When a Girl’s First Period Calls for Celebration, Not Stigma

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/opinion/karuk-indigenous-celebration-menstruation-ceremony.html

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When I first got my period, I shied away from having my Kinaaldá, the Navajo coming-of-age ceremony for girls. While my community encouraged me to have my ceremony, I felt conflicted. On the one hand, my family was working to help young people learn and embrace traditional knowledge; on the other, I struggled to feel proud after years of seeing my culture misrepresented or dismissed by the Western world. If I could go back and talk to my 14-year-old self, I would tell her that the choice wasn’t hers alone — generations of people had been fighting to bring back Native traditions — and participating in this ceremony could help create healing for our people.

For my co-director, Rayka, making the short documentary “Period. End of Sentence.” unveiled the deeply rooted shame and stigma around menstruation across different cultures. It became clear to her that we need to change how we talk about periods in our own homes.

Though worlds apart, our experiences led us to independently question the historical lack of representation and celebration around our periods and, furthermore, around the traditions that define our cultures. We came together with the Allen family and began our journey in making a film about the Ihuk, a traditional ceremony of the Karuk people of Northern California. What began as a film about periods grew into a much greater story of community, family and tradition.

The depiction of Indigenous history and culture has been plagued by an exploitive, romanticized and ethnographic lens. We challenged ourselves to make a film that honors its subjects, resists manufacturing drama or conflict and encourages the respectful consumption of another’s culture. We looked to the community to guide us in telling their story, creating a space for honoring and protecting their tradition and future.

With “Long Line of Ladies,” we wanted to create a healing, holistic representation of an Indigenous community that challenges and works to undo the misrepresentations of the past. We hope the film encourages viewers to think about how, in their own communities, they can empower and celebrate young people as they come of age.

Rayka Zehtabchi is an Iranian American director and producer. She directed the Oscar-winning short documentary “Period. End of Sentence.” Shaandiin Tome is a Diné writer, director and cinematographer from New Mexico.

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