The Multicultural Student Center hosted a feast to kick off Native American Heritage Month.

Additionally, the event served as a welcoming event to the new elder-in-residence, Ada Deer.

The elders-in-residence program is new to the University of Wisconsin, and focuses on improving the experience of American Indian and Alaskan Native students by hosting Native elders on campus.

Deer is a UW alumnus and a Menominee Nation member. She has worked as a community organizer and political activist for Native American rights, and is the first woman to serve as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

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Before the feast, participants passed burning sage as a means of “restoring balance” to everything they did.

Dylan Jennings, a tribal council member for the Bad River Band of Lakes Superior Ojibwe, spoke at the event and explained some of the histories of Native American traditions.

Before smoking a pipe, Jennings explained how Native Americans often used tobacco as a “conduit for communicating to the spirits that take care of us.”

“I am really grateful for [the resurgence of original tobacco] because that is part of our nation-building attempts and our decolonization attempts,” Jennings said.

Jennings also said that many Native American communities are again growing “original, homegrown” tobacco, as opposed to commercialized tobacco.

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Jennings also briefly touched on recent events for Native American representation in politics in light of the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

“We got two Native women in Congress … This is a pretty epic time for us,” Jennings said. “I think that is just amazing.”