PEXSISEṈ New Moon Celebration
April 4 2023
The PEXSISEṈ (The Moon of the Opening Hands or the Blossoming Out Moon) new moon marks the time of the year when the plants and flowers buds begin to blossom once again! The trees are opening their leaves in welcome, just as the W̱SÁNEĆ People open their hands to show thanks. This is the time of year where the weather is getting warmer, there is less rain, making it a good time to dry and preserve food.
On Tuesday, March 21st we celebrated the arrival of the PEXSISEṈ moon with our friends at PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ at SṈIDȻEȽ (“Place of the Blue Grouse”, the first W̱SÁNEĆ village site) . It was a crisp, fresh spring morning at SṈIDȻEȽ with June plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) and other plants blooming around us. We were joined by HAT volunteers, Camosun students, BC Parks staff and PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ staff. We had almost 40 people who joined to celebrate the new moon! Our group gathered in a circle with coffee and snacks and did a round of introductions. Tiffany Joseph then shared with the group the significance of PEXSISEṈ in W̱SÁNEĆ culture and the importance of building reciprocal relationships to the land.
June plum (Oemleria cerasiformis)
It was getting chilly standing so we were excited to get moving with our restoration work. Our main task that day was Himalyan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) removal. With such a big group, we were able to spread out - allowing us to remove an impressive amount of blackberry. What a good feeling to free the native plants of the tight grasp blackberry holds! Because some of the group had to leave early, we took a break at lunch to do a closing circle. People shared reflections on the morning, there was an overall sense of contentment and gratitude for being outside working on the land on a lovely spring day. The clouds broke and the sun shone through, it was a beautiful end to the day. HÍSW̱ḴE to the volunteers, Camosun students, PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ staff and BC Parks for making this event a great success!
PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ is a native plant nursery and garden that does education with ȽÁU,WELṈEW̱ Tribal School students and various restoration projects for the W̱SÁNEĆ nation. Over the last year, HAT has partnered with PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ to help support the SṈIDȻEȽ resiliency project. For more information on PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW & SṈIDȻEȽ resiliency project, check out their website here: pepakenhautw.com/snidcel-restoration-project/