Learning from the Elders

Whittling drumsticks for our drumming circle next week

Each of us can find something we appreciate about nature but for the First People who called this land their home hundreds of years ago, nature was everything. Our focus today was to look at how they used the gifts from the land in order to have food, shelter, and clothing. Imagine what your life would be like if we didn’t have any stores or restaurants. What would you have to do to survive?

We were privileged to have some Haudenosaunee artifacts to examine.  Which artifacts did you and your partner look at and what were you able to learn about these resourceful people? Think about how they used the animals, trees, plants, and the land, Do we use them in the same way today?

Gratitude for nature is the feeling of happiness and thankfulness for what Turtle Island offers us. The Haudenosaunee show their appreciation by sharing a Thanksgiving Address or prayer at the start of each day or before important celebrations. See if you can remember some of the gifts they appreciated the most and why. What do you think the last line of each verse means - “Now our minds are one." ?

We liked their Thanksgiving Address so much that we decided to make our own ‘Giving Thanks’ drums. Although we will need a little more time to finish them, talk to your family about what makes your drum and drumstick so special to you.

What other things were you grateful for today?

When it comes to being caretakers of the land, it’s important that we try to follow in the footsteps of the people who came before us. As Chickadees you show this when you use gentle footsteps to travel the trails, when you practice catch and release when we are enjoying the gifts of the stream, and when you interact respectfully with all the animals, birds, plants and each other. When we all do this, we are showing that 'our minds are indeed one".