Carnival celebrates storytelling tradition

An Aboriginal storytelling carnival held at the North Battleford Public Library on Feb. 5 was a great success, organizers said.

About 250 people attended the activities, which included storytelling, sleigh rides and Aboriginal games. Participants were also treated to traditional Aboriginal food, like buffalo jerky and toasted bannock.

Rose and Lester Favel read from books and did puppet shows while Beth Cuthand told stories in the lecture theatre before a crowd of about 200 people. Participants warmed their hands over fires in barrels along the walkway behind the library.

Dawnlyn Ward, one of the main organizers of the carnival, was pleased and amazed at the turnout and at how well everything went. She got the idea for the event when she realized Feb. 5 to 11 was Aboriginal Storytelling Week. This year marks the third time Aboriginal Storytelling Week has been held in Saskatchewan to celebrate Aboriginal culture and the Aboriginal oral tradition, encourage a love of reading and promote co-operation between schools, public libraries and community organizations.

A number of individuals and organizations stepped in to help with North Battleford's Aboriginal Literacy Week celebrations, including representatives of KidsFirst, Prairie North Health Region, and the city's parks and recreation department. Audrey Fineday was instrumental, Ward said. "She made all the bannock." Lionel Tootoosis and his wife also helped out by organizing traditional Native games.

The hope was that Aboriginal people taking part in the event would step inside the library building itself and find out about all the things it has to offer. "We want to let people know the library is for everybody," Ward said.

It worked in spades. A number of Aboriginal people took advantage of the opportunity to visit the library, and many expressed an interest in obtaining library cards. Unfortunately not enough staff were on hand to handle all the requests, so people were asked to come back later in the week when more staff would be in.

North Battleford's Aboriginal storytelling carnival was just one of a number of events that took place in Saskatchewan as part of Aboriginal Storytelling Week, which saw Aboriginal storytellers sharing their stories at schools and libraries across the province.