Traditional Knowledge

Lion People gave her power to heal

1979 news article on Madeleine Rabesca of Behchokǫ̀ by Hubet Johnson.  

I was walking in the bush and all of a sudden I heard a loud roar. I looked around and saw a big lion and his long mane blowing in the wind...In a few seconds, the lion turned into a man, and a woman was standing behind him in the distance. They were dark-skinned people but not Indian...He said he only want to give mt he power to make people well... I don't know why he chose me.

Sinew - Kw'e is a strong, hard thread made of caribou.

Our ancestors have used sinew thread since the beginning of time and still use it to this day. People travelled long distances to hunt caribou for their muscle strip, which is the long, thick muscle from the back leg of the caribou that is made into sinew. The sinew is dried and woven by hand for many hours, then soaked in water to loosen the strip. Once loose, the strip is then woven by hand again for many hours. Once this is done, it is shredded into fine strips of thread and ready for sewing.

Trails of our Ancestors: Building a Nation

 For centuries the Tłı̨chǫ of the Northwest Territories have relied on an intimate knowledge of the land and its wildlife to survive. The Tłı̨chǫ lived in a yearly cycle of following traditional trails in birchbark canoes to the barren lands in the fall to harvest the caribou herd; and then heading below the tree-line for the long northern winter until the warmth and life of spring returns."

Read the Trails of our Ancestors in PDF here.

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