Posted on September 7, 2020 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

 

One of many interesting rock formations

 

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it. “Yogi Berra.

I’m rather disappointed in myself but that’s hardly news. I was about to dish up another educational piece on Inuit history today, but last Friday night when I wrote this, I didn’t feel very serious. So, you’re going to receive a big dose of incoherent, unconnected pieces of nothingness.

Some of you had great fun last week with my post about “the road not taken”. The Yogi Berra line above is a classic. For those of you too young to remember, Yogi Berra was a Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees. He was an 18 time All Star and appeared in 14 World Series, 10 of which the Yankees won. A few other Berra-isms for your Labour Day enjoyment: “You can observe a lot just by watching. “No one goes there nowadays. It’s too crowded.” “Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.”

Have any of you noticed the plethora of ads for mattresses lately or am I the only one receiving these? It’s an all-out mattress war and it seems that Endy and Casper are duking it out for market share. I have become aware of such specificities as “plush dual cloud foam”. Yup. That’s obviously the first question I would ask a sales rep at Sleep Country. I mean, we can all wrap our heads around the titanic battles between Coke and Pepsi back in the 70s, unless you weren’t born back then in which case you have no idea what I’m talking about. But mattresses? Seriously? Could this be the precursor to the “endy” of the world?! Or a new 11^th Commandment? Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s bed. Endy envy? STOP!!!

In related news, I have noticed a serious uptake in dating sites. They’re as ubiquitous as Tim Horton’s stores. I’m starting to wonder if the same outfits that own the mattress companies also own the dating sites or vice versa. It seems that there is every imaginable site for just about any age group. I expect any day now that there will be a sight for babies or possibly for your pet cat. Can Luna find the purrfect match? Pardon me while I hit the paws button. Would that be considered a subordinate claws?

Enough of that. You’re probably thinking that because it was Friday when I wrote this that I found the keys to the liquor cabinet. Wrong. Unless a large plate of steamed mussels can cause temporary insanity, I wasn’t consuming anything that could explain this stream of unconsciousness.

Speaking of mussels. Last week, there was a civic holiday on Thursday. It was a day for the NV (Northern Village) of Kangisqsujuaq to pause and thank its workers. It was a fun day filled with all kinds of games and activities. I watched with great interest a bannock making contest down by the community wharf. Contestants constructed their own “stove” with rocks and used seaweed for fuel. They mixed their bannock ingredients in bowls and then put them on flat rocks above the fire that served as the grill. One of the participants was the Mayor and she looked like a pro. She and I had a great chat. There was blueberry picking, mussel picking and a foot race. A couple of work colleagues did not participate in the official mussel picking contest but did come home with a huge bucketful of these delicious shellfish. They offered me a huge bagful and I cooked them for supper on Friday, dipped in garlic butter. Superb.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my fellow teachers for all their help last week at school assisting me move classrooms. It was a mammoth job. I especially want to thank my friends Eliane and Adamie who went out of their way to assist me in so many ways.

Your suffering is almost over. One other thing I mentioned last week was the notion of lifelong learning. A dear friend from my education year at St.F.X. reminded me of a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein. “Education is what remains when you have forgotten all you have learned in school.” So true… especially in my case! Thanks, MMP.

Have a great week.

P.S. Heroes are highly overrated unless that hero happens to be your sister. My sister, Eleanor closed the doors of her convenience store at the end of August. She and her late husband, Lou Brosha, operated this family run business for 26 years after returning home after many years in Fort Vermillion, Alberta. They worked long hours and were two of the most community minded people you could meet. My sister didn’t have it easy. Lou had MS for a long time and there were many other challenges that she faced along the way, including the death of her daughter, Audrey, that may have broken most people. She was and remains one of the most generous people I know. She mentored many young staff members who are her biggest fans. I never heard her complain once about her lot in life. When others were in need, she was always one of the first to step up and offer her time and resources even when her plate overflowed. Real heroes are real people, not those with puffed up egos and multimillion-dollar salaries who claim to be role models. What a joke. The world would be a much better place if there were more role models like my sister. And luckily there are.

