Honor Day was established by Silversong Bleacher who was born in the 1940s. She talks about how its origins, that when she was born, in Alberta, Canada, only one minority group existed at the time; the Native Indians. And she was one of them. She was perturbed that her minority group was expected to integrate into the white culture and abandon its history, people and culture in order to fully succeed in the society.
Bleacher decided at a very young age that she wanted to do something to change that fact. She was quite determined not “to lose the Native tradition, but to find out how to do all [she] could to preserve the Natural Way.”
Thus was born Honor Day for North American Native Indians. The idea is to honor their traditions; to express gratitude to their culture and from where they have come from and to educate future generations on this. It is a way of life that harmonizes all types of life – every type of people; generations in the future and all other living beings like birds, animals, plants, etc. The belief is that everyone is connected to all aspects of Creation and this should be celebrated and recognized with the Hoop of Life. Honor Day works through compassion, respect and comparing towards ourselves and each other, including the planet and the future since we all form a part of everything.
The research Bleacher conducted was by sifting through the oral tradition with various teachers, leaders and the Elders, for close to half-a-century. She asked pertinent questions like why do people not treat each other well or how can love be built to stay? She found that the word honor was also mentioned as the missing link; the Honor Way was just omitted. She was thereafter advised not to seek out recognition from the government or state, but to approach the people, which is exactly what she did to create Honor Day.
