Benenh
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Month in which the Days are Separated
Advice for the Future
Stay positive, keep busy.
Culture is key, go out into the woods, take a walk, go take a boat ride, go canoe, do things that make your body feel good, and go pick berries, go cook something yummy, do something with your family.
Telel Zo’ʉ
Month of the Eagle
Communication
Trying to teach Native language over the phone.
Everybody has a radio in their house. We know who needs help and who needs wood and who needs this and that. That's the way that we help our people.
Talking to people on the phone or going and visiting and seeing how people are working. Everybody works a little different.
If we spoke enough with each other, then we knew that so-and-so was not feeling well, so let’s go help them out.
Kk’olkk’eey Zo’ʉ
Month of the Hawk
Native Traditions are Tied to Social and Community Activities
People can come together and stand by each other and feel like a community again.
In order to stay sane and to be happy and to be productive, we had to rely on our culture and our traditions.
It’s good for us to be here for the gathering, the potlatches.
Menenh Nok’ent’ʉghee
Month that Birds Return
Life is Dynamic, Culture is Grounding
I feel like our culture is a big part in helping us heal.
Everything changes all the time, never stays the same.
Setting beaver sets, setting fishnets, going to camp, beading, sewing, it helped tremendously. I feel like that’s the best takeaway… It grounded us.
Benenh Tots’eeyhleyaayee
Month that We Put Canoes in the Water
Protecting Our Mental Health
They live and breathe basketball.
There are a lot of kids there, so the wellbeing and health of them is very important to us, because they’re our future.
We want everybody to be healthy and for it to be known that it’s okay to ask for help.
That helps people cope by keeping them busy… You have to stay active.
Menenh Hʉdenyaaghee
Month that Everything Grows
Spirituality
I think, spiritually, mostly, I just started to think positive, and I think, we were getting stronger.
We just have to believe in the old ways, in our old, traditional beliefs, and our faith in God, too.
I prayed most of that time in our language trying to cope with what’s going on.
Menenh Tok’eggoyhk’ʉhdelaayee
Month the Birds Put their Young in the Water
Time Spent on the Land and River
Just to go out and feel the sunshine and the wind.
Going out on boat, going out on snowmachine, going out with [family], when he’s running his dogs, driving in front of him, that feels really good. Checking fishnets, all of that feeds my soul, and it makes me feel whole, and it feels so good to be on the land and do things that our ancestors were able to do, and it, I can’t even describe it. It’s such a good feeling. That helped me tremendously.
Menenh Nok’et’on’dedaghee
Month in which the Leaves Fall
Strong Family Relationships
Doing things with my family, going out berry picking, taking rides, going out on boats, going fishing, doing things as a family.
Things that bring me hope is being around family and spending time with them all the time.
I consider myself blessed that I have children. That's a purpose. I'm a father. I have to take care of my kids. I have to make sure that they’re warm. I have to make sure that they’re fed. I have to make sure that I'm at least teaching them a little something.
Nołdlaaghe Noghe’
Fall Salmon Month
Subsistence
The things that bring me hope, watching my children try their best, learning new things, setting fishnets, checking fishnets, hunting, packing out meat, singing songs, trying new things.
It fills my soul to be connected to the land.
Benenh Dedeteeyee
Month of the Freezing
Stories from the Past
Everywhere we go, we tell stories.
It’s about our story in the area. Koyukuk River story, all the way down to Kaltag and all the way up to Allakaket. The story is about the trees, the forest trees out here on the bank. That's when they were people.
Benenh K’ets’ooneelaa’ee
Month of the Trapping
Sharing Knowledge Across Generations
Taking Care of Elders
I'm always willing to try to help young people learn in the village, talking with them. I know a lot of stories.
The things that bring me hope are my children … my wife and I try to raise our children with respect. We try to push work ethic on them. We’re trying to teach them to be good people….They’re curious. They’re kind, and they’re respectful, and that’s what gives me hope. As time goes on, when they have children, they can teach those same things, and that gives hope for, in my mind, humanity.
I did a lot more listening to my parents tell stories.
Denaahʉto’ Menenh Hooldlaanee
Month Our Father Was Born
Supporting One Another
Sharing & Caring
Share and care for one another. That's a part of our traditional values.
People stepped up and were able to help each other.
Well, we come from an Athabascan community, and we’re already used to sharing and helping each other.
In Memorium
We dedicate this calendar to the memory of Jacques Philip.
We appreciate all Jacques has done and created, and all his contributions to this project, and the projects that came before. We honor his dedication to help others, and celebrate cultural strengths across generations. May all he has started and built continue to resonate and grow.
Acknowledgements
Great appreciation for the stories, diverse perspectives and materials provided by Huslia community members. Special gratitude for LeAnn Bifelt’s contribution to community engagement and project realization within Huslia. Thank you to Laura Ekada, Janessa Newman, and Joe Bifelt for extensive help with the project and the interviews. We would like to thank our community steering committee members (Jeanette Williams, Doreen David, Josephine Derendoff, Danielle Dayton, Leona Starr, Teri Vent, Margie Ambrose, Audrey Bifelt), the Huslia Tribal Council, the staff and faculty at UAF CANHR (Center for Alaska Native Health Research), UAF Center for One Health Research, UAF BLaST (Biomedical Learning and Student Training).
Photos from LeAnn Bifelt, Jacques Philip, Inna Rivkin, Cathy Brooks, and Nikola Nikolic. Artwork by Laura Ekada.
This project is approved by UAF Office of Research Integrity (#1703458): (907) 474-7800, uaf-irb@alaska.edu. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers UL1GM118991, TL4GM118992, RL5GM118990, P30GM103325, U54GM115371 and U54GM104944. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.