December 21 marks the longest night of the year, and the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere. Which means each day will get longer until the June 21. Here’s a fire to light the way — the Sacred Wolf Singers performing the Mi’kmaq Welcome Song, one of the oldest songs that the Mi’kmaq people know. The song gathers, reunites and celebrates, honouring the land and the ancestors.

This performance was recorded in Metepenagiag Heritage Park, Mi’kma’ki (New Brunswick, Canada) as part of the sound track for the short film Indigenous Knowledge and the Water Grandmother and part of The Beacon Project funded by The Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter Program.

Sacred Wolf Singers Bio

Tee Cloud from Metepenagiag and Julian Wells from Unama’ki are the Sacred Wolf Singers — a Mi’kmaq drumming group who perform traditional and contemporary songs (including chants Tee Cloud has created) to honour the uniqueness of the Mi’kmaq language and the cultural knowledge that comes with it. Naming the group out of their deep respect for the wolf, The Sacred Wolf Singers have followed the pow wow trail throughout Mi’kma’ki since 2014. Growing up, Tee Cloud and Julien both learned from their fathers about singing, and Tee Cloud has also learned and collaborated with George Paul, who created the Mi’kmaq Honour Song. The Sacred Wolf Singers recently sang for the of the Bay of Fundy Atlantic Salmon when 1,000 were released into the rivers of Fundy National Park thanks to a partnership between First Nations, the aquaculture industry and the federal and provincial governments.