What an extraordinary day to be at Fish Creek Park! We had a wonderful day of land-based learning! Thank you to the volunteers who were able to join us!
We started our morning by introducing the ceremonial practice of smudging. Smudging is a tradition, common to many First Nations, which involves the burning of one or more medicines gathered from the earth. There are many ways and variations on how a smudge is done.
Smudging allows people to stop, slow down, become mindful and centered. This allows people to remember, connect and be grounded in the event, task or purpose at hand. Smudging also allows people to let go of something negative. Smudging is always voluntary.
The students then had time for supervised exploration of the Bow Valley area. This part of year is fantastic for observing wildlife, as the trees are still empty of their leaves. Students saw a variety of birds, including Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers, as well as as a group of White-Tailed Deer. Our most exciting discovery was a Great Horned Owl sitting on her nest! We look forward to checking in on her in the upcoming weeks.
After lunch, we split the students up into the two classes and half the students did a sharing circle with the question, What can we learn from the land? while the other half of students did a walk alongside to learn about different Blackfoot oral stories from the Fish Creek Park area. Then the groups swapped roles.
During the walk-alongside, students were able to identify that Fish Creek Park lays in a valley created by a glacier 30 million years ago. As this glacier receded, it left glacial erratics in its path, one of which was pointed out to students. The most famous of glacial erratics is the Big Rock (okatok) between Okotoks and Black Diamond. Many students have expressed an interest in visiting okatok after hearing the story:
"One hot summer day, Napi, the supernatural trickster of the Blackfoot peoples, rested on the rock because the day was warm and he was tired. He spread his robe on the rock, telling the rock to keep the robe in return for letting Napi rest there. Suddenly, the weather changed and Napi became cold as the wind whistled and the rain fell. Napi asked the rock to return his robe, but the rock refused. Napi got mad and just took the clothing. As he strolled away, he heard a loud noise and turning, he saw the rock was rolling after him. Napi ran for his life. The deer, the bison and the pronghorn sheep were Napi's friends, and they tried to stop the rock by running in front of it. The rock rolled over them. Napi's last chance was to call on the bats for help. Fortunately, they did better than their hoofed neighbours did, and by diving at the rock and colliding with it, one of them finally hit the rock just right and it broke into two pieces." Okotoks Erratic
Afterwards, students walked back to the garden where we visited with Dogwood, and Aspen, and learned about the characteristics of each plant, and their uses by the first nations people. Students were again treated to another Napi story:
"There is a story about Napi and the Quaking Aspen. When Napi walked through the forest, all the trees and plants would bow down in respect. One day, the aspens got together and started to complain about having to bow down for Napi. The aspens decided that the next time he came through the forest that they would stay standing tall and ignore him. Soon after they agreed, Napi came walking through the forest. This time, the aspens did not bow when all the other plants and trees did. Napi got really mad at the aspens. He got so mad that he called on the lightening. The lightening bolts came and went straight for the aspens. The aspens got so scared that their leaves started to tremble. Ever since that time, if the aspens hear someone coming through a clearing, their leaves start to tremble and shake in fear that it might be Napi with lightening bolts." Kainai Plant Index
We finished our day with a 5 minute sit spot, to sit and privately reflect upon and observe the land.
We are still looking for volunteers to join us for our upcoming field trips to Fish Creek Park:
Monday, May 6th
Monday, May 13th
Wednesday, May 22nd
If you are able to join us for one, two or all of these dates, please contact myself or our Volunteer Coordinator, Kathryn.
Thank you everyone!
Ms. Thomas
