Aboriginal storytelling celebrated in Saskatchewan

Page 6

People young and old from across the province joined in celebrating the tradition of storytelling during Aboriginal Storytelling Week, held from Feb. 7 to 14.

This year's festivities were officially launched Feb. 7 at the Willow Cree Education Complex on Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation.

Students from kindergarten to Grade 12 were treated to the sounds of drummers, a turkey meal complete with stuffing, and tales from three Saskatchewan storytellers-Louise Halfe, Hilary Craig and Joseph Naytowhow.

This was the province's second annual Aboriginal Storytelling Week. Last year the event was launched at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina and was celebrated in 21 locations. This year 36 locations hosted 59 different events in celebration of storytelling.

Rosalyn Michael, the librarian at the Willow Cree Education Complex, spent roughly a month planning the event for her school. She wanted to educate the students about their traditions and history.

"Part of our tradition is passing on oral history," she said."This [event] was one way of passing on those traditions."

The event officially began with a song by the drumming group Mena Peyak from Beardy's, followed by a round dance song played by Naytowhow.

Halfe, who has written two acclaimed books of poetry and was recently named Saskatchewan's Poet Laureate, began by reading some of her poems to the crowd of students, teachers and parents.

When it was his turn, Naytowhow engaged the children with songs, including one where he sang the numbers one through 10 in Cree at an increasing speed. He also told a story about a fish that was trained to live outside of water and then consequently drowned.

Craig told traditional stories from Mexico and Sudan, including one about the animal and bird kingdoms holding parties, and the bat being excluded from both because she didn't fit into either.

In the end, she became the messenger between the two groups because she could fly. Craig told the crowd that what makes a person unique or different should be celebrated because it sets that person apart from others.

Craig is originally from Zimbabwe in Africa, and was invited to come and share her stories during Aboriginal Storytelling Week

"It's good to build bridges and with understanding comes respect," said Wendy Sinclair-Sparvier, head of the Albert branch of the Regina Public Library and chairperson of Library Services for Saskatchewan's Aboriginal Peoples, the organization that funds and hosts Aboriginal Storytelling Week across the province.

Establishing a week dedicated to Aboriginal storytelling was one of the 46 recommendations made in 2001 by a provincial government advisory committee that was co-chaired by Sinclair-Sparvier.

Aboriginal Storytelling Week is held both to promote First Nation and Metis oral traditions and to promote the use of public libraries among Aboriginal people, Sinclair-Sparvier explained.

"Libraries play a key role in the preservation, revival and the teaching of Aboriginal culture, language and tradition, and we want to get more of that population to use public libraries," she said, "because libraries are for everyone."