El’s favorite expression? When any of her sibs started to whine and complain about THEIR lot in life, she would turn with a slight look of disdain and say, “Get over it.”

If anyone deserves a healthy and happy retirement it is El. Best wishes. With love and admiration.

 

Posted on August 31, 2020 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Government of Canada photo

 

Ok. I have a lot on my mind but before I head down three trails at once, let me start with some more information about the north as part of my (and your) ongoing education.

A few weeks ago, two people in the community shot caribous which, would not be considered “breaking news”. As I have mentioned in this space more than once, hunting is a way of life for the Inuit. It provides food for families and is shared with others in the community. I was the beneficiary of one of the hunter’s generosity receiving several pieces of fresh meat.

One of the hunters posted something that I found very interesting and instructive. She paid homage to the caribou and thanked it for giving its life in order to provide sustenance for her family.

We take food for granted in the south. I don’t think many of us who shop at large supermarkets ever stop in the meat section and thank a chicken or a cow for giving up their lives. Let’s not even go there and start a conversation about our food chain and where our food comes from.

It’s probably not much different back home when someone shoots a deer far out in the woods. I suspect that many hunters process their kill on the spot, as is the custom up here. No. not everyone back home does this. There is still this bizarre practice of strapping a deer to the hood of a truck and parking it at a local watering hole so that passersby can ooh and aah and marvel at the number of points on the antlers.

I mention these things because last week was “knife day” for indigenous people. Shown in the picture above (from the Government of Canada website), is an ulu. In Inuktitut, ulu means “woman’s knife”. These crescent shaped knives are tools used by Inuit women. They use these unique knives to harvest and skin animals as a source of food and clothing for their families. Men use different kinds of knives for hunting and fishing. Many women use the same ulu their whole life. Engravings on the handle have specific meaning to the woman’s personal and cultural identity. According to Inuit rights activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, when an Inuk woman dies, her ulu retains her energy making ulus powerful spiritual objects. (source: The Canadian Encyclopedia). I had the honor at last year’s staff Christmas party to sit with a group of Inuit women and sample country food. I had the opportunity to carve a piece of raw meat with an ulu.

The Inuit have such profound respect for the land and the animals that have sustained them for centuries.

There is so much to learn. Someone I met last year sent me a very interesting quote. While I have been hired to teach, I am here to learn. She said, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” I love this. Thanks NC.

I’m getting the impression that many of you are fascinated with the north and are enjoying my posts. Some of you have even threatened to visit me. Of course, in a Covid world this is not possible, but you all know that the north is not all about beautiful sunsets, pristine air and water (both in abundance, by the way) and soaking up the culture. In other words, it’s not all ‘peaches and cream’. The challenges in the north are well documented but when you are a guest of the Inuit, you do get to appreciate the north in a powerful way. For every breathtaking sunrise, there are other things that happen that cause one dismay. Life tends to be that way for most of us.

I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything… even when it’s -53!

Last thoughts.

One reader admitted (privately!) that she has read most if not all 1,140 of my posts. I won’t mention her by name to avoid public shaming for her lack of judgment. She did make an interesting observation. She said “It’s like going to all these places and it hasn’t cost (me) a cent.”

Another friend admitted that my last post about ‘belonging’ brought a tear to her eye. I didn’t realize that I wrote so poorly!

Summer camps ended last Friday. I had an awesome time attending the camps reading books and singing songs. On the second last day, after I finished doing my thing, I turned to put my guitar back in its case. Before I could react, this little boy of about the age of 8, came up and put his arms around me and gave me the biggest hug. I almost lost it. Hugs are verboten during Covid but he caught me completely off guard. I must be getting old when something so simple can touch me so deeply.

Some things, the best things, are free and absolutely priceless. I will never forget this moment.

Have a great week.

 

 

Posted on August 24, 2020 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

 

 

Inukshuk in Kangiqsujuaq

Cairn Park – Antigonish

 

Inukshuks dot the landscape in the north.

Cairns are ubiquitous in Scotland and other parts of the world.

What is it about these wonderful stone markers?

