Community shares its cultural gifts

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The Spallumcheen Band will welcome more than 1,000 guests Aug. 3 to 6 as the community plays host to the 17th Annual Shuswap Cultural Gathering.

Those driving out to the reserve, near Enderby (about half-an-hour drive north of Vernon), will be rewarded with a weekend of laughter and inspiration as the Shuswap communities will share their cultural traditions and celebrations.

"We're hoping that this event will be a bridge building between the two cultures," said gathering organizer Dorothy Christian. Helping her in the co-ordination is Donna Felix, a non-Native woman who has been married into the community for 30 years.

Invitations have been extended to everyone in all the surrounding communities and the weekend is being provided free of charge. Even camping will not cost, as the organizers have gone to all 17 bands in the Shuswap Nation to ask for donations and members of the Spallumcheen Band have hosted bingos and loonie auctions to help cover expenses.

Various individuals have also contributed to make the event a success. Lena Bell, 79, is not a wealthy woman but has donated $1,000 to the event to show her support.

As a family-oriented weekend, the event is drug and alcohol free.

"When I was a child and I went to powwows, the memory I have of powwows is seeing all these adults drunk all over the place," said Christian. "When people started reclaiming the cultural events, they became really clear about not having these substances there. It's more real. It's more authentic to what it was."

There are special activities planned for kids every morning and afternoon while the older folks enjoy various performers.

Opie Oppenheim will perform his "Cool Warrior" comedy act the first night of the gathering. He is a multi-talented comedian who is not afraid to use his own life experiences to bring smiles to people's faces.

"I'm a medicine man helping people to heal through laughter," said Oppenheim. A survivor of tuberculosis, residential school and a brief stint in prison, he has found the strength to live drug and alcohol free in spite of the hard times he has endured.

Locals Ethel Thomas and Linda Mitchell will be performing a comedy skit, and Rosalind Williams will treat the crowd to excerpts from The Shadow Play, produced a few years ago by the Spallumcheen Band and the town of Enderby, portraying the history of the area from the Natives' and settlers' points of view.

Williams will also be on hand to answer questions people may have concerning their ancestry as she has done extensive research into the genealogies in the community.

The oldest man in the community, Elder Casmir Felix, will add his perspective to the history of the community.

During the closing ceremony, the stewardship of an eagle staff from the Peace and Dignity Run will be transferred to the Shuswap Nation. It will be presented by the run's northern co-ordinator, Elder Gustavo Guiptterez from Arizona.

The Peace and Dignity Run has been performed in 1992, 1996 and 2000. A group of young Aboriginal people run from the northern tip of North America to the southern tip of South America. They run for healing, going through as many Aboriginal communities as possible along the way.

The Shuswap Nation will have responsibility of the eagle staff, which is one of many carried on the run, until the next run in 2004.