Elsipogtog community in N.B. keep traditions alive through basket weaving – New Brunswick

A New Brunswick community is keeping traditions alive through the art of basket weaving.

Seven Elsipogtog residents, who were chosen to learn the craft, shared their work Wednesday.

Participant Buffy Peters has fond memories of her relatives making baskets, and her grandfather used to sell them in Moncton.

“I knew that my ancestors did this so I really wanted to learn how to do it because I know it’s so important for us to learn our culture and our tradition,” she said.

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Instructor Sandra Racine says basket making has always been important for the Mi’kmaq people, and participants in the workshop took part in the entire process.

“We went out in the woods to pick a tree, it was brought back here. The class participants quartered the log, we pounded, stripped and produced the baskets…it’s a lot of process,” she said.

She says 90 per cent of the instruction was done in the Mi’kmaq language, which allowed them to use words they haven’t used in a long time.

“Some of the terminology used in the process of making baskets I hadn’t heard since I was a kid listening to my grandparents making baskets or talking about making baskets,” said participant Brian Francis.

“It’s waking up the language as well. You’re not only revitalizing the art of making baskets but you’re also waking up a section of the language.”

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