Walk A Mile In My Moccasins
My name is Amy Johnson. I am a Grade 9 student at Hagersville Secondary School. Last term I took Expressing Aboriginal Cultures with Ms. Zadanyi. As part of this course we participated in a project called Walk A Mile in My Moccasins. We got to make our own moccasins out of leather. First we had to cut out the leather pieces and then we beaded the toe pieces with our own designs. Some of us also used leather burning tools and acrylic paint markers to create a design on our moccasins. I chose to bead my design. It was really hard to get the beading straight and tight so I’m glad Mallory Johns (a former HSS student) was there to help us. I finally got my beads tight and straight and then I sewed my moccasins together. I am really proud of how my moccasins turned out.
Another part of this project that I enjoyed were the guest speakers. Darren Thomas taught us about indigenous hunting and rights. I learned what the Thanksgiving Address truly meant to the indigenous people and that hunting is not just for sport. Indigenous people have a lot of respect for nature and the living things in it. Animals are gifts from the Creator, and they teach us valuable lessons about life.
At the end of the project Chezney Martin and Makasa LookingHorse came to teach different cultural dances. They taught us the War Dance, and a dance that started out very slow and got REALLY fast. I liked actually being able to participate in the dances that I had seen at the Powwows as a child. The best part was we got to wear the moccasins that we had made! Kerdo Deer also spoke to us about what it was like to live in a longhouse and how the longhouse was constructed. We learned that women were the leaders and that no one disobeyed the Clan Mother.
Another exciting part of this project was that we got to go on a field trip. We went to the Cayuga Museum where we learned about the United Empire Loyalist settlement and their relationship with the Haudenosaunee people in our area. We had lunch in a longhouse at the Kayanase Greenhouse. They served us ham and scone, traditional strawberry juice, and traditional Indian Cookies. Everything was very tasty but my favourite were the cookies and juice! The last stop of the day was at Pauline Johnson’s homestead. It was really interesting to be able to tour the house and learn about how she lived. Her father was a Six Nation chief and her mother was a British woman. We learned how they had to keep their relationship a secret because it was not acceptable in that time. We also learned about how her brothers were sent to the ‘Mush Hole’ or residential school, in Brantford. I found this all very interesting and want to learn more about this part of my heritage.
I really enjoyed participating in the “Walk a Mile in My Moccasins” project. I learned a lot about my community and the community of my ancestors.