KnowledgefromElders

THE FOLLOWING KNOWLEDGE,

IS SHARED BY ELDERS

ELDERS VOICES:

Many elders have talked about the environment and the changes they have seen during their lives. Other elders have shared with us the stories and the beliefs that they learned as children. We are especially grateful for the knowledge and guidance provided by Violet McGregor, Jean Shawana, Virginia McLeod, Archie McGregor, Ernest McGraw, Issac Day, Dan Pine, Domonic Eshkakogan, Tom Porter, William Trudeau, Mary-Lou Fox, and the late Albert Lightning.

Their words have provided the themes around which this project is organized: SORROW at the degradation of the environment and the life community; the SHARING of the Creator's gifts; GIVING THANKS for those gifts; and TEACHING future generations how to share and to give thanks.

SORROW

We have lost many of our ways, especially the ways of working together and being able to appreciate the earth we live on. We must appreciate all of creation, that is where our health and well being comes from. We have forgotten to be thankful.

We have forgotten our language. Our language is important, it is a God-given language and we must use it. It is powerful; it gives us the means to learn and re-learn the teachings of our ways.

Albert Lightning talked about his area of Alberta. When he walked through the buffalo grass years ago, it was high and reached his chest. When he walked through the buffalo grass his moccasins would be wet. Then the white man came and ploughed everything up there was only barren waste left. "When I walk in that area today my feet burn there is no longer any moisture in the land."

In our own area the sweetgrass is getting more difficult to find. It is losing its aroma and the harvesting time is shortened. The craftspeople who depend on it know this; they are concerned.

The people up north can't eat the meat of the caribou and the beaver. Pesticides being sprayed from the air are contaminating everything, the plants, the animals, the water and the fish. We need to get the government to understand. When the white man strip-cuts the forest, the bulldozers nock everything down and the soil becomes perfectly dry, the animals no longer come to feed in thee areas. How long will it take for these areas to grow again and for the animals to return?

SHARING

To share friendship is important. It is important for us to work together, to communicate with each other for the sake of our children and the future generations to come. If we work together and love each other, things will be easier. To be truly an Anishinaabe, is a hard path.

Relationships do not stop with the family, the band, the tribal group; they extend out to embrace and relate to the land, to the animals, to the plants, and to the clouds, the elements, the heavens, and the stars. The Anishinaabeg are related to all these; we share with them the community of life. Ultimately these relationships extend to embrace the entire universe. But we must not just express these relationships in our talk; we must live them in our actions and our thought. When we help each other the road will be easier.

All these relatives share with us the gifts of the Creator. All these relatives were given the knowledge of how to keep the gifts safe for future generations. We learn from our relatives, from our animal brothers. The deer eat cedar; it is their source of survival and it should be a healing agent for us also.

As this sharing is forgotten, the prophecies of our people are coming true. It was foretold that this day would be coming dead fish in the waters animals we can no longer eat. Our gardens are affected. The Creator gave us instructions for our survival and we are not following them, we are following the ways of the white man.

GIVING THANKS

Prayer is our strength in our daily lives; we must pray to the Great Spirit to help us, then things will fall into place. The Great Spirit has provided well for us, we have everything we need, things that grow, the rising of the sun . . . everything is there to help us. Look at the things that are all around us that is where our strength is. Let us give thanks to the Creator who made all these things - everything is good; Earth is our life.

Everything has its place in creation. Every piece of creation has its own duties and responsibilities. One responsibility is to give thanks to the Creator, and to say thank you to our friends, to our relatives, all our relatives, not just our fellow Anishinaabe.

Everything the Creator made has a function; so do all their spirits. Let us bring our minds together as one thought and say "Thank You." Thank you to all the berries in the world, and then to all the trees that provide us with heat during the long winter months. Thank you to all the waters that give us life, that quench our thirst. Rocks are strong power, they bring strength; we call upon them to make us strong, to be like them. They are consistently strong, there is no deterioration; let us give thanks to the rocks of the world because they are following their way.

Let us gather our thought, prayers and greetings, and send our thanksgiving to the eagle and to all the birds of the air, and let us remember the winds of the four directions. And let us give thanksgiving to the four powers of the universe, to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers, our Older Brother the Sun, our Grandmother the Moon, and the Stars, our ancestors. Thank you for your knowledge and wisdom. And in the Sky World, the Maker of the Universe, the Creator, said, "Remember me each and every day, always say thank you to me." The Creator made a most perfect world. We have the privilege of living here; let us enjoy the world given to us and let us look after it.

