Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 30, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba SUMMER 2024 ISSUE DON’T MISS THE Read online at winnipegfreepress.com/fp-features Available at Manitoba Liquor Marts - while supplies last! P i c k u p y o u r c o p y t o d a y ! TUESDAY JULY 30, 2024 ● ARTS & LIFE EDITOR: JILL WILSON 204-697-7018 ● ARTS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ARTS ● LIFE SECTION C CONNECT WITH THE BEST ARTS AND LIFE COVERAGE IN MANITOBA ▼ Knowledge keeper shares Indigenous stories, ceremony Traditional teachings J AIME Grasby, 43, is an Anishinaabe Ojib- wa woman from Sagkeeng First Nation. She is a knowledge keeper and storyteller who shares traditional knowledge, cultural teachings and Indigenous ceremony with individuals, community members, schools and organizations. Some people refer to me as elder… … but I am not old enough to be called an elder. I haven’t amassed enough knowledge to garner that title. I do quite a few things… … traditional teachings and ceremony, story- telling and cultural relevance. There is so much to talk about. It all depends on what the situation calls for at the time. Ceremony is everything… … it’s the feeling of connection and sharing en- ergy. I am receiving energy from you and you are receiving energy from me. It’s how you approach life and how you handle yourself. How you carry yourself every day. In ceremony I found something I didn’t know I need- ed… … I found a sense of peace, I found somewhere I belong, I found people who want to share. If you are coming to ceremony for the first time you are sitting with people who want you to have the best experience possible. It’s something beautiful… … it’s rooted me, given me that sense of securi- ty and stability in my heart. You are not looking outside for anything else because you already have it. These experiences are very specific to First Nations… … so I want to explain what is special about this to other people because someone from another place may be able to find value in this way of living. There is an aspect of spirituality to this… … to sit on the land, put your feet on the ground, put your hands and feet in the water, allow yourself to listen and feel the connection to the land and to the Earth. The more open you are to seeing and feeling the more you are going to see and feel, hopefully in a good way, the way our ancestors intended for us to see and feel. Anyone can learn… … these are practices and teachings that can be shared with people who are not of our culture. It is important for those who do not have First Nations or Indigenous ancestry to learn about the culture of the land you live on. It becomes cultural appropriation when… … people who are not Indigenous profit from the pain and suffering someone else endured. Just because you know how to use a sewing ma- chine doesn’t mean you understand the meaning of a ribbon skirt. It’s not just a ribbon skirt, it’s our regalia. Sweat lodge is a great experience… … I have had lots of people who are not Indig- enous come and sit and sweat and it’s an all-en- compassing experience. It amplifies all the best parts of life and you come out feeling like you are all shined up like a new penny; there is nothing more satisfying. Our ancestors fought to maintain and preserve these beautiful teachings… … so that we would have this opportunity for healing today. A group of people came here, saw us and thought, “You are just a bunch of savages living in the bush.” They wanted to make us “bet- ter” by making us conform to what they were. We didn’t need outside intervention because we already had social structures… … we had natural law, we had Creator’s law. We knew how to take care of ourselves. What they didn’t realize was we already had all of those things. Our people suffered and died to make sure that we have this way of life still. It’s not just a bunch of malarkey… … these are real, valid teachings that transcend cultural boundaries. You are talking to someone about love or honesty or humility or courage and wisdom and truth. They can be applied to what is practical. Normally storytelling happens in the winter… … different things happen naturally at differ- ent times of the year, so when it was dark and super cold outside it made sense to stay inside and tell stories. We didn’t write stuff down… … so our storytelling was a way of keeping our history and passing teachings down generation- ally. We would tell stories that would travel from community to community… … conveying history, conveying geography, conveying science and mathematics, all incor- porated into a story. Passing knowledge via the medium of storytelling. The person you are sitting with, the better they are at communicating… … the different aspects of a traditional story, the easier it is to go, “I can see it; I can feel it; I can hear it; I can smell it because you are giving me descriptors to bring me to that moment, to understand and to relate.” It not just in the mind; it’s a whole being experience. BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS Jaime Grasby uses traditional teachings, ceremony and storytelling when working with individuals, schools and organizations. WHAT I KNOW ABOUT... WITH AV KITCHING ● CONTINUED ON C2 ;