Our schools are honoring indigenous people's day in many ways including classroom and curriculum specific learning and whole school events.

Detroit Waldorf School, which sits on the ancestral homelands of three Anishinaabe nations, was gifted with a dance from Eagle Woman of the Eagle Spirit Dancers. She shared her unique and exhilarating songs and dances passed down from generation to generation by her ancestors. The Eagle Spirit Dancers are from Petoskey, Michigan, offer performances which practice the sacred traditions of dance, singing, and drumming. They offer a wide range of talented artists, dancers, and singers coming from numerous tribes such as Odawa, Ottawa, Chippewa, Ojibwe, and Cree. 

The Aurora Waldorf School, was also lucky enough to have an educational event with the  Indigenous Spirit Dancers -- - a troupe led by Marty Jimerson, Jr., from the Seneca Nation of Cattaraugus Territory south of Buffalo, NY. Members from various nations present educational performances, including songs, dances, and stories. The school sits on the land of the Hodinöhsö:ni'.

Other schools, like the Santa Cruz Waldorf School, which sits on the land of the Awaswas-Ohlone speaking people of the present-day Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, honored the day with curriculum and community work. The school had their fourth graders write letters to Santa Clara County urging the local government to protect a local heritage site and Juristac land from a proposed quarry slated to be built there. Petitions are still being collected through this month in order to insure that the Juristac site and the continual dispossession of indigenous lands in California stop.

Photo Credit:  Aurora Waldorf School