Traditional teachings Knowledge keeper shares Indigenous stories, ceremony What I Know About...
By: AV Kitching Posted: 6:00 AM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 30, 2024

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/07/2024 (710 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jaime Grasby, 43, is an Anishinaabe Ojibwa woman from Sagkeeng First Nation. She is a knowledge keeper and storyteller who shares traditional knowledge, cultural teachings and Indigenous ceremony with individuals, community members, schools and organisations.

Some people refer to me as elder…

… but I am not old enough to be called an elder. I haven’t amassed enough knowledge to garner that title.

I do quite a few things…

… traditional teachings and ceremony, storytelling and cultural relevance. There is so much to talk about. It all depends on what the situation calls for at the time.

Ceremony is everything…

… it’s the feeling of connection and sharing energy. I am receiving energy from you and you are receiving energy from me. It’s how you approach life and how you handle yourself. How you carry yourself every day.

In ceremony I found something I didn’t know I needed…

… I found a sense of peace, I found somewhere I belong, I found people who want to share. If you are coming to ceremony for the first time you are sitting with people who want you to have the best experience possible.

It’s something beautiful…

… it’s rooted me, given me that sense of security and stability in my heart. You are not looking outside for anything else because you already have it.

These experiences are very specific to First Nations…

… so I want to explain what is special about this to other people because someone from another place may be able to find value in this way of living.

There is an aspect of spirituality to this…

… to sit on the land, put your feet on the ground, put your hands and feet in the water, allow yourself to listen and feel the connection to the land and to the Earth. The more open you are to seeing and feeling the more you are going to see and feel, hopefully in a good way, the way our ancestors intended for us to see and feel.

Anyone can learn…

… these are practices and teachings that can be shared with people who are not of our culture. It is important for those who do not have First Nations or Indigenous ancestry to learn about the culture of the land you live on.

It becomes cultural appropriation when…

… people who are not Indigenous profit from the pain and suffering someone else endured. Just because you know how to use a sewing machine doesn’t mean you understand the meaning of a ribbon skirt. It’s not just a ribbon skirt, it’s our regalia.

Sweat lodge is a great experience…

… I have had lots of people who are not Indigenous come and sit and sweat and it’s an all-encompassing experience. It amplifies all the best parts of life and you come out feeling like you are all shined up like a new penny; there is nothing more satisfying.

Our ancestors fought to maintain and preserve these beautiful teachings…

… so that we would have this opportunity for healing today. A group of people came here, saw us and thought “You are just a bunch of savages living in the bush.” They wanted to make us “better” by making us conform to what they were.

We didn’t need outside intervention because we already had social structures…

… we had natural law, we had Creator’s law. We knew how to take care of ourselves. What they didn’t realise was we already had all of those things. Our people suffered and died to make sure that we have this way of life still.

It’s not just a bunch of malarkey…

… these are real, valid teachings that transcend cultural boundaries. You are talking to someone about love or honesty or humility or courage and wisdom and truth. They can be applied to what is practical.

Normally storytelling happens in the winter…

… different things happen naturally at different times of the year, so when it was dark and super cold outside it made sense to stay inside and tell stories.

We didn’t write stuff down…

… so our storytelling was a way of keeping our history and passing teachings down generationally.

We would tell stories that would travel from community to community…

… conveying history, conveying geography, conveying science and mathematics, all incorporated into a story. Passing knowledge via the medium of storytelling.

The person you are sitting with, the better they are at communicating…

… the different aspects of a traditional story, the easier it is to go, “I can see it; I can feel it; I can hear it; I can smell it because you are giving me descriptors to bring me to that moment, to understand and to relate.” It not just in the mind; it’s a whole being experience.

I have lived experience which can successfully convey a particular teaching…

… it’s being able to say, “Here is the traditional story, and this is the way it was handed down verbally,” and then relate a real life example, from today, that reinforces why it’s important to know this teaching, or how it can be related in your own day-to-day life.

Every story has a teaching…

… and sometimes it’s just humility. Sone of the best stories are ones that are entertaining, where you are able to laugh at yourself a little bit. I think it’s important that as Indigenous people we maintain some humour.

This oral tradition is integral to our culture…

… some of the traditional stories that we used to share probably have been lost but the art of storytelling has been maintained and kept well alive.

I love to have people come sit with me…

…I want things to make sense and I want to explain things in a way that makes sense to others. I am trying to make it interesting for the person who is listening.

I am not a fan of our current school system…

… I trained as an early childhood educator. Our system has people who are failing miserably and we are saying, “We will just put you in the next grade.” You are not setting that person up for success; you are actually hindering them.

If you had this more traditional way of teaching…

… you would reach people better. I am not saying it’s a cure-all but there would definitely be more of a sense of connection, rather than just saying, “Sit down and listen, you’re being disruptive.”

“‘I say ‘OK, what are you acknowledging?’ If they can’t answer the question then they should not be speaking on that.”

You would say, “come sit with me…

… maybe you need to see this right next to me because then I can engage you better.” There would be more natural behaviour management. Our interactions would be different.

If we had more more opportunities to share in this manner…

… we would have people who are more capable of handling their emotions and their responses to things happening around them.

When someone calls me and says…

… “We want you to do a land acknowledgement.” I say “OK, what are you acknowledging?” If they can’t answer the question then they should not be speaking on that.

Land acknowledgments just being recited misses the mark…

… the way that we do a land acknowledgment is intended to acknowledge the spirit of the land, Ni Mama Aki (Mother Earth), and to be grateful for all that she provides, all that we need, and then some.

I am practicing how to connect with people…

… in a way that is more than just talking. It’s not just my voice, I want to connect with your spirit and I want to do it in a really good way.

You have to cultivate a sense of peace…

… that feeling of being rooted in your own life before you can talk about it to others.

When you come sit with me I want you to leave feeling…

… like you have learnt something. Feeling like you are energised. I want people to understand how impactful, in a really amazing, beautiful way, this way of life truly is.

Answers have been edited for clarity and length.

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca