Summer solstice event marks traditional start of season

Hundreds of people came together at Wesley Clover Park to celebrate Canada’s rich Indigenous culture and history at the Summer Solstice festival.

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year. It falls on June 21st, which also happens to be when National Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated. It is a day filled with the celebration of First Nation, Inuit, and Metis culture. While Algonquin College was closed that weekend, an event to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples’ Day was held at Wesley Clover Park for the weekend of the solstice.

“The reason why we don’t do a lot in the summer is because our student numbers are a lot lower all across the college. So in the winter, historically for the winter solstice, we’ve done a student feast. In the summer, we have in the past as well, but this year the solstice fell on a Saturday, and so we didn’t have anything for it,” said Summer Wabasse, who attended the event.

Wabasse went on to say that the Summer Solstice is so culturally significant to Indigenous people, and its celebration differs from culture to culture. This significance stems from it being the longest day of the year, and a day for Indigenous people to celebrate their heritage.

Algonquin staff and students attended the event at Wesley Clover Park, which had dancing, vendors, food, and many other unique cultural activities such as drumming and a competition powwow.

This is a video link of the powwow on YouTube.

Wabasse said she attends the Summer Solstice celebration every year and enjoys many of the festivities, such as dancing and crafts.

“It’s such a large-scale event. They always have so much stuff going on. I really like how they do a separate children’s stage. Obviously, a lot of indigenous people have families, so to have puppet shows and traditional crafts and stuff going on at the same time is super cool. Personally, I always go for the vendors. I love looking at all the crafts and all the food,” said Wabasse.

One of the hoop dancers present at the event was Scott Sixkiller Sinquah, an Indigenous hoop dancer from the United States, who spoke about supporting community.

“Look out for one another, be positive, be good to each other. We all need each other to survive. We’re all part of one human family. Take a look around you right now. We don’t all look the same. When we go home, we probably speak a different language, but be proud of who you are. Represent yourself well. Remember where you come from. When you’re out there, you’re not representing just yourself, but your people, as well as your family,” said Sinquah.