Elders decide on use of feathers

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The sight of an eagle soaring high above the earth, flying with the cloud people, is a powerful experience. In Aboriginal tradition, the eagle represents the strongest of spiritual powers and when the bird dies, these powers remain in the feathers, claws and body parts.

Eagle feathers are in great demand for the traditional spiritual ceremonies of the Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, Dakota, Nakota and Lakota cultures in Saskatchewan, and in even greater demand for the competitive powwow circuit in North America.

In a unique partnership, the government of Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM) and the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre in Saskatoon, have joined hands to facilitate and manage a traditionally appropriate distribution of feathers and body parts for ceremonial use among First Nations peoples in the province.

The program, officially named "Birds of Prey For Indian Ceremonial Use" and also known as the "Feather Bank" among traditional dancers, has been designed to acknowledge the unique relationship and rights of Aboriginal people with provincial wildlife, once conservation needs have been met.

"We are not a feather bank here at the Saskatchewan Cultural Centre," explained Darlene Speidel. "Birds of prey turned into or confiscated by Saskatchewan Fish and Wildlife officers are kept in a warehouse in Regina, and SERM lets us know when feathers are available."

Under the direction of the traditional council of Elders at the cultural centre, eligible birds are given into the care of the cultural resource co-ordinator at Waneskewan, who cleans, dissects, and prepares the feathers and body parts for distribution, keeping them in cold storage until needed.

When a significant number of feathers are available, the traditional council of Elders, made up of members from each of the different Aboriginal language groups in Saskatchewan, come together to sort through the applications forms - called birds of prey feather/body part requests - to see how many requests can be filled, explained Speidel.

"Almost all of the applications we receive request feathers from immature golden eagles which are all white with black tips. There are not many requests for other raptors like owls, hawks and falcons and almost none for magpies, ravens or crows," she said.

When the panel of Elders are sifting through and considering individual applications, a great deal of expert knowledge and care goes into the descision-making process due to the sacredness and rarity of raptor feathers.

"First and foremost they are looking for Aboriginal practitioners such as Sun Dance leaders, Medicine Men and Women or Servers who would need a fan for ceremonial purposes. Veterans are given next consideration as are requests for feathers to dress an eagle staff. We also keep a few eagle feathers on hand for graduations, and in a few instances, feathers are given, at the request of a family, for a roach," said Speidel.

The cultural centre also receives requests for chief headdresses for pomp and circumstance entrances, cultural ceremonies and special gifts in the political arena.

The requests towards the creation of large traditional war bonnets or chief hats have created some sticky problems, said Speidel.

Elders are not too keen about the use of eagle feathers in the creation of culturally generic "stock headdresses" for politicians, chiefs and grand chiefs and they are deeply concerned about the proper care and handling of these significant and valuable artifacts.

Trying to cross international borders with chief headdresses has caused more than one politician a few headaches and led to the creation of both domestic and international permits, issued by the Saskatchewan Fish and Wildlife branch of SERM.

When Ovid Mercredi was flying in from the United States to sign the treaty land entitlement in 1993 at Wanuskewin, he got hung up in customs and immigration because of the eagle feathers in his grand chief headdress.

Another interesting problem pesented itself when the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre was asked to provide a chief hat for Brian Mulroney, said Speidel.

The Elders decided not to present Mulroney with "the real thing" and ordered a headdress from Oklahoma made of hand painted turkey feathers. The effect was so convincing that officials at the American/Canadian border confiscated the hat for a time, believing it to be real eagle feathers, added Speidel.

(It was hearsay at the time that the Border officials commented on what a great sense of humor the Canadian Indians had, giving hand painted turkey feathers to Mulroney)

The last and biggest category on the request list is from pow wow dancers who want eagle feathers and body parts for traditional regalia, with preference going to Veterans.

"Dancers are not a priority. Our Elders have said, over and over again, that what you see in today's modern pow wows is violating traditional protocol, something they say has got way out of hand. They are very critical of large bustles and things like putting eagle heads on the backs of bustles or on dance sticks," said Speidel. "If a traditional dancer is requesting an eagle head to put in the center of their bustle, the panel of Elders would just garbage their application. We have even had requests ranging from 200 to 600 large feathers for an adult dance outfit. Not only do we not have that many feathers to distribute, our Elders would never allow such a thing."

Applications for eagle feathers, body parts and other birds of prey for use by Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan are available at district offices or through band offices and are sent to the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre in Saskatoon and reviewed by the traditional council of Elders.

The feathers and body parts are normally distributed once each year during a ceremonial feast in June sponsored by the cultural centre with an equal distribution among the five tribal groups.