Little Bit Know Something

I've read some essays in Robin Ridington's, Little Bit Know Something and have come out with what seems like a very honest understanding of the Beaver Indians of British Columbia. I am amazed at how Ridington is able to set aside certain ideals about data collecting and just simply listen to the stories of the Dunne-za. This is the "data" he was looking for. These stories and myths are their history and there is not a better, more honest and sensitive way to approach the learning and re-telling of this history. In this book, Ridington shares, word for word, the stories of elders in this tribe. He records their storytelling on a tape and puts it directly in the book. He then re-tells the story adding some of his own understanding of the heart and soul of this people. His telling of the story has the utmost sincerity and sensitivity. When elders in this society tell their stories to outsiders they are unable to explain the knowledge they have and their own intuition. This knowledge and insightfulness is inside of them and is something that many people would not understand. Ridington takes what he has learned of their knowledge and incorporates it into the Dunne-za stories and helps us to better understand their history.

Fox and Chickadee

Ridington tells the true story of Japasa, a man who knew the foxes, rabbits, frogs, and wind. He tells of spending twenty days in the bush, living with foxes who cared for him, brought him food as if he was one of their own. He saw foxes and rabbits who wore clothes like people. The wind spoke to him in the form of a man. This man told him he would protect him.

"Both of Japasa's stories were true to his experience. When he was a boy, Japasa knew frogs and foxes and wind. He knew their songs. He entered the myths that are told about them. He obtained power by joining his own life force to theirs. He knew them in the bush away from society of other humans...He became their child, one of their kind. He saw them clothed in a culture like his own." (10-11)

At first these stories made me consider a parallel to the symbolism that we place on animals. Are these myths creating symbols and not considering the animals as individual, intricate beings? Are these stories made up? Is that insincere to the animals in the stories? Through reading more stories and Ridington's re-telling of them I realized how these mythical stories are creating a closeness to animals and nature that is, in my mind, admirable. It is difficult to understand these stories as truths. But reading the history of these people, you begin to realize that these stories are completely true. They are created in the heart and souls of young children and grow with them, become a part of them and are one day told from the heart of an eldery person to children who have yet to know what their own story will be.

I found this segment to be very insightful, "Mythic events are different. They are essential truths, not contingent ones. I can be a frog or a fox and still be a person. I can know them as I know myself. If I am an Indian, I can be led toward a place where this knowledge will come naturally." (11)

Also this one, "We misunderstand myth as interpreting it as flawed history." (12)

And, "The true history of these people will have to be written in a mythic language. Like the stories of Japasa, it will have to combine stories of people coming together with other people and those that tell of people coming together with animals. (13)

Through Japasa's stories it is clear that the Beaver Indians relate to animals as if it were second nature. It is a necessity in their lives. As children they are given insight and intuition surrounding their animals. This stays with them forever, waiting for the time to share their story. They see animals in each other. They live with animals and know them in a way that is not based on behavior patterns or assumptions. They know them, it is a knowledge that they gain just from living. They do not seek to know about the animals, they just do. They see animals represented in their culture as humans. The animals use humans as a way to speak to each other and to tell stories, insight, and knowledge.

A True Story

Ridington writes, "As an anthropologist, I learned that Dunne-za hunters did not travel the bush at random in search of game. The trails they followed were already known to them through dreams. They did not take the lives of animals; rather, they received the gift of life from animals that were known to them." (23)

The Beaver Indians did not have an abundance of meat to eat. They would go hungry for days when they could have simply gone into the woods and found their next meal. They did not consider animals so simply. They believed that knowledge was acquired through their spirit animals and to find an animal waiting for them, waiting to nourish them with knowledge and life was a gift in itself. Each hunt was a gift of love and survival. It was not a chance happening event. Animal spirits were waiting to provide this knowledge and intuition that would come to the Beaver Indians through dreams.

Nachi, a 78 year old woman told Ridington about her true encounter, as a child, with the spirit of a dreaming bear. Her family at camp had not eaten for days and Nachi's grandfather sent her out to find a porcupine to eat. She went alone and searched for something that would tell her where and how to find this porcupine. Nachi came across a pile of broken sticks underneath a spruce tree. She was standing on a bear's den but did not realize it. She took a long stick to poke inside the den to help her feel for what was in there. She felt something, but heard no sounds. She found a chewed up stick and took it back to camp where she shows her grandfather...

Ridington writes Nachi's story, in this story, the bear is called, The Dreamer...

"...She left a weary trail of tracks behind her in the snow. Only the Dreamer could go beyond his own trail. The connection between person and animal had to take place first in the mind before it could be realized in substance. Inside the darkness of his sleep, he was dreaming of the girl child. Through him, the people of old were sending a song to the girl child...He broke sticks for her and marked them with his teeth. This was a sign. He had long since left his tracks far behind...She reached inside to touch his flesh. It was to be the life of her people. The old people could dream ahead of their bodies. This was to be his gift to her...The Dreamer was waiting for her in silence. He did not move. He did not growl..." (27-28)

I hear this story and I understand the strong connection that the Dunne-za have to animals. They see their knowledge as gifts inside of them. Without the animals, they would not have their own knowledge and intuitive sense. They would not have the animal spirit within them. They would not have life.

The Dunne-za do not put on camouflage and conceal themselves from the animals. They do not eat a hearty breakfast and lunch and then go hunt for enjoyment. They hunt when they have nothing else to eat. They know that the animals are waiting for them to give them nourishment and knowledge. They do not brag about their hunt or take pictures to show their friends. They look at the animals as bearers of knowledge and they follow signs and symbols left behind and learn of their meaning. They allow for the animal's knowledge and spirit to continue in their own life and and to nourish their bodies and souls. They have respect for the animals, as much, if not more than is deserved of the eldest elders with many stories to tell.

I have respect for the Dunne-za and for the way they relate to animals. I believe that animals deserve the utmost respect and the Dunne-za present the epitome of respect to animals. The stories they tell are beautiful and honest and kindhearted.

I very much doubt that this respect and beauty lives in game hunters today. At the extreme opposite end of the spectrum are the hunting magazines that feature gear and guns and photos of the kill sent in by readers. Advertisements for steak houses and McDonalds. Time taken off of work to take a hunting vacation. To invest money in guns and camouflage clothing. To buy a gigantic truck to drive your kill many miles back to its new home -your freezer. This is the epitome of disrespect.

I wonder if there is a middle ground that exists, although I can't imagine one. I believe the only way to hunt is by living among the animals, traveling on foot, having the utmost respect for animals, not hunting when you already have an abundance of food and not investing money into hunting. The Dunne-za were able to hunt in this way. Paul Shepard reminds us that at the time of hunter-gatherer societies, work and jobs as we know them did not exist.

Chelsea's soapbox...

This is a difficult area for me, because I do not agree with eating meat in the society that I know. If you are working and spending your earnings on food, you have the power to eat that which does not support the meat industry - something entirely different than hunting. And if you are earning money, hunting is not necessary, as you can purchase fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, etc. If you are spending money on these things and you respect and have compassion towards animals, hunting is not an option. When you are able to provide yourself with non-meat sources of protein, vitamins and nutrients, your body does not need meat. I do not believe hunting is necessary unless you are living in a society where this is your main source of food. It will be difficult for me to find a form of hunting in modern society that I agree with.