First Nations and Canada

On here will be the teachings and photos of the Grandmothers of this area. Please send your information in if you want to share it.

Audrey Desvants
audreydesvents@hotmail.com

I live a healthy and well balanced traditional lifestyle maintaining and promoting the history, culture and customs of our Cree people, to the best of my knowledge, skills and experience as a way of life. I present Workshops, Trainings, and I am a Motivational Speaker. My interests are The traditonal pusuits of the Land and spiritual connection with the Creator, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally and culturally. reading-writing, music of all types, & drumming

Some of Audrey's teachings are below and also on the photos page.

'I have no living grandmothers however I am a grandmother, my mom is a great grandmother and we both have no grandmothers, however their teachings remain with us which we have acknowledged are valuable teachings and the big picture is this is preserving our teachings, language, ceremonies, the same way our grandmothers held it sacred for us. We hope that by getting involved and being active and thinking ahead we can pass the same teachings on to other grand-children as well as our own so that it stays preserved for a few more generations at least.'

'Moose are veggie eaters and their meat is a very tasty and healthy. Any meat is tough if it is cut with the grain, what you have to do is cut against the grain, those little lines on the meat. Don't cut in the same way they go, turn the meat where you slice against like holding a bundle of spagetti, cut at the ends, not the long way, that is where meat is soft. We eat it with butter, like jerky but very dry and ground down. You can dry beef meat as well.'

One moose is about 1500 pounds and we never waste anything,
* the nse, tg, some of the insides are used for ceremonies
*the hide is hand tanned, and used for mocassins, mukluks, north american church people used hides for their water drums,
*raw hides here are used for hand drums or the big drums.
*sinew on the back is taken off and used for many things like wrapping the mouth piece for eagle bone whistles,
*Two front leg bones are cut and used to flush the hide (meaning to take the meat off before soaking it,
there are also two small bones on the front legs used to make hair pins.
* horns are for arts/crafts

Very little is left behind and each time we do this a feast is held to honor that animal's life and those who have passed on.'

When the men are cutting and preparing quarters, they select the edible parts, those nice round parts you see in front of Tyrell & Ray in the photo, they are cutting round long strips and made into dry meat ( (really dry) like jerky. This is a favorite here and mixed with crushed choke cherries is called pemican, which was used by trappers, and hunters. (provided food on long travels)
The bones that are smoked dry with some meat was cut into small pieces and again during hunts the men could boil them in water and they provided them with nourishment.

The men also do a tobacco ceremony to offer when they do the hunt and the animal is taken.
never do they ever take more than they need. The one you see in the photos lasted us the winter, (fall hunt). We also give to our relatives who need meat for their families.

Then again in June when those purple flowers bloom (see photos) they go out again. On the next trip we will record from the time we leave till the final packaging is done. Everything we do is team work, we all help.'

'My visions to do bead work came from living traditional life, the land, it's a way of living for us,
we still tan hides, my hands are crippled from too much beadwork when I was young, now I am pitiful and looking for someone to bead for me, but I've got lots of life left to do my work.
Our grandsons, they have to do their share, mens stuff. and they go through their rites of passage.'

'Every single moment I spend with the love of my life is a memory and that I will cherish for the rest of my life. We spend as much time together as we can knowing that in the end one of us will go first, so we witness each others lives, in good times and bad times. If I could share a thought this is it, never miss a moment with your partner.
Have a good day.'