Northwest Winterfest Celebrates the Native American Culture

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s culinary practices center around the first foods which include salmon, deer/elk, roots and berries. First foods are served in the order of readiness. This is traditional knowledge handed down from generation to generation. The unique quality of the traditional foods is that you can’t buy most of them in the store, they must be gathered! Leanne Campbell of the Coeur d’Alene tribe explains, “Mother earth provides for us. We visit those sacred grounds that provide the foods year after year.”

The most popular winter celebration is Indian New Year or winter solstice. This is the shortest day of the year. The sun is making its turn and days become longer and warmth returns. To celebrate, people gather in a longhouse for a walahsat service, prayer song, dance, and meal. It is customary to greet the New Year with a song. People line up and each person one by one will greet each other with a handshake and a hug!

People serve traditional foods but the main meal served at that time is called “cese.” Cese is soup. All of our main dishes are soups. For Indian New Year celebration people wear traditional regalia. Women wear a head scarf, wing dress, moccasins, beaded belt, and multi strand necklaces. Men wear a ribbon shirt, leggings, and moccasins.