Native Lifestyle and Crafts
According to traditional wisdom, the earth supplies everything that you need to survive - free. You take from the earth what you need and give back your thanks to the Spirit of the Earth.
| All things required for life were at hand. They had only to be looked for and taken. . . .And no one increased his wealth with these things, for all were free and put there by the hand of the Kisa-Manitou. | |
| Kissikowasis (Morning Child) as told to R.D. Symons and recorded in the book North by West | |
The traditional lifestyle of native people was centered around acquiring the materials they needed to survive. They moved around to the best locations for hunting and fishing, or to gather the specific materials they needed. Their lifestyle was also ruled by the seasons. In fall the hides of animals were best for tanning to produce their clothing and tents. In winter the new clothing would be decorated with porcupine quills. Summer was the time to collect the birch bark needed to make conatiners for food preparation and storage, and to pick and dry the berries that they would mix with fat and ground, dried meat for pemmican.
Today these traditions are carried on in many northern communities.
- Lifestyle
- Stories of daily life from the past and present
- Traditional Crafts
- Descriptions and pictures of decorative and functional items that are being produced today.
- Legends and Folklore
- Bits of oral history that has been passed on for countless generations.