By: The Elders



	THE FOLLOWING KNOWLEDGE, IS SHARED BY ELDERS ELDERS VOICES: Many elders have talked about the environment and the changes they have seen during their lives. Other elders have shared with us the stories and the beliefs that they learned as children. We are especially grateful for the knowledge and guidance provided by Violet McGregor, Jean Shawana, Virginia McLeod, Archie McGregor, Ernest McGraw, Issac Day, Dan Pine, Domonic Eshkakogan, Tom Porter, William Trudeau, Mary-Lou Fox, and the late Albert Lightning. Their words have provided the themes around which this project is organized: SORROW at the degradation of the environment and the life community; the SHARING of the Creator's gifts; GIVING THANKS for those gifts; and TEACHING future generations how to share and to give thanks. SORROW We have lost many of our ways, especially the ways of working together and being able to appreciate the earth we live on. We must appreciate all of creation, that is where our health and well being comes from. We have forgotten to be thankful. We have forgotten our language. Our language is important, it is a God-given language and we must use it. It is powerful; it gives us the means to learn and re-learn the teachings of our ways. Albert Lightning talked about his area of Alberta. When he walked through the buffalo grass years ago, it was high and reached his chest. When he walked through the buffalo grass his moccasins would be wet. Then the white man came and ploughed everything up there was only barren waste left. "When I walk in that area today my feet burn there is no longer any moisture in the land." In our own area the sweetgrass is getting more difficult to find. It is losing its aroma and the harvesting time is shortened. The craftspeople who depend on it know this; they are concerned. The people up north can't eat the meat of the caribou and the beaver. Pesticides being sprayed from the air are contaminating everything, the plants, the animals, the water and the fish. We need to get the government to understand. When the white man strip-cuts the forest, the bulldozers nock everything down and the soil becomes perfectly dry, the animals no longer come to feed in thee areas. How long will it take for these areas to grow again and for the animals to return? SHARING To share friendship is important. It is important for us to work together, to communicate with each other for the sake of our children and the future generations to come. If we work together and love each other, things will be easier. To be truly an Anishinaabe, is a hard path. Relationships do not stop with the family, the band, the tribal group; they extend out to embrace and relate to the land, to the animals, to the plants, and to the clouds, the elements, the heavens, and the stars. The Anishinaabeg are related to all these; we share with them the community of life. Ultimately these relationships extend to embrace the entire universe. But we must not just express these relationships in our talk; we must live them in our actions and our thought. When we help each other the road will be easier. All these relatives share with us the gifts of the Creator. All these relatives were given the knowledge of how to keep the gifts safe for future generations. We learn from our relatives, from our animal brothers. The deer eat cedar; it is their source of survival and it should be a healing agent for us also. As this sharing is forgotten, the prophecies of our people are coming true. It was foretold that this day would be coming dead fish in the waters animals we can no longer eat. Our gardens are affected. The Creator gave us instructions for our survival and we are not following them, we are following the ways of the white man. GIVING THANKS Prayer is our strength in our daily lives; we must pray to the Great Spirit to help us, then things will fall into place. The Great Spirit has provided well for us, we have everything we need, things that grow, the rising of the sun . . . everything is there to help us. Look at the things that are all around us that is where our strength is. Let us give thanks to the Creator who made all these things - everything is good; Earth is our life. Everything has its place in creation. Every piece of creation has its own duties and responsibilities. One responsibility is to give thanks to the Creator, and to say thank you to our friends, to our relatives, all our relatives, not just our fellow Anishinaabe. Everything the Creator made has a function; so do all their spirits. Let us bring our minds together as one thought and say "Thank You." Thank you to all the berries in the world, and then to all the trees that provide us with heat during the long winter months. Thank you to all the waters that give us life, that quench our thirst. Rocks are strong power, they bring strength; we call upon them to make us strong, to be like them. They are consistently strong, there is no deterioration; let us give thanks to the rocks of the world because they are following their way. Let us gather our thought, prayers and greetings, and send our thanksgiving to the eagle and to all the birds of the air, and let us remember the winds of the four directions. And let us give thanksgiving to the four powers of the universe, to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers, our Older Brother the Sun, our Grandmother the Moon, and the Stars, our ancestors. Thank you for your knowledge and wisdom. And in the Sky World, the Maker of the Universe, the Creator, said, "Remember me each and every day, always say thank you to me." The Creator made a most perfect world. We have the privilege of living here; let us enjoy the world given to us and let us look after it. By: The Elders