This is the sixth of seven posts that recount last month’s Convening Great Lakes Culture Keepers (CGLCK) Institute at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, April 14-17, 2014. This four-day gathering of tribal librarians, archivists, and museum curators from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, as well as staff and graduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Library and Information Studies, was graciously funded by the Institute of Museum of Library Services. You can read more about the overview of the project here.
On Wednesday night, everyone formed a huge circle inside Ziibiwing’s boarding school exhibit room for the much anticipated gift exchange. Starting with the elders and working our way down to the youth, everyone was able to choose one of the many wonderful gifts brought by conference attendees.
Each gift was special in that it represented or was meaningful to the person who brought it. The room was filled with laughter and applause until all the gifts were claimed. We all enjoyed looking around the room and finding out who chose our gift. Each workshop presenter as well as Ziibiwing staff was also recognized for all the hard work they put into making the conference great.
As the gift exchange began to wind down, Ziibiwing had one more surprise. They brought out a beautiful Pendleton blanket with their center’s logo and presented it to Omar as a thank you for bringing everyone together for the conference. Everyone stood up to honor him for such a wonderful experience.
After the gift exchange, the drum group took the floor and everyone was encouraged to participate in a round dance. The girls danced in a small circle around the drum circle and the boys danced in the opposite direction on the outside. The dance was easy enough that everyone could participate and we all had a lot of fun.
After a couple of songs, everyone was invited to main room to make black ash baskets and toys. Making black ash baskets is a long process, starting with pounding the wood into strips, then stripping it down into thinner pieces, and finally wetting it and weaving them together. We all had a chance to participate in each of these activities.
Outside, Judy’s son Gegek helped us pound out the wood strips with an axe. It was a little difficult at first, but after a couple of hits everyone got a hang of it and had their own black ash strips to bring inside for stripping and weaving.
Inside, Judy and her younger sons, Toby and Waasamoo, helped us to strip the pieces into halves and weave them into baskets, toys, and flowers. Toby and Waasamoo also taught us some new jokes and really gave us a night to remember. We were even able to stay extra late until all our baskets were finished!
Miigwech to Judy and her family and to the Ziibiwing staff for sharing this experience with us!
-Emily Sovell