FIRE

Fire gives life and takes life. It represents life and death. It is alive and it is a spirit that comes to visit in the summer.
When there is a forest fire, one that is not made by man, it is the spirit's visit to renew what needs to be renewed. Death has to happen before new life can take place.

ANIMALS

We must have respect for the animals that we take from nature. Whether it's for food or for their fur, usually it's both. Everything has a spirit. The animal's spirit is to be honoured by the trapper, when he snares and he kills animals. Especially a fur bearing animal.

The trapper cuts off the paws and then ties them together. He then looks around for the tallest tree and then throws the paws up into the branches of the tree. The trapper does this to honour the spirit of the animal, because he and his family's lives will be easier because the animal has given up its life. The reason why the trapper throws the paws up into the closest and tallest tree is to mark where this gift was given.

The mark is not for man it is for God. We are to respect the animals God has made. By respecting what God has made, we show respect for God.

BIRDS

The owl is a messenger of death. Some people think it's bad luck, but I do not think it is.

Every family has their own messenger and they can be different colours and sizes. The owl that would come to my family is small and white. It would come and sit where we couldn't miss it. It would just sit there on a tree and it would not make a sound. All it does is sit and look at the cabin and at us.

When I'd see it, I'd know a death was coming and I would prepare by praying for strength, to be able to deal with the death. Then I'd wait to see who the person would be.

It is God's way of communicating with us by using the owl. It reminds us that we are not in control of life, God is. It also reminds us that life is short.

NORTHERN LIGHTS

In Cree the Northern Lights are called "Wahwahtewak" (not walking straight). The old people say the Wahwahtewak are spirits, because there is another reality after this life. All life on earth has a spirit, the plants, the animals, the birds, everything. When a tree dies, or an animal, it leaves this earth, it goes back to where it came from. Back up in the sky and you can see the spirits dancing as Wahwahtewak. We humans have "Kitachak" (soul/spirit) we go somewhere else, not to the Wahwahtewak. All other life forms have a spirit that returns to the Wahwahtewak.

CHANGES

In the past the trappers travelled by dog team along the Reindeer River and the Churchill River. Trapping was good, but it was a hard life too, we never trapped to make lots of money.

It was a way of life, we were taught to provide for our families. We were taught to respect the land that we take from, and the water we drink and travel on. That is what we were taught.

When the hydro project went up and snowmobiles were introduced to us, in a lot of ways life was made easier, but easier is not always better.

The rivers that we travelled on changed. It became dangerous to travel where we used to, because the currents changed and the water level is always changing. Now we're able to get to where we were going by snowmobile in half the time it took us by dogs. A lot of things made life easier, but life became harder too.

By Marlene Highway as she learned from her father
Date: March 23, 2001