Youth learn traditional craft
Four-day workshop in Fort Simpson aims to reconnect young men with cultural, traditional values
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, February 23, 2017
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
A drum built with your own hands as a young person can last for a lifetime.
Scott Klondike, from Fort Liard, works on planing a length of birch wood. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
|
Comprised of carefully planed and steamed birch wood and soaked caribou hide, the drum is more than the sum of its parts, and creating one is as much about a spiritual and cultural connection as it is about the physical act of making a drum, according to Fort Providence's Jonas Landry.
Landry spent four days in Fort Simpson this week with Ricky Gargan and Frank Hope, leading youth from Fort Simpson, Fort Liard and Fort Providence in a drum-making workshop.
"Usually, in the winter, when we prepare drums, it takes two to three weeks because we cut and thaw the wood, split it, and we teach respect for the wood and its value," said Landry.
Because they only had four days for this workshop, the teachers pre-cut more than 24 birch frames for students to work with. Landry calls birch "grandfather or grandmother wood" due to its hardness.
"We're trying to get them to know the value of the work it takes, to learn the respect and patience needed to prepare a drum," Landry said.
"Our tradition is that you only make a drum when an elder says you're ready. It's used for prayers, spirituality and to help us overcome hardships."
Nine youth took part in the workshop, which saw them use Thomas Simpson Secondary School's woodworking shop to plane their birch.
The lengths of wood were then steamed in a pot of water until they were pliable enough to bend.
Landry said once the wood is bent, it is clamped until it dries.
Once the frames are complete, students will work on soaking caribou hide for half a day, cut babish and use the babish to weave the hide onto the wood.
The drums will be smoked over poplar wood and dried in a tent across the river at a cultural site often used by Fort Simpson's schools.
Landry said he plans to bring the youth out to the camp prior to the drying process, in order to show them the different kinds of wood on the land and which ones can be used for camping or tools.
He said connecting youth with the land is more important now than ever before.
"With our older generation, a lot of our cultural and traditional activities have been lost. They're on the verge of declining," he said.
"It's very important that they learn about this when they're young. A lot of students are new to this kind of work."
Participants included Wyatt Causa, Luke Bonnetrouge, Owen Bouvier, Rogan Young-Pine, Dawson Landry, SaNaeah Allen, JC Larter, Scott Klondike and Logan Hardisty. The group was also joined by Thorsten Gohl and Fort Simpson's Steve Nicoll.
