Lily Gladstone (Academy Award winner, Killers of the Flower Moon) stars in another powerful story, Fancy Dance, 2024, playing the part of a Native American woman whose sister has disappeared.
Without spoilers, I just want to focus on one scene that was so impactful I had to scroll back and watch it again.
When her niece starts her first period, she wakes her up to tell her. "Auntie, I got my moon."
"The first one?"
"Yeah."
Long pause....."okay."
After a small ceremonial bonfire and washing her hands with ash, she takes her niece to a diner and tells her to order everything she wants.
"Really?"
"Okay, I'll take the strawberry pancakes, the strawberry waffles, the strawberry blintzes, and whatever that one is."
"Crepes?"
"Yeah, crepes. And oh, do you have anything like cake or pie or dessert for like when you're celebrating a big event?"
The waitress asks, "Oh is it for your birthday?"
"No," she says, smiling, "It's for my period."
The waitress says, "Oh, I ain't never celebrated that a day in my life but I'll see what I can do."
Watching that scene, while girls and women I know are passing through puberty and pregnancy and menopause, I couldn't help thinking how good it would be if these rites of passage were celebrated like this with the help of women who have been there!
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