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Free admission for kids 12 and under Dec. 27-Jan. 5 | Free entry for all Sundays

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Cree Teachings with Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Dykstra

Saturday, November 16, 2024

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A close-up of a segment of the moon’s surface. Partially obscured.

Photo: Moon, Bert Knottenbeld, CC BY-SA 2.0

Cost:
Free, registration required
Location:
Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The group will meet in Bonnie & John Buhler Hall, Level 1 and proceed together to Level 6.
Language and Accessibility:
This event is offered in English.

Ni kiskinohamâson means “I am learning.” Join Cree Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Dykstra for a learning experience as our Earth Mother enters the first of two Ininiwak winter seasons when the Red River will begin to freeze and the sap on the trees will begin to harden.

Marilyn will share how during the Freezing Water Moon, we prepare our homes for the cold and ourselves for our time of fasting. Individual strength is tested but resilience is found through the support of stories, songs and the ultimate protection of our home.

The workshop will also explore this time when we focus on how we relate within Wahkowtowin and provide hope for others in the community.

“Our ancestors are waiting to visit and dance with us in the northern skies because they fought hard to provide us with a plan and loved us into being,” Marilyn says.

Workshop

This workshop is part of a monthly Wahkowtowin and Ways of Being series led by Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Dykstra. Each month, we will explore a variety of moon, pole and tea teachings in the Cree tradition.

Wahkowtowin – which translates to kinship – highlights how relationships, communities and the natural world are all interconnected.

Participants will discover and reflect on their connections with each other, with balance and with human rights through teachings and a traditional tea.

Marilyn Dykstra is a status Bill C‑31 First Nations woman from northern Manitoba. She has been immersed in a working matriarchal system that practiced Indigenous ways of thinking and being since she was born. Alongside her family, she has participated in many peaceful social justice movements.

Marilyn uses her matriarchal knowledge as a foundation for her work in the Indigenous community, which has been ongoing for over thirty years. She still follows her matriarchal teachings, but she has also spent her life learning traditional knowledge and passing the teachings on.

She is a pow wow dancer, knowledge keeper, and she carries the responsibility of a bundle. She happily participates in naming ceremonies, sweats, pipe ceremonies, moon teachings and more.

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