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Ode’min Giizis (strawberry moon) is the sixth moon of the Anishnaabe calender. It marks the beginning of summer, the longest day of the year and the harvest of the strawberry in June. The root word of ode’min is ode, which signifies the “heart” in Anishnaabe language. As the strawberry resembles the shape and colour of the human heart it also represents the sweetness and kindest of emotions that bring people together to feast and exchange ideas.

The Ode’min Giizis Festival will celebrate this auspicious time of year and traditional Anishnaabe territory with a four day multi disciplinary arts festival in Peterborough, Ontario featuring local and visiting artists from the four directions. The O’Kaadenigan Wiingashk Collective and Public Energy invite you to come out to experience a diversity of Indigenous artistic expression and events from an Aboriginal perspective – including gallery talks, film presentations, and a music showcase.

Each of the presenting artists are unified by a strong self-determined aesthetic that honours traditional lands, culture and knowledge while also pushing boundaries in their own respective arts forms. Artists will share their work and their dynamic processes in an effort to stimulate greater dialogue and cultural understanding through the arts. Events will take place at various downtown venues, and will be co-presented by local arts organizations in a spirit of creativity, unity and the sweetness of the strawberry.

* Peterborough sits on traditional territory of the Anishnaabe and is originally named and known as Nogojiwanong (Place of the end of rapids). For thousands of years this region was known as a gathering spot where different tribes, families and leaders would converge to exchange ideas and knowledge. Sites such as the petroglyphs, Serpent Mounds Part, and Aboriginal oral traditions confirm this regional history. Today the original territory of the Anishnaabe has been reduced and severed into three distinctive First Nations in the area, however most peoples recognize the traditional boundaries of the Anishnaabe peoples.

Festival Schedule 2010