SOUTHEAST SASKATCHEWAN — Students in numerous southeast Saskatchewan communities heard tales of a Métis upbringing as part of February’s Indigenous Storyteller Month.
Tekeyla Friday started her tour at Hillcrest School in Estevan on Feb. 9, and then went to Midale, Weyburn, Carlyle, Stoughton, Lampman, Bienfait, Oungre, Pangman, Ogema and finally Bengough on Feb. 12.
“The Indigenous storytelling session that I’ve been doing has been very well received, and the students have been very, very awesome,” said Friday in an interview with SaskToday.
The presentations start with an oral story of how butterflies were created, complete with a prop she calls the great beans magic bag. When she opens the bag at the end, little paper butterflies emerge. Friday also does a series of puppet shows, including some she wrote herself and another she borrowed from an old library book named Little Blue Riding Hood. She also tells another story about when her father tried to make beaver tail when Friday’s mother was a child.
Most of her presentations were co-ordinated between schools and libraries in the region. With the involvement of the schools, she sad it guaranteed an audience. The librarian often introduced her. She added the kids have been quite excited to hear her stories, especially when she uses props for the oral stories.
“They really like Freddy the Yeti, who is a puppet that I created. I had made him about seven years ago. He was my first … puppet that I had created, so he’s got this big wide mouth and he has a gloved hand that I can put my hand into, and it makes him look like he’s very much alive and moving when he’s talking,” she said.
The kids have had all kinds of questions at the end of the presentation, as she said they want to know about the puppets and the Métis sash that she wears. At the Estevan presentation, she was showing off her book Prince Prickly Spine, and one of the students wanted a copy of the book to read. She happily obliged with the request.
Friday also gave her contact information to teachers so students could send in more questions.
She has a presentation at the end of the month in which she will discuss the engineering and science of the Red River cart, the fiddle and other parts of Métis culture. She also spoken about her Métis history through claymation art, plasticene pictures and 3-D stop-motion animation characters that she shows the students to inspire them to create their own art.
“It’s a lot of fun being able to share one’s culture, and to be able to inspire kids to use their imagination,” she said.
Indigenous storytelling is important because she believes it preserves First Nations and Métis culture together, and Indigenous people in Canada gather to tell stories, especially in winter.
“The belief around it was because the animal spirits were all sleeping, so it was a good time to tell stories about tricksters, and your cultural heritage and lineage, and that sort of thing. A lot of oral stories taught lessons and helped the children learn things such as don’t go near the lake because there’s a lake monster there, or don’t wander off into the forest alone, so that they could teach their kids survival skills.”
Storytelling is a time of getting together and just having the warmth of the fire and family around as people listen to stories.
“Even today, I think stories are very important. It’s part of our language, it’s part of our culture. It’s part of preserving our history when we tell stories,” she said.
