This time she let me start the strip, I made sure to keep it small like she had kept the other one small and then started to pull the cedar strip. Even though the strip was thin it still went up high on the tree. Once it finally broke free I bent the cedar like nooyu did.
Read Shannon Smith's Earths Gifts
Kamloops, BC
Gixsen
Age 23
My name is Shannon Smith. My story is about my knowledge of cedar pulling. My mom Sandra Smith taught me everything I know about cedar pulling. She taught me where to pull<br />
from, what trees to pull from, and how much to pull. Most importantly though she taught me to respect what I am taking and to only take what I need. I decided to write this story because I’ve noticed often people know the steps of pulling cedar but, they lack the knowledge of how they must respect it. I’ve noticed a lot of people take more than they need. Reasons for believing they are taking more than they need is when I see line after line of small baby trees stripped now<br />
never able to be used again, I’ve seen long strips of cedar laying wasted on the ground of the forest, and sometimes I’ve even seen whole cedar trees stripped completely. I believe it is either greed or the people going out don’t know all the facts and importance of cedar stripping.</p>
<p>My story is about a girl, Zyanya, who is going out cedar pulling for the first time with her mother. Her mother takes her though the steps of cedar pulling and teaches her the importance of being thankful and respectful of what you take.</p>
<p>Names/words meanings in my story:<br />
Novie: Free as a Butterfly<br />
Zyanya: Always and forever<br />
Chaska: Given to the first born son<br />
Nagwaadu: My father<br />
Nooyu: My mother<br />
Åmktii (Å‚mktii): Brother
“Bye Chaska, bye nagwaadu.” I hugged them as they started towards their nets and baskets. The baskets looked like they were ready to fall apart, cedar strands sticking out every which way.
Chaska hugged nooyu as nagwaadu said, “We will be home before the sun sets Novie.”
“Zyanya and I will be back before dinner. We’ll prepare to cook for when you return with our salmon.” She smiled.
“Have fun Zyanya and listen to Novie.” Nagwaadu said to me.
Today nooyu and I are going to the far edge of the forest to pull some cedar; it’s my first time going out. Nooyu and nagwaadu have both decided it’s about time for me to start learning and, like I had mentioned earlier the baskets are ready to fall apart and they need to be replaced.
I watched as my łmktii and nagwaadu disappeared down the hill on their way to the river. I never get to go with them. Nooyu and I always have something to do here. I’ve always wanted to go though; I bet I would be an expert fisher.
I remember the times I used to watch when I was younger. Chaska and I would go to the river to play and nagwaadu would be there with some other men from the village.
Chaska used to tell me that I wouldn’t be able to catch fish like him; it was the men’s job. I would be in the forest pulling cedar and making cloths. I thought he was teasing me and was pretty upset when I found his words were true.
I had been in the forest with Chaska and a few other kids from our village when I was younger; we used to play in there. I never thought it was anything more than a playground, nothing like how fun fishing must be.
“Zyanya stop your day dreaming it’s time to leave if we want to make it back in time to cook.”
“I’m coming,” I replied as I grabbed the cedar rope and axe then followed nooyu towards the forest.
When we first entered it looked the same, beat up old stubs, fallen trees, roots to hide behind and climb all over. Nooyu lead me towards the line of thick bushes which was our line. None of the children from the village are allowed to pass this line without an adult.
“You must remember when you are taking from the earth you have to be respectful Zyanya. You never take more than what you need.” She said. “When you are done with your cedar you give back what you don’t need, like the outer bark or the cedar we cannot use in our weaving.”
“Yes,” I replied following her. She held a branch back for me and grabbed my hand helping me through that last of the tangles. I looked up relieved to be out of the tangled mess and my breath was stolen. Before me was a beautiful sea of trees, all different sizes, different shapes, and different kinds. Some were tangled in the one next to them and others stood alone and proud.
“I expect you remember what the cedar trees look like.” Nooyu asked me as we made our way through the vibrant, lively, sea of trees.
I immediately spotted four, “yes I remember.” Every time we go out to gather food she would point them out, it would be impossible not to know what a cedar tree is.
I stopped at the nearest cedar tree and got my axe ready, “What do I do to start it off nooyu?”
“You will not collect from this tree,” she said walking towards me, “look up, Zyanya what do you see?”
I looked up unsure what she was talking about. “I don’t know nooyu; I see the tree and its branches.”
She nodded, “the branches will cause imperfections in the bark. Most of the bark will be unusable and will be wasted.”
I looked in confusion at the other cedar trees, “but all the cedar trees look the same. What trees do we pull from?”
She pointed towards the steep hill, “We pull from those trees on the hill.”
I started to follow her, “why?”
“The hill blocks the sunlight from one side of the tree, without sunlight it is missing one element for growing its branches.” She pointed at another tree, “Can you tell me why we would not pull from that tree?”
