Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent
Language is an important part of culture, personal and communal identity, and historicizing our understanding of the world. Throughout the land that we now call North America, there have been about 500 different indigenous languages spoken. Currently, less than 150 of those languages still exist, with fewer and fewer native speakers.
Language matters. Restoration and preservation of Indigenous languages are integral to literally give a voice back to those who have had it stripped from them.
Are any Indigenous languages acknowledged where you live?
-Meditation by Administrative Assistant and Indigenous Solidarity Collective Member Revalon Wesson.
The 2022 Advent Calendar is a project of CTA's Indigenous Solidarity Collective, a working group that addresses the Catholic Church's historical and current role in colonialization. To support more projects from working groups like this one, please consider making a contribution!
Call To Action's 2022 Advent Calendar, planned and written by the Indigenous Solidarity Collective, provides 27 days of prayer and study to lead into action and solidarity with Indigenous communities. Here is today's meditation.
Call to Action: 13, 15 Language and Culture
“13. We call upon the federal government to acknowledge that Aboriginal rights include Aboriginal language rights.
15. We call upon the federal government to appoint, in consultation with Aboriginal groups, an Aboriginal Languages Commissioner. The commissioner should help promote Aboriginal languages and report on the adequacy of federal funding of Aboriginal-languages initiatives.”
December 6th, 2022
Resource Tool for Indigenous Language
Native Land Digital is an Indigenous-led Canadian nonprofit that provides digital maps documenting Indigenous peoples, cultures, and languages throughout the world. This resource tool can help you research which languages are native to where you live.
The watercolor paintings featured on this calendar were created by Duane Yazzie, an artist of Hopi and Navajo ancestry. Yazzie creates artwork that reflects his Indigenous heritage and his childhood spent in the Southwest.
