Friendship Day held at Ronathahonni

Community members and visitors to Akwesasne joined in an afternoon of food, fun and outdoor entertainment Saturday at Ronathahonni’s annual Friendship Day event.

Throughout the afternoon guests enjoyed performances from local and visiting groups and children played on the rented waterslide. A lacrosse net was set up with a device behind it to measure players’ speeds as they shot at the net. Young boys spent the afternoon testing their speed and also their accuracy on a separate set of nets.

The Hotinonshon:ni Cultural Youth Group performed an excellent presentation, which many community members came to see. Their presentation included social songs Kanien’keha Sewateti & Sken:nen, sung by Raylynn Sunday, Taylene Hall, Kyla Thompson-Francis, Sunni Benedict, Tayanna Benedict, Bailey Thomas, Chanel Thomas, Tiawni White, Morgan White & Secora Oakes.

They then did their second showing of “How the Strawberry Became.” Main actors & actresses were Morgan White, Louie David & Honni David. A new play recently practiced & perfected is “Sky Woman.” Raylynn Sunday portrayed Sky Woman, hunters were Showanonkon Thompson & Brydon White, Turtle was Morgan White and to save the day was Muskrat played by Bailey Thomas, Big goose John White and little animals Secora Oakes, Tiawni White & Chanel Thomas.

Their finale was a hoop dance presentation done by the whole group. The group has been practicing every week at the Ronathahonni Cultural Center where they learned creative movement, music clue attentiveness, synchronization, singing and hoop dancing from the Aboriginal Experiences group from Ottawa. They would like to thank everyone at the Ronathahonni Cultural Center & their parents for giving them the opportunity to learn, practice and express themselves through performing theatre arts, dancing & singing.

Their next practice is Thursday, September 3rd 5:00 p.m. at the Ronathahonni children’s octagon building. They will be performing a hoop dance presentation at the Akwesasne International powwow September 12th at 5:00 p.m. Also they will be performing on stage Friday, October 30th. Location to be announced.

Ronathahonni’s event is held every summer and was formerly a 2-day weekend event.