“It takes a global village to raise a child,” is the motivation for a new teepee built for Monday’s Family Day events at the Community Complex.
Marlene Nash, the project’s inspiration and co-ordinator, says the teepee is a symbol of unity—“just what is needed in these times of turmoil and uncertainty.”
The newly sewn canvas, materials and sewing expertise provided by the Blanket Maker Quilt Shop on Canyon Street, was stretched onto wood poles for a test run in the PCSS art room on Sunday.
High school students, who did the art work on the canvas, joined other volunteers to see their work as it is intended.
Nash said on Monday she was inspired by a similar teepee at a Family Day celebration in Rotacrest Centre four years ago.
“That event was a huge success,” she said. “There were ice sculptures, lots of entertainment, and a Ktunaxa teepee. At the end of the day, people of all nationalities danced around the teepee—it was very emotional.”
That particular teepee, however, has since made its way to Ainsworth Hot Springs, and Family Day festivities have been teepee-less for the last two years.
“I called Donna at the Blanket Maker shop and asked for a quote. A few days later, Donna’s friend Darlene, called back and said they would make it for free,” Nash said. A call to the Creston Valley Forest Corporation resulted in a donation of fresh-cut lodgepole pine poles, which were stripped and finished by Lynn Kistner of Arrow Creek.
“Then I called (PCSS principal) Scott Cobbe and he put me in touch with Karin Hawkins. She arranged for her art students to do the design and painting. This was meant to be. There is a reason for everything.”
On Sunday, Nash was joined by Hawskins and the art students, and others she had recruited to put the new teepee up for the first time. With a few ceiling tiles removed to accommodate the 11-foot poles, the assembly was complete in short order, thanks to the experienced volunteer help from Todd and Paulette Francoeur (who have lived in teepees), Michael White and Ric Little.
Nash was emotional as she thanked the volunteers, and offered a poem she wrote to mark the occasion:
Unity
Joining together our hearts and hands,
People from many lands
Sing and dance in harmony,
Loving and respecting
Each others’ uniqueness.
Around and around
This sacred teepee we dance
To the rhythm of the drums,
The beating of our Mother Earth’s heart.
We are all one planet,
All one people of Earth,
Coming from a place of love, not fear.
We give thanks to you,
Great Spirit, the one, the same,
Known by many names,
But the one and only Divine Spirit
That lives in one, and all life.
“This should be our home,” White said as he gestured toward the teepee. “We carry our home with us, wherever we go.”
White, a Yaqan Nukiy band member and maker of traditional drums, said the creation of a new teepee was an important achievement. He singled out the teenage students who had come to help.
“You are teachers. You might ask how you can be a teacher when you are only 15 or 16 years old, but you learn by doing, from your own experiences, and then you teach what you have learned,” he said. “To give an hour or two of your time to volunteer here—that is an honour that you give.”
Ric Little used his drum, made by White, to provide a blessing upon the teepee.
That same afternoon the teepee was transported to the Community Complex, and on Monday it will be installed in the Creston Room. At 4 p.m., following a day of activities, Yaqan Nuqiy drummers will provide the beat and participants will be invited to join hands and dance around this new teepee.
“A dance of unity,” Nash said. “An acknowledgement that it takes a global village to raise a child.”