Monday, July 30

Lately Up North: it's the season for celebrating


Every July, the entire village packs up and spends a week camping on a nearby island. It has made for a very easy work week at the hospital (almost no patients!). 
But this weekend we finally got to join in on the festivities.

There was lots of traditional dances and music... that literally went on all night long.


Luckily we had nice weather, and stayed warm & dry in our tents at night.


Also luckily, we found lots of wild northern strawberries to snack on.


We woke up at sunrise on Saturday morning to watch a Walking Out Ceremony. I've mentioned these before on the blog, but a Walking Out is a special ceremony that the Crees do to honour a young child's first steps into the world.

The little one dresses in traditional clothes and gear, and everyone watches as he or she walks outside of the teepee and touches ground for the very first time. 
It's incredibly sweet.


Otherwise this weekend, we did a lot of lazing around on those surprisingly comfy teepee floors.


Turns out, camping while 6 months pregnant isn't as hard as I thought it would be, 
and I'm glad we did it.


Hope you had a great weekend.
oxo

6 comments:

Tiffany Kadani said...

That Walking Out Ceremony is amazing! What an incredible thing to witness! That first photo is stunning- thank you for sharing this part of the world with us.
ps... the fact that you guys pick wild strawberries to eat is so cool.

sweet harvest moon said...

So beautiful!

Eatlovemerry said...

Lovely blog! x

Margie Oomen said...

i would love to camp there one day

Diana Mieczan said...

It sounds like a great weekend and you look so beautiful on that last photo. Glowing! Btw: The walking ceremony sounds amazing. Glad that you had fun, sweetie. Kisses

Jan Halvarson said...

sounds amazing - what a cool experience to have seen! those little babies look so sweet.