I looked at the tree, it’s a little tree so it has very little branches, and I can actually see an area I can pull without hitting any branches at all. So, why would I not be able to pull from this tree, I wondered. “Is it because it’s small?”
Nooyu smiled at me, “that’s right Zyanya. That tree is still a baby and can get bigger and provide us with better cedar as it keeps growing.”
I giggled proud of myself for knowing the answer. As we approached the hill I ran towards the first cedar tree and looked at the side facing the hill. Nooyu was right the whole side facing the hill had no branches on it at all! It looks like its big enough, “Can we pull from this tree nooyu?”
“Yes we can,” she said as she caught up with me.
I pulled out my axe ready to swing at the tree, “where do I cut?”
“First you make a small cut,” she gently moved me to the side and pushed her axe into the tree. She made a tiny “C” shape and pulled a thin strip from the tree. The strip only went up a couple feet before it broke off. Nooyu bent the cedar, “this isn’t a good tree to pull Zyanya. See when I bend the bark it cracks, we will not be able to use it for our weaving.”
“Okay nooyu,” I followed her up the hill until she stopped at another big tree.
This time she let me start the strip, I made sure to keep it small like she had kept the other one small and then started to pull the cedar strip. Even though the strip was thin it still went up high on the tree. Once it finally broke free I bent the cedar like nooyu did. This one stayed strong and didn’t crack, “so is this one okay?”
She took the small piece from me, “yes, we can use this piece. See how it stays strong as we bend it? This will be good strong cedar for our weaving.” She bent the cedar and pulled the bark from it, “we don’t need this so before we pull anymore cedar we will pull all the outer bark off of the strip.”
I picked up the other side of the cedar strip and started pulling the bark off. After we were done nooyu picked up her axe and made a small cut from side to side across the top of the bark. She then started to pull it apart turning our small strip into two small strips, one side thinner than the other. “This piece,” she held up the side that the outer bark touched, “we will not use so we will give it back to the earth.” Then she started to roll the cedar strip into a coil. I passed her a piece of the cedar rope and she tied it together.
“Now you can pull the rest of that tree. Remember never take more than a quarter of the tree or else you are hurting and killing the tree.”
I cut another piece from the tree, this one bigger than the other. Nooyu nodded approval and I began to pull the strip from the tree. This strip felt like it went up for forever; when it finally broke free I was sure it would hurt nooyu and me if it landed on us. However the strip didn’t fall towards us and it fell somewhat gracefully.
We peeled the outer bark off together like we did with the last one, she split it, and then she let me coil this one. Then we walked up the hill a bit more and each choose a tree.
“Nooyu, why do you only peel cedar in the spring?”
“It’s when the weather is right, the winter is too cold and the trees are all sleeping. In the summer the trees are too warm and all the sap makes it hard to pull the cedar from the trees. The Spring time is perfect temperature to pull our cedar.” She moved to another tree after placing her small strip back at the base of the tree. “The later we get into the season the higher up the mountain you must go. It is cooler the higher you go up the mountain so the cedar is good to pull at a later time then down here.” She explained.
We spent the rest of the afternoon stripping cedar, talking, laughing, and learning. I feel so at home out here in the forest I didn’t even notice how much time was passing. When nooyu stood and said it’s time to go home I was surprized to see the sun had already moved clear across the sky.
“So what do we do with the cedar when we get home nooyu?”
“Since we have already cleaned it today we will hang it up to dry. That way it will be preserved for when we are ready to use it. When we are ready to use it we will soak it and then prepare it for our weaving.”
“You’re going to show me how to do that when we need it too, right?”
“Of course Zyanya you need to know this stuff for when you have your own family to take care of.”
I giggled at the thought as we made our way back through the tangled mess. I felt a little sad as we emerged on the other side. I really do like the peacefulness of being in the forest.
Nooyu stopped and turned around, I followed suit. “Never forget to thank the earth for the gifts it gave you. Always show respect for what you have taken, remember earth doesn’t have to give us what it does. If you abuse what it has blessed us with it will eventually stop coming back and we will have nothing. Never take more than what you need.” She stressed
“I understand nooyu,” I promised her.
After thanking the earth for providing us with all this cedar we made our way back towards our home. Nooyu immediately started to hang the cedar as I went out to grab some wood for the fire. After nooyu was finished hanging the cedar she went to grab all the things we needed to cook.
Since I wasn’t allowed to start the fire yet I went to admire all the hard work nooyu and I had accomplished today. It looked like beautiful gold coils hanging in the sun.
Through one of the coils I saw Chaska and nagwaadu walking up the hill, both of them holding one side of the basket each. “Nooyu, Chaska and nagwaadu are home and they have dinner!” I exclaimed.
Chaska waved with a huge grin on his face. I started to run towards them eager to hear about their day out fishing and eager to tell them about my day in the forest.