Stories for the cold months: The importance of seasonal storytelling

As winter settles across Minnesota — when lakes freeze, snow quiets the land, and nights stretch long — many Indigenous communities enter a season of storytelling. It’s a time to gather indoors and share stories that carry history, teachings and connection, passed carefully from one generation to the next. MPR News guest host Leah Lemm talks with two Native storytellers about the significance of storytelling in our lives, particularly during the darkest days of the year. Guests: Hope Flanagan is is a storyteller and teacher who works at Dream of Wild Health, a Minneapolis nonprofit organization that recovers and shares knowledge of Indigenous foods, medicines and ways of life. Stories were passed to her from Ona KingBird from Red Lake reservation. She comes from the Turtle Clan, from the people of Tonawanda, Seneca Reservation. Teresa Peterson is an avid gardener and author of several books, including "Grasshopper Girl," "Voices from Pejahutazizi: Dakota Stories and Storytellers," and "Perennial Ceremony." She is Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and a member of the Upper Sioux Community.