Oral tradition is passed
on generation after generation.
Knowledge is learned by listening to the Elders and asking questions in the right way. Elders are the teachers and keepers of tradition and culture. Through their instruction people know how to make mocasins, build a lodge, tan hides, plant and harvest corn and prepare food.
Listed below are some recent questions asked of the Elders. Could you use some of their wisdom to help you in my survival challenge? You may want to record some of their answers in your pouch.
What is the Sahnish Genesis story?
"Genesis story is the beginning of the Sahnish people, how we got here on this earth and what Neshanu means to us."
Who is Nesaanu ti naacitak Uk?
"He is the chief above, he is the one who has put us here."
Melvina Everett, Sahnish Teacher
White Shield School, Rose Glen, North Dakota
Why is corn so important to the Sahnish people?
"The corn is the life giving plant of the Sahnish. From time immemorial we have cultivated and grown our corn. Our origin story is focused around the corn and a being known to us as 'Mother Corn'."
Yvonne Fox
Artist and Special Education Teacher,
White Shield School, Rose Glen, North Dakota
Could you tell me about earthlodges? How long it takes to make one and how they are made?
"In 1909 Curtis noted that the Sahnish could build a complete village in a very short time. 'These people did not merely use lodges for temporary housing but built complete villages and carefully constructed earthlodges'."
Dorreen Yellow Bird,
Writer and Columnist, Grand Forks Herald
Grand Forks, North Dakota
- photo by Jackie Lorentz, Grand Forks Herald photographer -
Dorreen Yellow Bird is a Sahnish Elder and a member of the Sahnish Culture Society. Follow this link to read some of her articles.
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