In the early weeks of December 2003 (smik'wn[km), Felix Aripa and Marie Irene Lowley talked with the Language Program staff about Christmas(hnwel jeh) traditions in the village.

In their youth, homes in the village below the church and boarding schools were unoccupied during most of the week, and reserved for farm families that traveled to DeSmet for holy days, including weekends for Mass. In Winter ( sit.sitkwkm), those families would begin congregating for the Christmas season on December 8, commemorating the Immaculate Conception. Between harvest and that time, as families prepared for the winter, they canned huckleberries and cherries, gathered potatoes and rutabagas, and planned for the gifts of food that they would give to those in the village who had less. Nightly, the families attended Benediction in the church. In the boarding schools, students practiced for the Christmas plays, and several choirs rehearsed for the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Throughout the camp, the different jazz bands could be heard rehearsing the seasonal songs that they were learning, again for Christmas programs.

As the houses in the village filled with elders, and their adult children and their families, it was unlikely that individual houses would be decorated, or have a Christmas tree. Instead, there was a large community tree erected in the Girls' School, and fully half the space in the large room where it stood would be given to presents for all of the children in the village, including students in both the Boys' and Girls' Schools. The tree was strung with popcorn, and cranberries to give it red color.

When school let out at 3:00 p.m. in the afternoons, there was time for choir practice, but still enough daylight for sledding on the hills surrounding the schools; including by some of the Sisters, especially those who worked in the kitchen and squeezed this recreation in before preparation of the evening meal. It was while rollerskating in the gym at the Boys' School one afternoon of December 8 when Irene Lowley recalls Fr. Byrne announcing the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the cancellation of the evening's scheduled show.

Some years, the Sisters had a bazaar before Christmas, selling gifts to be given to others, as well as pastries and caramel apples. This was as eagerly anticipated as the fresh bread that could be purchased from Mrs. Swan. Or the fresh milk and cream that came from the Mission dairy.

The Midnight Mass was attended not only by Coeur d'Alene families of boarders at the Mission schools, but those of the day scholars. These included non-Indians who farmed Indian lands, as well as a number of immigrant homesteaders, such as Catholic Italian families that worked in early logging in the region, or for the railroads. One family came annually by bobsled from Potlatch, to attend.

Mostly, the weeks preceding the celebration were characterized by the preparation, including a strong emphasis on moral strength. che' ku sht'she'tntsut rb ('You ought to take care of, prepare yourself') was a frequent admonition; in one family's anecdote, it's remembered that the grandmother could be heard saying this to her eldest son, while detecting the smell of alcohol on his breath in the weeks before Christmas. (He was seventy years old at the time; she was in her nineties.)

This was likewise the message emphasized by the public speeches given outside the church before Midnight Mass. After the families had gathered for the presentation of gifts on Christmas Eve (uł chi'tstmet khwe nwel jeh); after the children had heard their names called and received and opened their presents, their was a large bonfire below the church. As parishioners gathered for the service, men of the Soldiers of the Sacred Heart addressed the crowd, and stressed the sense of community and the role of the Church. The time culminated with a speech by Chief Peter Moctelme, who also emphasized the proper behaviors, and tribal traditions.

Christmas vacation for students began after Mass on Christmas Day, and extended to New Years (snuk'wspintch rb), also the end of the families' stay in the DeSmet village. The New Years tradition had a less religious significance, but an equal community feel. On New Years' Eve (luk'usm jeh), the men of the village dressed for the evening, donned distinctive masks, and went from house to house in the village, shaking hands with everyone, and wishing all, ah, qhest nuk'wspintch jeh (Happy New Year).

Raymond Brinkman