Heal Your Heart through Drum Making!
This Fine Arts entry is all about Healing Your Heart Through Drum Making!
A few years ago I coordinated a youth program, and wrote a grant to Northern Health in which we successfully was given enough to make drums for all the participants in the classroom. Through drum making I believe is a very strong connection to our culture that can lead to healing anyone's heart when creating their own drum, and drum stick. Singing, and drumming is one of the main ways to heal our hearts. Most of the youth who made drums now participate in the drumming and singing practises twice a week, and are learning how to sing our potlatch songs; this is lead by all the singers in the community. I am very proud of this vary program as it helps, and promotes our youth to revitalize our singing and drumming of our Carrier ways. (Above are two pictures of myself, and my youngest when she was only 11 months old when we made drums.) Students later got the opportunity to paint a design on their drums, and beaded a drum stick. I show a picture of the drum I made, and beaded drum stick in which we had traditional practitioners come in to teach us.
A grad student in Whitehorse said, when you see Native people on the street, not looking healthy, think about how they "have lost their place". I love a book that is a few years old - The Sacred Tree - do you know that one, Rosalie? It presents the teachings of Elders from all over North America, with the idea that returning to their traditional teachings will heal and restore individuals and their communities. I am proud of you for contributing to this important work!
ReplyDeleteI heard of the "The Secret Tree" and will have to look for it, and buy it and add to my personal collection. My favorite is "The Little Bear's Vision Quest"...Thank you for sharing!
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