This Week in Religion - Sacred nature of summer solstice for Indigenous peoples

Lead story

How Indigenous peoples are reclaiming their celebrations of the summer solstice − and using them to resist

Editor's note:

In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice is often celebrated with singing and dancing, or even small ceremonies. In many Indigenous traditions, the day is marked by holding sacred events.

West Virginia University’s Jason E. Ybarra explains how the Wixárika people of Mexico celebrate the summer solstice with the festival of Namawita Neixa to mark the beginning of their planting season. And many of the Indigenous peoples of the U.S. and Canada associate the summer solstice with a ceremonial Sun dance.

But Indigenous peoples also face several challenges regarding cultural appropriation and environmental degradation. As Ybarra, whose ancestors lived on the Central Mexican Plateau, writes, some of the acts of resistance “revolve around the solstice." The Wixárika people are asking for a stop to environmental damage, and the Sioux are demanding an end to the exploitation of their sacred traditions.

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