Eastern Region III began their traditional buffalo harvest demonstration on Friday July 17, at Back to Batoche Days on the South Festival Grounds at 1:00 p.m.
“It’s just a small piece of what we do in Eastern Region III, but we’re very happy to share what we know so that folks can go on and share to their children and their children’s children,” said Marg Friesen who is the Regional Representative for Eastern Region III of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan Provincial Council.
The Metis Nation of Saskatchewan has 12 regions, with Eastern Region III encompassing southeastern communities of the province like Estevan, Weyburn, Moosemin, Indian Head, For Qu’Appelle and many other communities where Metis citizens reside.
“Every year we do a land based harvest camp and we harvest a large game, mainly buffalo,” said Friesen.
Friesen explained that every year they host a traditional camp, for all ages, from youth to elders.
Attendees learn to live on the land for a weekend, learn traditional language and teachings, and will participate in a community led buffalo harvest.
In the buffalo harvest process, a ceremony is performed before the animal falls, and while it is being harvested.
The hunting party is chosen before the hunt begins, and is made up of community members. The body of the animal is chilled in a cooler until it is ready to begin processing.
Processing the buffalo includes removing the organs, the skin and hide, then butchering the meat to be cooked. The meat will be seasoned with a rub consisting of a mix of various spices, then wrapped in chicken wire.
After the meat is wrapped it will be lowered into a large pit in the ground, which has been prepared for 24 hours with rock and wood to raise the temperature high enough to cook the meat.
The meat will be covered with a steel plate, then covered with dirt for 24 hours.
The animal that was harvested for the demonstration was a 2 year old female from a local ranch that partners with ER3.
The animal weighed approximately 800-900 pounds, and produced around 500 pounds of meat.
Another ceremony is performed when the meat is ready to be removed from the ground.
“We get a pretty good crowd out here to bring the meat out of the pit,” Friesen said. “We unearth it, bring the meat out of the pit here it’s sliced and pulled apart.
Well, actually doesn’t even have to use a knife, it’s so tender.”
The meat is prepared with other traditional foods such as bannock and root vegetables, then served to over 1000 people on Saturday night.
“We talk about the entire use of the animal, using the bones for tools, and how our ancestors used to do that,” explained Friesen.
After the hide is removed from the body of the animal, it begins it’s own fleshing and tanning process.
The fleshing demonstration is open to visitors, and performed with traditional scraping tools, at the same time the meat is being processed and cooked.
After the hide is fleshed, it goes on to the tanning process, where it is soaked for 24 hours, then stretched and dried.
“It’s really important that we share in our cultural identity and preserve not only our cultural practices, but sharing those with non indigenous people as well so that we can learn together, we can live in harmony,” expressed Friesen when asked about why the demonstration camp is important.
Friesen further explained that it is important to share not only the history and process of the buffalo harvest, but also the result with everyone because historically the entire community relied on the sustenance of the animal.
She said that it is important that it is a community event because that is the way their ancestors practiced it, and that non-indigenous people are also educated so there is no division between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.
Land-based educators lead the demonstration, backed by years of experience where they learned the history and skills, Friesen explained that it is education, and not just a show for people to watch.
“There’s people from all corners of the earth who can come together and learn and participate in a way that they perhaps have never before.
We’re like a big family here and we all support one another.
We share in the knowledge openly and we’re willing to support anyone who’s willing to learn,” noted Friesen.
