Black Bear Warrior
Makade makwa ogighidaa
The Beginning
“See how we have developed from our PAL, to you know, our hunting, firearms safety, the hunt how we handed out the meat and how we processed everything”
The beginning of the heart
"It was nice to see one young man, that one gentleman, come back after a few days and bring it. And you can just look at his face- he was beside me and he’s going away at it, and he's questioning himself right, so I'm just letting him go through these steps, then I helped him. He was counting all these holes and, "oh, I just gotta keep going, keep going." “Yup, keep going buddy.” And then he's like, “It's not perfect.” I was like, “Well, are you perfect?” And he goes, “not really.” So I said, “Well, there you go. It's never gonna be perfect, but it's going to be yours. It's going to be who you are."
“I think when I think of growth, I think of your spirit, and how it grows every time we do good. And uh, that type of thing you don't often think about, but while you're doing things in a good way, for other people, Black Bear Warrior/Makade makwa ogighidaa if he's teaching or he’s making a drum, he's working on himself too.” – (Murray)
Grandmothers Teachings
“But this, to be able to share that opportunity with my brothers that we've had a chance to hear the ladies’ stories, you know, the grandmother stories, but it never really got a chance to and you know, they got to know us, and we really got to know them. You know, and that was very different, you know, very different. It was an honor to be able to sit with them to listen to her, you know, the majority of them are all survivors”
“And we talked so much about that balance, those teachings, knowing that as much as we put ourselves in a circle of man, these women have so much to teach us. Just as much as our daughters have. They are the ones that teach us too.” (Yellow Eagle with Good Voice/Wanbdi Zee Ho Washte/Blue Sky/Oozowaskwo Geezik)
No Wabose
“Yeah, it was a beautiful time anyway. And this is when we were out there in the guy's never caught nothing. And I was disappointed, man, come on bro. Come on. [laughter] But he did his best to do what he could do. But it was fun, like I mean, we looked like little boys going through the bush with snowshoes in a line up, we were just cracking through.”
"It’s amazing how, and I'm sure I'm not alone, but I set a snare as soon I got home, just to see if I could do it, right? I've always thought snaring was so hard until we actually took the time to learn how to set it all up and do it. But I think it’s just the fear and hesitation, saying, 'nobody taught me, so I don’t know.'" (Yellow Eagle with Good Voice/Wanbdi Zee Ho Washte/Blue Sky/Oozowaskwo Geezik)