People of all ages are gathered this week at Anah Lake, north of Alexis Creek, for the 28th Annual Tl’etinqox (Anaham) Culture Camp.
It’s the first year the camp is being held at that location, rather than Raven Lake.
It was going to take place there in 2017, but because of the wildfires the annual camp was cancelled.
Tl’etinqox band councillor Cecil Grinder said growing up he spent lots of time in the Anah Lake area.
“There are cabins down there and we used to swim at the point and ride horses,” he said after he and a group of helpers put up a huge tent.
“It’s a nice flat open area with lots of room for campers. We are going to build a sweat house later today.”
For community elder Marie Dick the change of location brought back lots of memories.
As she enjoyed some stew made on site by the camp cooks, she paused to tell Tl’etinqox Chief Joe Alphonse how happy she was to be there and how she knows the area so well.
She only speaks the Tsilhqot’in language so Alphonse translated her words.
“She said she rode horseback all through this country,” he said. “Long before there were any doctors around, she was a midwife.”
Dick pointed to the wooded area and told him they used to collect wood from there that they made bowls out of.
“She said they might have looked poor with their clothing, but they were never poor as they had lots of moose meat. Now they can’t get moose meat,” Alphonse said.
Angeline Stump, an elder from the community, was one of the people that started the culture camp 28 years ago with Leslie Stump.
Stump said she stepped away from helping for a few years and then when Alphonse was elected nine years ago, he encouraged her to return.
“It’s fun, I like being a part of it,” Stump said. “This year I’m going to be a floater and will help teach cultural activities, and I will tell some traditional stories.”
Stump recently received a diploma from the University of Northern British Columbia and is near completing a Bachelor of Arts in First Nations studies.
“I think once I graduate with my B.A. I will feel more like a qualified representative,” she said smiling.
Alphonse and Stump said one of the things they’ve restored at the camp is the practice of having a baby naming ceremony where infants are given a Tsilhqot’in name.
“Six years ago we started that,” Alphonse said.
In her mother’s time when a baby was baptized elders would give the baby a name related to animals mostly, Stump said.
“We got away from that,” she added.
Read more: Tsilhqot’in community names officially recognized by Province
Tl’etinqox community member Sheila Gilpin lives in Quesnel and attended the camp as a craft instructor.
“Today I’ve been teaching them how to make dream catchers,” Gilpin said.
“We went down to the bushes to get our willows. I brought my knife and once the kids picked theirs out I cut it for them.”
Some of the children chose to peel their sticks while others left them with the bark on.
Evelyn Dick is almost 80 and loves to be part of the culture camp.
On Wednesday she was teaching teenage girls how to cut up a deer and hang the meat on a drying rack above a small fire, there to keep the flies away.
“Every year when they have a gathering she’s always involved,” said her daughter Marlene Hink, who lives at Yunesit’in First Nation across the river from Tl’etinqox.
“She really loves being outdoors and being here with everyone. We can never hold her back. If she hears the word camping she wants to go.”
Alphonse said it’s important for the youth to learn their traditions and after the camp was cancelled last summer due to the wildfires, he’s happy it’s on again this year.
The camp began on July 10 and runs until Tuesday, July 17.
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