Teaching Indian Skills
So. what are white folks doing teaching "Indian" skills?
Geri on a primitive outing
Well, I, John, am of Scottish heritage. I have bagpipes - and I can't play them!
The American Indian - as with most aboriginal peoples of the world - have left primitive skills behind as "civilization" has come upon them.
A metal pot DOES make life easier - as does a match - or a firearm.
In a culture with no written language, any skill will be lost in only one generation.
Over the years, we have taught many individuals of Native American heritage these "lost" skills.
Tanning a finished buckskin
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On two occasions we have been invited to reservations to teach: once to New Brunswick, Canada to teach an extended Mic Mac family, mostly how to brain tan deer skins - once to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana - to teach children how to make bows & arrows and some few adults how to brain tan.
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Smoking a finished buckskin
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With the Blackfeet in Montana
Between the tanning and bowmaking sessions, a young buffalo that had been culled was brought to our camp and we were invited to take the hide and head - "if we took it apart the old way". A few blows with a hammerstone produced several fine flake knives from our Kansas chert. The work was completed in short order.
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