Northern Teacher: October 2011

We had Tipee Days at school on Friday and I was able to take lots of pictures. It's basically a chance for the kids the have a little dose of Cree traditions. Some of it seemed pretty routine to them (which I guess is a good thing, meaning they're in touch with their own culture) but other stuff was more foreign to them than it was to me. The organizers did a great job and it ran really smoothly until the end of the day when the skies let loose.
The day began just after morning announcements and went straight through to the bell at the end of the day.
The first presentation was on the Seven Grandfather Teachings, which I am proud to say, my kids were able to name all of: Honour, Respect, Love, Courage, Humility, Wisdom, Kindness. Now we need to practice displaying them..

Our second activity was in Tipee 3 - Bannock and Tea. Unfortunatly they weren't entirely prepared yet and we missed out on the bannock. No worries though, it was also served at the dinner in the evening and had the added bonus of having rasins and butter. The tea was delicious though and was made even better by lots of sugar mixed in using an authentic pine 'stir-stick'. lol.

The third activity on our list was one tipee ove and that of Traditional foods - Fish fry and Caribou. There were two different types of fish - pike and walleye. The man running it showed us how to fillet them and where the bones were in both. The kids enjoyed the idea of eating the cheek the most I think. For me, tasting the caribou may have been the highlight of the day. Heavenly.

Fourth on our timetable came the third and final tipee, housing nothing but Moose and Goose (which incidentally was a lovely little bar we used to visit in St.Catharines - decorated in a very different style). Here they were simply preparing the food for the feast in the evening. The carving of the meat had no ill side-effects on me but I will admit to being slightly turned off by the discovery of a not entirely matured egg in one of the deceased geese. That being one of the kids' favourite parts, I can't complain!

Following the Moose and Goose, we visited traditional games where we warmed up with some good old-fashion tug-of-war followed by a game I've never seen anything like before but which all the kids were familiar with and absolutely loved. It's called Mooshum and Gookum (translation: Grandfather and Grandmother) where one person is the Mooshum, is armed with a small stick and tries to get people out by tapping them with said stick. Gookum protects all her children by having them line up behind 'her' in a kind of conga line. Obviously they're all running and the line is whipped every which way. Lots of giggles and fun.

From here we went inside for our fifth activity to the Cree classroom (they have Cree class like down South has French class) where we fashioned small medicine bags from dyed deer hide. I asked - they didn't tan it themselves though they have in past years. The picture here is of the one I was lucky enough to make. I tried to make sure I got a chance to try everything as well - what better time to be a tourist?

We got our usual lunch break and went right back into the festivities with some random dancing; line, square and of course, the Macarena. The rain was just starting at this point but was coming down nicely by the time we got called to our next station. Coincidentally, dancing in the rain has always been a personal fav of mine so it was perfecftlyy fine by me!

We went into the highschool side of the school and each attempted to make some beaded key chains. They were in the style that a friend and I used to do as kids - making lizards etc. but more simplistic. Luckily I remembered how to do it because I don't think they were prepared for my full class - most are about half the size.

Following the keychains we trooped back down to the elementary side and visited the Woman's Hand Drumming circle. They explained how to treat their drums with respect and why they wear skirts when they drum. They burned sage - a sacred plant to them and we each took turns cleansing ourselves with the smoke before they began drumming and singing. One of the girls in my class was able to sing along with them in Cree so I was very impressed!

Our next activity, rabbit snaring, had been moved indoors due to the weather, so our presenter did his best with the chalkboard and artistic abilities. He explained how to spot a rabbit track, where the ideal spot on it might be to set up the snare and how to garauntee the rabbit will go where you want it to. With a few spare minutes he also went over some safety tips which was probably a good idea. A lot of the boys were far more concerned about how to dress camouflaged than how to make sure you don't get misaken for a deer. It took a little while to get the idea across to them.

Our last activity had also been designed for outdoors but was moved to the gym - Basic Survival skills. Between it being 2:45pm on a Friday and the kids and presenter having just about enough fun for one day, I ended up organizing a friendly game of Octopus, one of my all-time favourites and one I haven't gotten to play since I left in August.

The grand finale was of course the community feast. The meat was all donated by community members and prepared by volunteers. The moose meat had been stewed and simmered to a treat but the goose was a little tough and a little disapointing. I'm told it's much better in the spring when they return from eating all the wheat down south. None-the-less, I counted myself lucky enough to find a last, unexpected souviner - a shotgun pellet in a mouthful of goose!