Friday, May 27, 2011....The Spirit Tree

Well we finished one week of our training today. What a fabulous week. These Ojibwe people are truly awesome. To think I never heard of them untill we decided to come up here for the summer. Warm, friendly and truly industrious and those voyageurs....I can’t even image working that hard. Paddling non-stop for 15 hours a day, then taking that 450 pound canoe and toss it over your shoulder and haul it over 8 ½ miles of land to get around waterfalls or rapids...but the 4 tons of merchandise. Granted this was accomplished by 16 men....but even so.
Besides learning the history of these people, we are learning to make fire from flint and steel, we have made cording, sewn birch bark panels to make wigwams. Besides hiking up to High Falls, we have actually hiked on "The Grand Portage" and today we hiked out to "The Spirit Tree" What a precious thing. That little tree has seen alot.....it’s been hear for at least 400 years.
Today we learned about the Ojibwe (Chippewa) people. Carl Gawboy, a well known artist of Native American historical water color paintings and murals came and talked to us for 2 hrs. He used his life, here in the north woods, has his inspiration. Then later we had a potluck with everyone bringing a dish that represented their cultural background. What fun....and so yummy.
After that the tribal secretary/treasure came by and talked to us. What a smart young woman. 24 yrs old and elected to this tribal position. They are so warm and welcoming. This is a wonderful experience. I was sitting there today in our class and thought, who would have ever thought we would have experienced such a wonderful thing. We have received our costumes and promise to take photos of us fully decked out. Wait til you see Dale in his "Gentleman’s Outfit".