The Anishinaabe are a tribe of indigenous people in the Thunder Bay area. Every year, they present this weekend event to demonstrate the culture and skills of their people, and I was lucky enough to be there on this particular weekend.
I separated this event into a separate posting for two reasons: the fort posting was getting too long and I spent a separate day at the fort for this event. One problem is that I did not take as many photos as I should have. Missing from this posting are photos of the little tables where native crafts such as making bannock or pottery were demonstrated. Also, we in the audience were asked not to take photos of the many dancers, so you will have to imagine the couple of hours of the dancers in a group and separately by tribe.
Tip: Don't skip the video I took of the drummers and the little boy at the end!
This photo shows a small encampment of natives as it might have looked in the days or fur traders.
The inside of the teepee. In winter, the walls would have been reinforced with additional layers of bark and cracks filled with moss.
This is the area where the tribes were able to sell handmade goods.
These are dancers getting ready. I was able to take this photo because they had not started dancing yet.
There were two sets of drummers that took turns drumming and singing to accompany the dancers. Click here to see a video of their warming up and the child of one of the drummers. He hung around his dad and the other drummers for a while, and then started wandering around. At one point, not shown on the video, he obviously got tired and found himself a spot to sit between a couple of strangers on the bleachers. Eventually, his mom found and retrieved him!!
I need to take more pictures next time, but I did enjoy the afternoon.
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