Create Auntie Bags
We are calling on volunteers to make and stuff Auntie Bags for us. These are lovely, lined drawstring bags that hold a moon time cycle’s worth of pads along with other items (fresh underwear, a paper period tracker, etc.) a student can add as needed for comfort and support during moon time. We call them “Auntie Bags” because they reflect the love and support of all the aunties out there – trusted adults who care about students. They are significantly larger than our moon time bags, which hold a couple of pads and liners, and are a response to community requests that we offer an aesthetically pleasing bag to hold a month of period care items.
We hope that students receiving our moon time bags and our Auntie Bags will be uplifted by our message that we are all related and in community together and that everyone behind The Kwek Society is excited to celebrate each student’s moon time for the natural and exciting development it is.
Want to make Auntie Bags for us? Follow this link to step-by-step written instructions and an accompanying video, curated for us by Citizen Potawatomi sisters Czarina and Jayne, the k’wek (women) who in 2018 created the pattern for our moon time bags. We’d love you to sew them up up, stuff them with 20 size two pads, and ship them off to us! And if you’d prefer to simply sew and mail, we’d love that too — we can stuff them.
When we receive the bags from you, we will add our information card to them, just as we do for the moon time bags. The front of the card reprints a portion of a poem about the moon that celebrates life and the connectedness of all earth’s inhabitants. The poem is, Remember, is by Mvskoke Nation citizen and 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States Joy Harjo. The back of the card directs students to the part of our website that highlights moon time teachings and links to educational materials and health and safety-related resources. We share the poem, teachings, and links to encourage students’ feelings of connectedness to Indigenous ways of knowing and to empower them. Please help us reach more students through our bags and included information cards, if you are able!
Ignacio (Colorado) High School students with their Auntie Bags, March 2025
"Big Auntie” tip
from The Kwek Society, Czarina and Jayne – the video instructions are for a smaller bag; we are happy if you make them that size. As an alternative (to make a somewhat bigger bag to hold more supplies), you can use one rectangular piece of fabric, 13×30 inches, for the outside part of the bag; two rectangular pieces, 13×15 inches for the lining/inside of the bag. Also, the video doesn’t include instructions for an inside pocket. We’d like these bags to have an inside pocket. For the pocket, you can cut a piece of fabric to 5×5 inches, turn down the top edge, and then zig-zag around the sides and bottom to make the pocket into which we’ll insert our card. Then stitch the pocket to the inside of the bag.