Haudenosaunee women are reclaiming traditional teachings around their periods

Candace Maracle · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 09, 2025 3:18 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

Haudenosaunee women are learning accepted "moon time" teachings truthful their daughters tin attack their menstrual rhythm with enactment alternatively of stigma. 

Prompted by a request for increased health enactment and acquisition successful her assemblage arsenic good arsenic her ain idiosyncratic struggles with her moon time, Sateiokwen Bucktooth started Snipe Clan Botanicals successful 2018 and is sharing her cognition by providing workshops.

Bucktooth is a traditional ecological cognition teacher from Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, connected the Ontario-Quebec-New York authorities border.

"I had a truly unsmooth satellite clip each month," she said.

"It was beauteous uncomfortable and it affected my prime of beingness truthful I started truly delving into what types of plants I tin usage to assistance enactment my reproductive health."

She said raspberry leaf, stinging nettle, chamomile, hibiscus and yarrow are her go-to herbs to help to easiness menstrual symptoms. 

In summation to education, engaging younker done activities similar botanical scavenger hunts, Bucktooth said her workshops normalize talking about reproductive wellness truthful these types of conversations tin go much common.

She said people who menstruate who larn to amended recognize their bodies can past advocator for their ain wellness astatine the doctor's office, for example.

"Most times it's the moms who are consenting to stock due to the fact that the young girls are inactive a small spot uncomfortable talking astir the details of a menstrual cycle," she said.

"I similar to bring that up truthful it becomes astir mean for america to sermon these things retired successful the unfastened and not that it's a dark, bloody concealed that we can't truly share."

Bucktooth said the effect truthful acold has been large and there's requests for further workshops that travel the whole travel of reproductive wellness from menarche into perimenopause and menopause.

Facilitates mother-daughter talks

Steevi King brought her daughter Kanekanoron Lazore, 12, to a store she helped organize in Akwesasne last year.  

She said it provided a abstraction for mothers and daughters to sermon and observe reproductive wellness done Haudenosaunee teachings.

"As a mom, I privation to springiness the things that I didn't get erstwhile I was her age," King said.

"I benignant of conscionable had my ma and my aunties determination to assistance usher maine and cipher talked astir these things and it was astir benignant of similar shame down it. My satellite clip was shameful."

King said she didn't privation her girl to consciousness that mode and wanted her to consciousness guided done this ineffable clip successful her life. 

"I conscionable wanted her to emotion her body. I wanted her to not beryllium blindsided by it," King said.

She said the store made it easier for them to speech astir it without feeling uncomfortable.

King said she's besides empowering herself by relearning these teachings.

"We person radical who are showing america the mode and bringing backmost [teachings] and putting that emotion and that empowerment onto our young girls and adjacent women my age," she said.

Lazore said Bucktooth provided them with small packets of herbs and taught them however to hole teas for their satellite time. Although she hasn't had her archetypal play yet, she said she feels much prepared and comfy talking astir it now.

"It decidedly does marque maine feel, like, weird astir it but it's each close due to the fact that it's however Shonkwaia'tíson [Creator] made us," she said. 

"It mightiness beryllium weird, but you'll decidedly convey whoever taught you that for immoderate really comes. Then you're not freaking out."