Winter Wonderland

(An eager little girl gives us a break from holding the katimavik flag in the Santa Claus parade on Saturday)

Well finally it's beginning to look alot like Christmas. It started to truelly be winter here the night Marjo told the group she was going to leave Katimavik. Another one bites the dust. It took me completely by surprise. Marjo never complained, she adapted to everything that was thrown at her and she seemed to enjoy herself, but I supose it just isn't for her. All her family has tried to persuade her to stay but now she's going. The deciding point, I think was that her friend was in a car accident and now is in a coma. It seems there are alot of outside forces pulling at our group. Kalleena is back in New Brunswick right now because her Grandmother was quite ill and as it turned out she passed away during Kalleena's stay.

(Marjo being carried in a workshop on wilderness survival and rescue. Rachelle's mother, Annie, is sertified in search-and-rescue and is a former student of Gino Ferri. She gave a little intro crash course when she came here in October.)

We were planning to go back to Sylvain's camp this weekend but we are now unable to because of circumstances better not discussed here. Once again we'll spend a weekend dans la maison. I will probably go and see Fodé before he leaves for Mali next week. I have gotten much further with my mittens, I find it hugely fun to sew and they are going to be awsome. Everyone has big mittens with the strings here. Some even have commercial ones with names of hockey teams on them. I used to think that little things like miniture mitts and dreamcatchers people hang on rearview mirrors were really chinsey but I've developed a respect for them. There is an actual purpose to these crafts: no one in years past would actually make a fullsized pair of snowshoes, the work is incredible and difficult. A small craft has the purpose to be a practice piece before making a functional item. I have attached a picture of Josey Cox's first pair of fullsized snowshoes at Sylvain's camp. The traditional Cree snowshoe is pointed at both ends and painted red on the tips. The wood is tammarack. On the edges at the tips are small fuzzy balls. I always thought they were just decoration but it turns out they act as silencers by preventing that smacking sound in the snow for hunting.

(Josey Cox's snow shoes. You can see the soft fur at the tips for silencing. The colour of the fur is an indication of the family you belong to­­.)

The little girl you see holding the flag in the top photo is French but like most white children here she understands Cree. The most bizarre thing is to see the children of the two African families here speaking Cree. Dispite the huge changes that have happened, there are still little things that carry through from ages past that don't have to clash with popular culture. Even at the daycares the babies are rapped tightly like a mummy and are put to sleep with the sound of a traditional shaker. A few times I have seen mothers use the traditional parkas with an enormous hood to hold their babies, it is quite practical. Another thing I've noticed (that has nothing to do with Cree culture) is that no one seems to have snowblowers. I was so used to snow blowers and thought anyone with money who lives were there is snow would have a snow blower. Instead, there are plenty of plastic Christmas trees to go around. A couple hundred dollars a piece, I still say walking out the back door into a never-ending spruce forest is were we'll find our tree. Speaking of winter, I should go clean the front room with all the boots as I am house manager this week, and I have to call the landlord about a leaking air-exchanger. These houses are prefab, and they were trucked up from Montreal. I can't say that they are built to last at all.

Anyway, I'll say goodbye now and e-mail/call whenever you want. Enjoy the snow!