge from one generation to another. There is not one First Nations culture but many. Each First Nation has its own culture, customs, beliefs, traditions, and worldviews. First Nations have diverse cultural practices, symbols, arts, and knowledge systems that are connect them to their land, Creator and with one another.
So, take the month and every month to learn more about your culture from the land and people around you. Use social media, facetime, Zoom or other platforms to connect with family and grandparents, and elders. The winter months is a perfect time to hear stories and teachings.
Some online resources:
The Learning Circle: Classroom Activities on First Nations in Canada – Ages 8 to 11 – https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1316530294102/1535458624988
World Wildlife Day
On Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021 was World Wildlife Day. From a First Nations perspective, First Nations and Indigenous peoples around the world rely on the natural world for their way of life and survival.
World Wildlife Day will be celebrated in 2021 under the theme “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”, to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties to forested and forest-adjacent areas.
This aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals 1, 12, 13 and 15, and their wide-ranging commitments to alleviating poverty, ensuring sustainable use of resources, and on conserving life land. On 20 December 2013, at its 68th session, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed 3 March – the day of signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973 – as UN World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants.
Celebrate on March 3rd and for more information and events around the world go to: https://www.wildlifeday.org/
Celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, 2021
UN Women announces the theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021 (IWD 2021) as, “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” The theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.Celebrate First Nations women leaders, administrators, educators, healthcare workers, mothers, and extended family members who have stepped up to keep their communities and families safe and secure during the pandemic. Women are the keepers of the culture that keeps our communities and families strong. Share with your families, friends, and colleagues the stories of women and girls in your community of their handwork, dedication, and sacrifices.
Women stand at the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, as health care workers, caregivers, innovators, community organizers and as some of the most exemplary and effective national leaders in combating the pandemic. The crisis has highlighted both the centrality of their contributions and the disproportionate burdens that women carry.
Majority of the countries that have been more successful in stemming the tide of the COVID-19 pandemic and responding to its health and broader socio-economic impacts, are headed by women. For instance, Heads of Government in Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand and Slovakia have been widely recognized for the rapidity, decisiveness and effectiveness of their national response to COVID-19, as well as the compassionate communication of fact-based public health information.
For more information and events go to: https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/11/announcer-international-womens-day-2021
The hashtags for social media will be #IWD2021 and #InternationalWomensDay.