Journal Entry #6: Ceremonies and Festivals
August 12, 2018
By Abbey Morris
The last couple of weeks have been filled with a full moon ceremony and Blueberry Festival events. At the end of July, I had the opportunity to go to Grassy Narrows First Nation for a women’s gathering. The theme of the weekend was “Decolonize through Indigenous music, drumming, singing, spoken word poetry” and was hosted by the Grassy Narrows Women Drummers. There are many Indigenous teachings surrounding the moon and its significance to women. I had not known what to expect going into the weekend, but it turned out to be an interesting experience with a diverse and strong group of women. There were around 40 people in total at the event, including children, all coming from different regions. We arrived at 10pm and set up our tent in the dark. Then, we joined the full moon ceremony where people were singing and drumming. Women smudged, shared their stories by the fire, and offered tobacco to the moon. It was nice seeing how comfortable the other women felt sharing their worries and how open they were to listening to one another. The following day, there were informal sharing circles where I got to know more about some of the other women. There was also a song recording session of songs sung in Ojibwe. Seeing people speaking their language and embracing their culture gave me hope that all has not been not lost through colonization. Throughout the weekend, meals were prepared with ingredients from the chef’s garden. The moose and deer meat in our chili came from her backyard and she had picked all of the herbs herself. During the event, I enjoyed being part of all of the ceremonies that were performed, but at times I felt out of place as a non-Indigenous woman. I am still looking for my place in Indigenous culture, but for now I will continue to listen and learn as much as I can to gain a better understanding of what needs to be done and what I can do.
After my weekend of camping, I returned to work. I used some of the knowledge I had acquired at the gathering along with the interview notes I had collected in June to put together a parenting pamphlet outlining some traditional practices. My friend created illustrations for the pamphlet and I distributed it to the places where we had conducted our interviews so they could reach the hands of mothers up north and in Sioux Lookout. It was important to us to give back to the women and communities that had been participating in our interviews and sharing their experiences. This was one way in which we were able to do this.
Outside of work, I attended many Blueberry Festival events. The festival started with a farmer’s market and opening ceremonies. Lots of people came out to celebrate. I went on another float plane sightseeing tour and made tie dye t-shirts. I also went to a steak dinner, fish-fry, and lots of BBQ fundraisers. One of my favourite events was a book launch. “Speaking my Truth” The Journey to Reconciliation is the 3rd volume of a book created by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. It contains a compilation of stories from residential school survivors, educators, and Indigenous rights advocates across Canada. Garnet Angeconeb, Shelagh Rogers, Grant Charles, Mike DeGagné, and Glen Lowry each spoke about their role in the creation of the book and their interpretation of what healing and reconciliation looks like. There were lots of people who attended the event and it was inspiring to hear the editors of the book speak about all of the positive work that has been done. As the rest of the festival wraps up and my remaining time in Sioux Lookout gets shorter, I hope to continue making the most of my experience.