Beautiful Art Work by the Cree People of Alberta, Canada

I love art and architecture!  Sometimes when words cannot express our feelings, a piece of drawing, artwork can speak for us.

Native art work is special and different!

Many native artists incorporate elements of nature or wilderness in their art work pieces.

There is something unique about native arts which  invoke images and the power of nature and animals.

I have seen many pieces of beautiful spectacular artwork during this trip to northern Alberta,









My most favourtie one is the one below with brilliant colours depicting a group of young children.

Beautiful and colourful art work by a native artist 

 It brings me back to the more innocent time of my childhood when there were few worries.























But whenever I see artwork by native artists, it always reminds me of nature as if it was beckoning me back to the wilderness.

We went and visited a number of different buildings and historical sites in a northern reserve community in Canada.




















 I was delighted to find that many of these places were decorated with beautiful genuine pieces of art work by native artists.

I would like to share them with my blog readers. Enjoy!


R.T.
Alberta
Canada

Enjoying the Food and Hospitality of the Cree People in a Northern Alberta Reserve

It's an honour to have been invited into people's homes

Wherever we go, the part we enjoy the most is always meeting the local people, learning from them about their cultures, trying new food and breaking bread with them.

S. relaxing in our host's home

On our trip to a northern reserve, we were not disappointed at all! The hospitality and warmth of the people overwhelmed us. Our group and the local people we met hit of off and there was so much camaraderie between us. We felt we as if we were for long time.


There was no greater honour of being invited into people's home and enjoying home cooked meals by our hosts. We were fortunate enough to have been invited four times during our less than two weeks stay.

Not only did Wa. invite us to her sister's house for dinner, she knew that we wanted to learn how to make bannocks.  She invited us for a typical native meal and demonstrated for us how to make the traditional Cree  bread - the Bannock.

Ingredients for making the bannocks are simple 

The ingredients for this traditional aboriginal quick biscuits recipe was simple. Wa. showed us she  only needed four ingredients:

Flour, egg, milk and baking powder, a tiny bit of water if needed.

Wa. showed us how to make bannocks

She put all the ingredients in the bowl, mixed them all well into a dough like consistency. Then she took the dough out of the bowl and knead it a few times to flatten the dough.













We were told that when people were making bannock, they had to be in a good mood as the maker's emotions and feelings would be passed  from him/ her to the dough!

Cutting the bannocks into serving size pieces 

Using her hands, Ma. flattened the dough to a desired thickness, She cut them into squares. Bannocks could be baked or deep fried. Ma. chose to  deep fry them quickly in the deep fryer.

Freshly fried bannocks

After the bannocks are deep fried or baked, they could be cut opened and used as a bun.

A fresh delicious bannock burger!

A bannock burger is a burger filled with a piece of a meat patty and all the trimmings.












Bannocks are very versatile food; the native people make many different food out of the bannocks. Two other food we tasted were the Bannock hot dog and Indian Tacos.

Bannock dogs!

To make Bannock dogs, or Bannock sausage,  we placed a piece of hot dog or sausage in the bannock square, rolled it up and deep fried for a few minutes in the fryer. They came out nice and fresh, yummmy!

Ground meat for Indian Tacos

To  make Indian Tacos, Ma. cooked up some ground meat in a pot. She cut up fresh shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, grated cheese, sliced onions and put each ingredients separately in a bowl on the dining table.

We picked up a bannock and loaded it up with all the fresh ingredients and topped it with sour cream or salsa sauce. It was delicious!!!

Moose meat dinner

Off course we tried moose meat!
We were served moose meat prepared in two ways: moose stew and fried moose meat.
Both tasted good!









The traditional way of life for the indigenous people in Canada was hunting and gathering. Though most of them move away from their nomadic way of life, some still practice the self sufficient traditional living.

Rom. lives the traditional way of Cree life

We met Rom. who lived in a cabin in the wood without the modern conveniences.








He has no water, no electricity and he hunts and fishes for his food. He shared the whitefish which he caught himself and smoked for three days and nights in his own smoke house.  The fish was crisp and crunch as if it had been deep fried!

Our gracious and generous host - Ma.

We were overwhelmed by the warmth of the residents in this reserve community

 Our two weeks trip in this northern reserve has been amazing! We have seen a lot, learned a lot and most important of all met quite a few of Canada's indigenous people.













The people we met and befriended have touched our hearts and souls! They are the most friendly and welcoming people we have ever met in our lives!

R.T.
A Northern Reserve
Alberta

A BBQ Lamb Dinner - Our 4th Dinner Invitation on a Native Reserve

After the church service, we bought lunch at the Convenient Store, one of the five gas stations /convenient stores in this remote reserve community. The convenient store offered its customers a pretty good selection of sandwiches and snacks from which to choose.

M.'s house is located on a pretty big property

Afterwards, we drove to M.’s house and spent the rest of the day there. While many of my team mates stayed indoor, S., Y.Y. and I enjoyed the mild weather outdoors.

Enjoying the mild weather and great conversations outdoors

As we were waiting for P. to bring a live lamb here for a BBQ dinner,  we helped setting up the tent and spent some time chatting with our host and learned a lot about Cree customs and cultures.

One thing I learned and admire about the Cree culture is how much they care and help each other and their family members.

We met a few local families. Almost in everyone of these families, they look after or adopt another young person into their families in the native way.

They feed this young person who often drops by or lives with the family as if he/she were a part of the family.

I was thankful that I could spend an entire afternoon getting to talk with and know some local residents.

 I met W.’s two children a couple of times and they were very polite and great to talk with.

Pk. enjoys being in the woods and displays great hunting and skinning skills of animals.

Working in Edmonton on renovation jobs, he was home for a few days while we were visiting his home town. He took our young people hunting and he was the only one who was able to hunt anything!