A short time ago, I posted a picture that I took on one of my walks here in Kangiqsujuaq. On the outskirts of town, there is a large inukshuk, a popular gathering place to watch the northern lights. It is what I would refer to as the classic image that southerners most easily recognize. The next time that I saw a large pile of stones, it closely resembled the Scottish cairns with which many in my part of the world are familiar. I actually referred to it as a cairn. It didn’t take long for me to be corrected. I was told that even though the shape was different from the more recognizable inukshuk, this was indeed an inukshuk.

So began my exploration of the origin of cairns and inukshuks. Here is an explanation of both, paraphrased for your reading pleasure.

“The Inukshuk is a symbol with deep roots in the Inuit culture, a directional marker that signifies safety, hope and friendship .Inukshuks are the most important objects created by the Inuit who were the first people to inhabit portions of Alaska, Arctic Canada and Greenland. The term Inuksuk (the singular of Inukshuk) means “to act in the capacity of a human. “It is an extension of Inuk, meaning “a human being.”

These stone figures were placed on the temporal and spiritual landscapes. Among many practical functions, they were employed as hunting and navigational aids, coordination points, indicators, and message centers. In addition to their earthly functions, certain Inukshuk-like figures had spiritual connotations, and were objects of veneration, often marking the threshold of the spiritual landscape of the Inummariit – the Inuit who knew how to survive on the land living in their traditional way.

Inuksuit (the plural of Inukshuk) serve in a spiritual capacity to indicate a place where life is renewed or where spirits reside; where judgments or decisions are made and where celebrations and festivals are held. The Inukshuk, by standing along the way, may guide seekers on their journey helping them to find the way forward as well as the best path to their spiritual home. An Inukshuk may also indicate an object that should not be approached or touched, or an object that brings good fortune.

The skill of building an Inukshuk is traditionally passed down from one generation to the next. Each stone structure has a purpose, such as pointing the way to a good fishing spot or indicating where meat is cached. Inuksuit are used as directional markers and functions as instruments of navigation and astronomy. The longest arm may point to the closest village where you will find safety. Some will point to Niqirtsuituq or the north star.

The Inukshuk is a symbol of the human spirit. It recognizes our ability to succeed with others, where alone we might fail. It reminds us of our need to belong to something greater than ourselves and prompts us to reconnect with our individual responsibility to invest our efforts today so that we may all have a better tomorrow.

When you look at an old Inukshuk, you are seeing more than just a stack of stones. You are seeing the thoughts of another person left upon the land.” Norman Hallendy

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The following passage refers more to cairns popular in Scotland.

“A cairn is a group of stones carefully arranged on top of each other. These man-made mounds , used since the prehistoric age, take on a number of roles and have guarded various landscapes for thousands of years, withstanding both the ferocious elements and the test of time.

Derived from the Scottish word “carn”, meaning “heap of stones”, cairns are ancient markers with Scottish roots found across the globe. Since prehistoric times, cairns have served as landmarks as well as burial monuments. Some experts state that many of these ancient stone stacks were also built for astrological, ceremonial, and hunting purposes. Indigenous people in places like Alaska and Greenland (and Canada’s north) have relied on such markers for centuries. Seafarers used cairns for navigating long before lighthouses entered the equation.

In Scottish folklore, Highland clan members would each place a stone on a pile before battle. The surviving warriors would subsequently remove their stone, leaving the remaining ones to transform into a memorial cairn for the fallen. The act of adding a small stone to a cairn, especially on a hilltop, is a deep-rooted Scottish tradition that signifies respect. By adding this rock, you are preserving the integrity of the monument and helping to protect it from harsh weather.

When the cairn marks a grave, the old Scots Gaelic blessing ‘Cuiridh mi clach air do charn’ or ‘I’ll put a stone on your cairn’ becomes relevant. The gesture is a way of saying ‘I’ll always remember you’ or ‘You will not be forgotten’. Torie Chalmers.

While this is not an exhaustive dissertation on the topic of Inukshuks and cairns, I thought you might find it interesting. I know I will view them differently when I pass them here in the north or back home.

Have a great week.