12-year-old twins have never cut their hair. Until now, in a Cree ceremony | OshKiKiShiKaw
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2019
- 12 year-old identical twins Tapwewin (Truth) and Pawaken (Totem) have never cut their hair. In Cree culture, and in many Indigenous communities across Turtle Island, hair represents our sacred connection to AsKi, the Earth. Growing the hair is a manifestation of the growth of spirit. #CBCShortDocs #OshKiKiShiKaw
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Jules Koostachin, Tapwewin and Pawaken’s mom - and documentary filmmaker - learned of a sacred coming-of-age ceremony when she was in her early 20s. An Elder told her that when boys hit puberty, a ceremony around the cutting of hair is a right of passage that supports and uplifts youth as they transition into the next phase of their lives.
After the ceremony, they’re encouraged to grow their hair out again.
For Jules, it’s important that her children understand the importance of ceremony - even though at times, some of the teachings are fragmented. Her family was plagued by colonialism; Jules’ mother Rita is a residential school survivor, who was taken away from a lot of her culture. When Jules became a parent, she wanted to make sure her children had a strong sense of identity and culture, and know their customs and protocol. She strives to honour customary practices by integrating her own teachings with others.
In the summer of 2018, the twins and their family were invited by the Koostachin family to travel from their home in Vancouver to the birthplace of Kokoom (Grandma) Rita: Lake River, north of Attawapiskat.
This was no coincidence; the family believes they were called back to their ancestral lands for a reason. They are the next generation, representing resilience, rebirth and strength. They are bringing back what was taken from colonial violence.
Sadly, the trip to Lake River fell through, but the family asked local Knowledge Keeper Adrian of another site near near Attawapiskat where they could perform the ceremony. Adrian (who is the leader singer of the band Midnight Shine) suggested a location with a serendipitous name: Twin Islands. And so the twins travelled to Twin Islands by boat, with their whole family by their side, to take part in this sacred ceremony.
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It’s so wonderful to see positive families, cultural events, etc, in these communities! These boys are being brought up right & will probably end up being male models!!!
Thank you so much! I am enthralled with their culture and traditions.
Part of what I wanted to say was very eloquently written by Kate Malone a week ago. Thank you, Kate! 👍
To the twins, congratulations on coming of age the way you have in a beautiful spiritual culture rich with tradition! You already present yourselves as fine young men. 😊
You are so very blessed to have family that honor and respect your traditions enough to pass them on to you.
We share that blessing. My grandparents had to flee Poland during WWs I and II. My parents felt strongly that we be raised with the knowledge and traditions of our culture.
The pride I learned got me over Polish jokes (a BIG thing at that time) fairly quickly.
Sending blessings through the ethers to all I met in this video. Thank you for sharing your stories.
Thanks to CBC Docs, too. You never fail to impress!
That was truly beautiful to watch.
This is amazing! You are more beautiful and important than you know. Your ancestors live through you and they existed for you to be able to tell your story, and through your story their story resonates through the ages. Thank you for telling your story. Miigwech.
These boys have very beautiful hair.
Loved this doc! Thanks for sharing your story young men.
Thank you for sharing this ceremony.
When their feet touched the sacred land i could feel it tingle through my body like my ancestors went through me :)
Their hair seems pretty short for 12 years
Thank you for the opportunity to share in such a wonderful and beautiful ceremony.
Thank you for sharing this, it was so beautiful to watch a grandmother survivor be brought home by her family and to see her wonderful grandsons who so embody the values of love and respect. I'm so glad that they are connected with their culture.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story of a strong, grounded, loving family who are strongly woven into their Cree culture.
Their older brother is an actor. He starred in a film called "red snow" that just came out recently. Check it out!
Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful - inside and out.
thank you. we will find the future by looking through the past - a friend recently quoted...
Love it!
Merci Jules ce documentaire est très beau car authentique
Very cool story!
beautiful
So cool I have Cree on my dad side way back
L
I miss them
why?
I have never got my hair cut but it keeps getting shorter and shorter
If you dont cut your ends the hair brakes at the tips a lot, you have to cut them to keep the hair healthy
I love long hair and the significance of it. I’m 44 yr old white Canadian and I feel grateful for being able to have my antennas
They should remove the rubber bands off the braids before dumping them in the water . Interesting story and culture ♥️
Yoooooo, why y'all sleepin on Asivak 👀
I hope someday animals are offered the same dignity humans dedicate to themselves, that in gatherings of humans the animals would be alive, roaming, participating, communing. Not dead, sacrificed. Go ahead, say my comment in improper. It's not. Everything is so sacred but only when we want to see beyond our own ego and speciecism.
Menina DoMato looks like your lecture has been ignored.
@@altnarrative Not by you, thankfully.
waittt they are boys? now i get it
Who else thought they were girls at first
Nobody
Only a colonizer like you would think that.
I wish the hair had been donated to young cancer patients for wigs.
Does your hair grow? You should donate your hair but don't suggest how people conduct their traditions. I for one, an Anishinaabeyininih, would never do that. I find other ways to support but giving my hair to strangers isn't my way.
I come to watch these awesome uplifting stories of my people and relatives and often see Ignorant comments like this and it gets frustrating that we, indigenous people always have to be educators..
OK so you wish their hair was donated.... Is that all? Who th are you?
Lol talk about changing genders
that is not funny
Why do they choose to show the lightest skinned whitest looking natives to be shown on t.v I'm full blooded cree as is my son and none of us or my family looks or acts this caucasian
Even the way the narrator say coucum
ITS KOOKUM
Jessie Arturo Thunder you’re better than them.
Jessie Arturo Thunder I think these boys grew up in the city of Vancouver & the natives on the Pacific Coast are very different than the Cree & Oji-Cree people in Northwestern Ontario. I also think that these kids have very little Cree blood left in them & don’t look anything like the Ojibwa, Oji-Cree, & Cree people in our area. I suppose we just have to hope that healthy traditions will be passed on to further generations. I would love to see the comeback & knowledge of Indian Healing.
Perhaps they are just enough to be who they are. No comparison to anyone. They belong to their family and culture as much as you or I.
Jessie Arturo Thunder you are so triggered, wow, it's sad
It's pathetic that you feel the need to put down other natives like yourself. We need to hold one another up, not step on each other. Just because their skin is lighter than yours doesn't mean they are any less important to our creator. I hope you find peace inside yourself one day.
Twin girls