The logo for Sankewitahasuwakon was collectively designed by Knowledge-Carriers and health leaders from the Wabanaki communities in New Brunswick, and reflects our rich cultural heritage, our knowledge, and our deep connection to this land.
At the heart of this logo, the sun represents the Wabanaki nations and symbolizes the land where the sun first looks our way. Sweetgrass is the hair of our earth mother and a sacred medicine, and encircles the logo. It embodies the weaving together of people and knowledge, a powerful reflection of our collective effort to strengthen health and wellness.
The design integrates symbols of water, earth, and air, the natural elements essential to life. We show gratitude for these forces that sustain us. The fiddleheads featured in the logo represent our traditional food, which provides us with sustenance and nourishment provided by the land. The inclusion of fish and turtle in the design honours the connection to our animal relatives. Their presence in the logo serves as a reminder of the interconnection between all living beings
Double-curve motifs are visualized throughout the logo, an ancestral symbol that symbolizes the pathway of life from birth to death. It reminds us of our relationship to the spirit world. The logo also features the ceremonial fasting colours—purple, black, white, yellow, blue, green, and red—each carrying teachings about spiritual life.
Together, all of these symbols capture the essence of Sankewitahasuwakon, a wholistic and ancestral understanding of our health and wellness.