During Native American Heritage Month, there are multiple ways to honor and celebrate our local tribes.

Local indigenous people open a door to the public to their traditions only occasionally, but when they do, you are in for a treat. This year you can choose – but don’t have to – between a staged reading based on native Esselen memories to be held Wednesday, Nov. 16, and an Autumn Harvest Fundraiser to benefit the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County on Sunday, Nov. 20.

The fundraiser event will be a day-long culinary activity for all ages. “We are basically building a big meal together,” says organizer Daniela Hinman. “It will be a big village of activities. We will have an outdoor kitchen on one side and the artists’ market on the other.”

The tribe will begin the day with a ceremony and a blessing. Daytime activities include talks from community nonprofits like the Big Sur Land Trust and Ventana Wilderness Alliance, interspersed with music by local performers such as Jake Padorr, Kristen Gradwohl or, possibly the biggest star of the evening, Shylah Ray Sunshine, an Algonquin native of Canada.

At about 4pm, guests and volunteers will sit for the meal – “venison stew and veggie stew from foraged and seasonal produce,” Hinman says of the planned menu. During the meal, the members of the tribe will share a bit about what they are planning to do with the funds. Finally, there will be a closing ceremony. “The hope is to make it an annual event,” Hinman says.

Another Heritage Month event – a staged reading of “IYA” The Ex’celen Remember – is slated to take place at CSU Monterey Bay. The reading is inspired by Louise J. Miranda Ramirez, tribal chairwoman for the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation, based on Esselen tribal memories. It is written and arranged by Luis Xago Juárez of Baktun12, a circle of musicians, poets, and filmmakers from East Salinas.

“For more than 12,000 years, the Esselen cared for the most bountiful land of this continent,” the organizers write. “Today it is subject to a multi-billion agriculture industry. Brought together by the land, an Esselen family reunites, but is weighed down by 250 years of colonization and the memories that haunt them.”

“IYA” THE EX’CELEN REMEMBER 7pm Wednesday Nov. 16. CSUMB World Theater, 5260 Sixth Ave., Seaside. 582-4580, facebook.com/CSUMBWorldTheater.

AUTUMN HARVEST FUNDRAISER noon-7pm Sunday, Nov. 20. Hacienda Hay & Feed, 7180 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel Valley. $30; $50/family; children/free. 293-8133.