Before, we didn’t use ‘white’ things and we didn’t use government money. We knew how to live on the land. Everyone knew what to do. The men hunted caribou. While the men were away the women cooked, cut wood, gathered water, boughs and berries, cared for the children, sewed, fished, and hunt rabbit, porcupine and partridge. The older children helped their parents. The middle children watched the small ones. The girls would watch their mother and grandmother
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The people worked hard in the bush. Even when the wind was strong, the storm came in, or the hunt was long. Even then they were happy. The people were very tough. The men felt so good when they were coming home from a hunt with meat for their family and community. They could see what they accomplished, they could feel it, and they knew what they’d done at the end of the day. I remember when my father would leave for several days to hunt or go to town. My mother and my siblings would stay at the tent. We would watch for him and be so happy when he returned with meat or flour for bread.
When I was young I never imagined that this would happen, living like we are today. I always thought we would be happy living in the bush. Now, the only times I hear the children laughing are when we’re in the country. I don’t hear them laugh much in town.
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Way to go Elizabeth, you the main modern woman. Be checking the site out regularly.
ReplyDeleteBrian and Fran.
please keep posting photos and stories of labrador life! i have a Sheshatshui connection. (gerald osmond is my uncle)
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