The design of a tipi is steeped in symbolism; its function is deeply spiritual. The massive newly-constructed Tipi of Huron Perth in Gowanstown, north of Stratford, is celebrated as a special place to recalibrate one’s life-balance.
Though it is historically a Cree and Lakota construction, the tipi is an adopted symbol of North American indigenous cultures. According to Christin Dennis, originally from Aamjiwnaang (Chippewas of Sarnia First Nation,) the Tipi of Huron Perth serves as a venue to assemble elders, knowledge-carriers and indigenous people in a place where they can share and learn about their indigenous culture, and reaffirm Mino-Bimaadiziwin, the Anishinaabe concept of living a good life, balanced and connected to family, community and the land.
Dennis is a renowned contemporary indigenous artist who works with the Catholic School Board and the Avon Maitland District School Board to share his knowledge of indigenous culture.
Recently he introduced students in Stratford to Ojibwe Spirit Horses, and shared with them how gentle these animals are. Dennis recalled that when he, himself, was first introduced to the horses, he sang a song to them.
“The horses were on the other side of the stable, but when they heard the song, they stopped, turned around, walked right up to me, surrounded me and nuzzled up to me,” he said. “Their caretakers said they’d never seen that before. The horses must have remembered it, because the oral teachings are passed on in their DNA.”
Now that the Tipi of Huron Perth has been completed, Dennis can introduce students to it as well. At thirty feet in diameter, the tipi is beautifully designed with radiant colour and hardwood flooring. The adjacent sweat lodge, shaped like the womb of a woman, is fifteen-feet in diameter and used for healing and sacred ceremonies.
Dennis says that the rocks that are heated for the lodge are ‘stone people.’
“We believe that when we pass on, the essence of who we are — our knowledge and wisdom — goes into the ground and into the stones,” he said.
When those stones are heated, their spirit is imbued into the lodge. There are mattresses for those who register to visit the sweat lodge and stay in the tipi overnight.
In addition to visiting the tipi and the sweat lodge, Chef Destiny Moser contributes to feasts to help people understand indigenous cuisine — which is not bannock, a fried bread introduced by Irish merchants, but includes venison, moose meat and Three Sisters Soup of corn, beans and wild rice.
The tipi has a dual purpose: to share knowledge and to re-integrate displaced indigenous people with themselves and within their own community. Many indigenous people, particularly Sixties Scoopers — those who were adopted into non-indigenous families and assimilated into non-indigenous communities — live in two different worlds, and seek reintegration to help them cope, find themselves and live a good life as their authentic indigenous self. The tipi is a place for them to find and relearn their culture.
There are 644 indigenous cultures across North America piecing their cultural identities together again. Tipi of Huron Perth was created through the Sixties Scoop Foundation, and put up by over 130 participants, including children and elders to bring it to everyone in the community.
Dennis, a Sixties Scoop survivor, says that his community is so grateful that the Sixties Scoop Foundation was able to help build this tipi, which is now a vital centre for his community to convene and be together.
On August 24, Tipi of Huron Perth is holding an open house from 1-5 p.m. For all those who wish to visit or participate, registration is on the www.tipiofhuronperth.ca website, and enables a unique opportunity to experience and share in the enrichment of this wonderful new centre.
