Stacey's Blog: Traditional Food and the Elders Camp!

So on Sunday, we got to eat some of the traditional food!

Mike was at the Coop at some point and he asked a man (a stranger) if he knew where to buy game meat. (hunted meat) The guy, who was apparently pretty shy said he actually had some he could bring to us. Later, he brought over some moose meat and 4 Ptamigans! (small white birds.) As if that's not nice enough, he actually came over again with his wife and they taught us how to cook the food! I was already making apple curry (mmm so good) with rice, so it was an awfully huge meal FULL of carbs haha.

Not only did they cook the meat, but they taught a few of us how to make fried bannock and dumplings too- the Cree way. Later, Chris made moose steak and honestly, SO GOOD. Incredibly good!

Last night, we went to the elders camp! It was so wonderful seeing some elders, some adults and others coming together and just sharing their culture. This was the snow shoe making class that goes there every day all month so they all know each other pretty well! So we got to join them for dinner, then we sat with them to learn a little about snowshoe making, carving and some other little projects they had on the go (like thumb-sized mittens :)) I didn't take any pictures but I'm kind of glad because I really enjoyed myself actually experiencing the whole thing and taking in what the elders and adults had to say. I love that they want to share too.

Not everything is sunshine and lollipops though. I went to a little meeting with some high school students after school and they were brainstorming what they want to do to make a video portrayal of Chisasibi. I suppose I didn't realize that my view of Chisasibi is a little skewed, since I'm new. Since I'm new and people know I'm here to get what I can from the opportunity, they'll show us all they can. And the truth is, the snowshoe making and things at the elder camp, that's a very very tiny portion of their culture. The truth is, modern culture has worn a great deal of the knowledge passed from elders and apathy has taken it's toll on many of the people here. An English teacher was telling me about how she tried getting the kids to answer what they might do differently in a situation and they did the common Cree shoulder shrug "I don't know" until she mentioned the dam. Then she got full page answers.

It just goes to show that they feel it, they care. They just don't show it.