Inuit throat singing duo PIQSIQ on holidays and mental health

The winter months are known to be beautiful but also some of the hardest months to deal with both physically and emotionally.

There's the shorter daylight hours and the colder temperatures making it more challenging to enjoy the outdoors.

For many Indigenous people, it can just be an added layer of stress to a year that hasn't been the greatest for various reasons.

Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Ayalik are sisters, and also Inuit throat singers PIQSIQ [pronounced PILK-SILK]. They both have complicated feelings for this time of year, and for the Christmas holiday.

So much so, they created a holiday album reimagining carols and Christmas songs to dive into those mixed, complicated feelings.

Ayalik said this time of year brings the wanting to have the opportunity to come together with friends and family to celebrate, but also feeling different ways about the religious side and the harms that have been done to Indigenous people through colonization.

"A time that is supposed to be full of love and wonder and celebration at the birth of this immaculate child, when we also are in stark contrast to the way our own children were treated at residential schools and [tuberculosis] sanatoriums," said Ayalik.

For Ayalik's sister and the second half of PIQSIQ, Mackay also feels the same complicated emotions around the holidays, on top of the winter blues.

"I definitely struggle with seasonal affective disorder in the winters since learning about that and realizing that that's what was happening, it's certainly improved," said Mackay.

Mackay uses her vitamin D and a full spectrum light to help out during these times, but admits it can get foggy for her and can be difficult to focus.

"That makes everything challenging. You just kind of feel like you're on a different planet sometimes. So I very much physically feel the change in season."

Because of these experiences, Ayalik and Mackay understand the importance of taking care of themselves and looking after their mental health this time of year.

But there is also worry about others who may have similar feelings as they do, and the access to adequate appropriate health and mental health supports.

Ayalik said medical health care and mental health care shouldn't be separated, and there are many racist barriers within these systems as well.