Cultural Resources from Anishnawbe Health Toronto
The Four Sacred Medicines
The four sacred medicines are used in everyday life and in ceremonies. All of them can be used to smudge with, including tobacco, though sage, cedar and sweetgrass also have many other uses.
Approaching a Traditional Healer, Elder or Medicine Person
When you are on a healing journey, it is a natural step for you to seek help and guidance from a Traditional Healer, an Elder or a Medicine Person.
Feasts and Giveaways
Feasts and giveaways are an important part of Native life. They are held throughout the year to acknowledge the help received from the spirit world, our relatives and ancestors, and other members ofthe community.
Traditional Healing
The GreatSpirit works through everyone. Everything that was put here is healing – the trees, the earth, the animals and the water.
Moontime
The Moon is called Grandmother Moon and great respect is paid her.
Sacred Items and Bundles
When we carry sacred items, we carry them with the recognition that everything in Creation has spirit.
Cultural Resources from the National Council of Indigenous Midwives
Pregnancy
“My hope and vision for Aboriginal midwifery would be that all Aboriginal women have access to an Aboriginal midwife.”
Claire Dion Fletcher, Lenape Potawatomi Registered Midwife
Pregnancy, Birth and Infant Care Teachings
Birth
“Every new life is potential. It’s potential to do things differently. It’s potential to do things better. When you start respecting the birth process, everything else follows from there.”
Aimée Carbonneau, Indigenous Registered Midwife
Infant Care
“As Indigenous people, the babies are everything to us. It’s our hope for the future.”
Laurie Jacobs, Aboriginal Midwife
Placenta Teachings
The placenta is an organ that develops alongside your baby. It secures itself to the inner lining of your uterus and sustains your baby’s life and growth by extracting nutrients from your food and beverages, transferring them to the baby via the umbilical cord. It also delivers oxygen to the baby and eliminates waste from their blood.
If your baby is delivered vaginally, your placenta will follow soon after as your uterus contracts and relaxes to push it out. If the baby is delivered through a caesarean section, the placenta will be lifted out right after the baby.
In collaboration with Call Auntie and the Baby Bundle Program, we have provided a handout on the Placenta Wisdom Series, you can view by clicking the link below.