F. - a grade 12 student who likes photography.  I let him use my camera and he went around and got a few good shots of the BBQ lamb party.

 I also enjoyed talking to M.’s children and got to know them a little bit more.

K., is a receptionist at the H. Centre.

She is a great cook and made the most amazing desserts and macaroni salad and other delicious dishes for thirty people just like that.

Sh. – The younger sis of K., is studying in a  school in a nearby town.

We had a good chat the first time I was at her parents’s house. But this time she was not there as she went to Edmonton for a show with her aunt.

Finally, P. and J. brought in a live lamb carried on its four legs tied to a stick.

PK. and Rom. cutting the lamb for BBQ

When they began the process of slaughtering and skinning  the lamb in the yard,  K. and I fled into the kitchen trying to avoid the bloody scene.

In no time at all, the guys were able to slaughter the lamb, skin, cut it up and put the pieces on the barbecue.

M. was worried that P. might not be able to get the lamb in time to her house for the BBQ, therefore she bought and roasted a huge ham, prepared a big bowl of salad, veggies and dips for us.

A BBQ lamb feast was awaiting for the hungry crowd!

M. & family - the most kind, generous and welcoming host I have ever met!

This was the second time this week M. hosted and cooked dinner for our group - fifteen people in total!

I never knew someone who could be so kind, generous and welcoming to  a large group of complete strangers!

M.'s family was involved in feeding us and making us feel very welcome during this week.

We thanked God for the opportunity to meet,  and fellowship with the local people of this remote community. We  learned a few things about the aboriginal culture and got to know a couple of families really well!

It was the best part of our western Canadian trip and it was a real privilege indeed!

R.T.
4th Dinner Invitation
Alberta
May, 2016

Teaching Bible and Love of Jesus Through Songs in a Northern Reserve

Sunday Service

A native Christian school in Northern Alberta

Pastor E. picked us up right at 1030am for our last Sunday Service this morning. We went to  church and the worship leaders were already there along with M., Os and Ma.were practicing their songs.

We had a great time singing those hymns  when we learned them as teens. However, there was a twist to those songs we knew so well. The lyrics were very familiar to us but the melodies of these hymns were a little different.  They were sung in true Alberta country music style. I like country music but never sang hymns such as In the Garden, Fill my cup, Because He Lives in that style. I love singing hymns in whatever style they are sung. Singing them  in country style, this was my first time and loved it!

After the singing, the altar was open and the song leader asked the congregation to come up and share before the morning sermon. Three people did. I noticed that in this reserve sharing was a big part of the Sunday Service.

We taught Sunday School in this Christian school

Just before Pastor E.’s sermon, we were asked if we could look after the kids for Sunday School and we stepped up to the plate.

We had eight children in our Sunday School

There was a group of eight children of different ages, and we took them over to the Christian School for the children’s program.  We started by playing a name game designed to build up the children’s self esteem. It was well received. I remember one kid’s eyes lighted up when we called him Doctor Dennis!

Using bible songs, we played another game and share with the children that Jesus loved them and that they could pray in his name whenever they would be afraid. The children and we both had a lot of fun.  Time flew by when we were having fun! Though our time together was short, I just hope that the children would remember the bible songs we taught them and call on Jesus’ name whenever  they’d feel sad or troubled in the future.

Love our fire fighters who have been fighting the fires in Fort Mc.

In the meantime, the young people from our team led a couple of songs after Pastor Ed’s message. It was very touching!

After the service, we mingled with the congregation and I met a firefighter who just came back from fighting the fires at Fort McMurray and learned about the tremendous challenges they were facing.!

The firefighters are my heroes!!!

R.T.
Alberta
May, 2016

Our Third Dinner Invitation on a Northern Reserve, Alberta!

We stay at this house during our visit to a reserve in Alberta

Our second Saturday in this northern reserve, we were invited by Wa. a worker at the Youth Centre to her house for dinner - this was our third dinner invitation in a week's time!

Wa. is a very warm, open and friendly lady we met in this community. Since this small Reserve has no motels or hotels, our team members have been boarding at people's homes.

My husband and I have been staying in one house while the four young people are given accommodation in W.'s house. Two other families are are at two different members' homes.

A maple leaf puzzle done by W.

Princess sits under a dog puzzle in the living room

W. and her family love animals. They have dogs, cat, and a ferret in their house. W.
loves doing puzzles. The walls on her house are decorated with puzzles she spent hours putting together.

These puzzles are beautiful pictures of animals and nature scenery.

Crisp crunch smoked whitefish caught and prepared by  R. in the traditional Native way 

We had homemade hamburgers with pickles, salad and other trimmings. We tried the wild whitefish
 which Ro. caught in December. We asked about winter fishing and he shared with us the natives' technique.

He did it by cutting a hole in the frozen lake and lower a net under the snow leaving it there overnight. The next day he found 30 fish caught in the net.

However, not everybody can winter fish as you need to know the ice condition well so that you won't fall into the icy lake water underneath.

Romeo showed shared with us the smoke whitefish

The aboriginal people's way of catching fish is not allowed by the general public. General Canadians are not allowed to fish using a net. We must purchase a fishing license and are only allowed a certain number of fish each time we go fishing.)

Native people are under different laws as the first nations signed treaties with the government of Canada and they are allowed to preserve their traditional way of life. 

Ro. smoked the whitefish he caught by leaving them in his smoke house for three nights and days. The fish was crisp as if it had been deep fried and crunchy, but not oily. Pretty good!

Some of the young people went hunting with Ro. while we stayed and talked to Wa.

We were picked up from Le.'s house every morning

It was another really enjoyable evening with the local people in this northern Albertan community!

R.T.
Alberta