Interview · North Dakota · JT Shining Oneside · NDNAEU 2
Themes: Land & stewardship, Kinship & family, Storytelling & oral tradition, Education & learning, Spirituality & ceremony, Values & generosity, Arts & expression, Listening & observation, Intergenerational learning
Learn About questions
Who is Frances Cree? What else can I learn about him?
Who are the Anishinabe people? Where do they live?
What does it mean to pray and fast?
What is a thunderbird?
In what ways is the nest like the sweat lodge?
In what ways are the legs like the drum sticks and correction sticks?
In what ways is the tail like the sprinkler in the sweat?
How do we honor the gift of the thunderbird?
Learn From questions
Who are elders that I know and talk to? When do I spend time with them?
What is something an elder has taught me?
The thunderbird sacrificed his body for the gift of the sweat lodge. Have I ever received a gift similar to this story?
What is a story that I remember that uses nature as a teacher in it?
What is a story that I remember that is mine to share?
Have I ever prayed and fasted for something important in my life?
Transcripts
JT Shining Oneside- The Story of Thunderbird & the Sweat Lodge NDNAEU 2
Watch this interview on YouTubeFrances Creek old Eagle heart from dunseith he shared the how we got the Anishinabe how we got the sweat lodge and I the way I was told is that if you remember a story or a song then it is yours to share and he told me this story when I was visiting him and like a lot of the elders that I learned from including my parents and my grandfather they could be talking to you about anything and then all of a sudden a story would come in an important something important so you just always had to be ready and I don’t have recordings of elders except at the college where they have a lot of recordings but I remember him saying that there was this man that went out because the people were having a hard time and he asked in the in the woods he said I want to help get help for my people because they’re really having a hard time and he prayed and he fasted and he prayed and he fasted and he prayed and he fasted and he prayed and he fasted and while he was there he heard this bird talking with him and telling him look at me look at me he looked up there and he’s seen this bird in a nest and told him I have been listening to your prayer and listening to you asking for help for your people I’m honoring your request and I’m going to help your people no but you will have to respect the gift that you are given from me and I’ll continue to help your people so the bird showed gave the nest and said here is the nest here is the sweat lodge this is what you will go in when you go into the sweat lodge and I am also going to give you my legs with those legs you will use them to guide the grandfathers into the into the pit in the sweat and you will also use my legs to make music and you will also use these same legs for corrections in the lodge and with my tail that I give to you will use that tail to sprinkle on the grandfather’s so we either use sweet grass or we take grass long pieces of grass and we’ll tie it with the grass and we’ll use that as a sprinkler while we’re in the sweat so that’s the instructions that were given and that was from the Thunderbird that gave us the sweat lodge so you know we’re very thankful you know for that gift that we have received and we do still follow those instructions
Resource text
NDNAEU Alignment:
Affiliation sources
NDNAEU document credits: JT Shining Oneside — Turtle Mountain (Chippewa).
Source materials
Supplied transcript documents. Text and transcription uncertainties are preserved as supplied.