----- Original Message ----- From: RDIABO To: "Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@smtp101.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 6:13 AM Subject: Telling tales of Mt. Ida
http://www.bclocalnews.com/lifestyles/99445649.html Telling tales of Mt. Ida Legends shared: Louis Thomas shares Secwepemc history and stories of Mt. Ida. Barb Brouwer/observer By Barb Brouwer - Salmon Arm Observer Published: July 27, 2010 6:00 PM Updated: July 27, 2010 11:41 PM Long, regal, fire-scarred but recovering, Mt. Ida provides a graceful backdrop to the city of Salmon Arm. To our Secwepemc (Shuswap) neighbours, the mountain is a powerful place, inhabited by little people much like the leprechauns of Irish lore. The existence of these little people is engendered in First Nations oral history, handed down for generations in the slu-high-ya (true stories) and schip-tack-wi-la (legends). Not only do the stories preserve the history, they are moral lessons much like Aesop's Fables, says Louis Thomas, who made a presentation to some 84 people who, despite the heat, crammed into the small library at the SASCU Downtown Activity Centre last Wednesday. The son of late beloved elder Mary, Thomas was invited by the Shuswap branch of the Canadian Society of Questers to talk about Mt. Ida or "Klas-hant," which in the Shuswap language, simply means funny coloured rock. The long-ago appearance of the little people in Secwepemc history involves a hunter who fell asleep after scrounging around for food on the mountain. He woke up to the presence of the little people, who demanded to know what he was doing on their mountain. He explained that there was a famine and his people were starving. The little people replied that the famine was a result of the hunters' disrespect for the land and the animals and their failure to give offerings in return for what they took from the mother earth. "He stayed there for four days and four nights and sweated and fasted, then when he came down the mountain, he found a deer and saw plenty more," Thomas says. "So he took the message back to his band, and after that until the early 1920s, Secwepemc hunters always went up the mountain to sweat and fast before the hunt. It was an offering that became a tradition." Wary of the sacred area, many Neskonlith members refuse to go on Mt. Ida even today. In answer to a question about non-native use of the mountain, Thomas said he doesn't believe people are necessarily courting trouble, but did offer a caution. "You're doing it at your own risk," he said, noting people who harm the mountain could pay the price. "When mother earth gets mad, she rolls over." Thomas pointed out that Mt. Ida's little people protect their territory. He noted the failure of several previous, non-native development plans, including a large hotel and spa, a ski resort and logging. He recalls how the controversy around logging Ida and his mother's fight to preserve the sacred area was settled by the fire of 1998. Since that time, talks have ensued regarding creating a sacred circle at the top of the mountain. Looking beyond Ida, Thomas recalled one of his favourite legends, which describes an old man who went hunting with a young fellow. While out on the trail they were confronted by a bear. The young man hastily climbed a tree but refused to help the older man climb to safety. The bear snuffled around the old man who was lying on the trail pretending to be dead, before lumbering off. "What did the bear tell you?" asked the hunter. Replied the old man, "Never go with anyone who won't help you." Like some of the other stories Thomas told, this one drew appreciative laughs. And that is not unusual, says the 64-year-old Neskonlith, who notes humour is a very important part of First Nations culture. And so is superstition. "My cousin felt someone holding his ankle one night and he told my grandmother," Thomas laughs, recalling how his grandmother smudged the whole house with fragrant cedar smoke, but being a devout Roman Catholic, followed the smudge immediately with a generous sprinkling of holy water. "We always called it the double whammy. She retained a lot of the old teachings and that's why she lived to be 103." Medicine men also held a place of honour in Secwepemc culture - for their healing ways and their second sight. Considered pagans by the Roman Catholic priests, the medicine men dwindled out - along with the valuable healing knowledge. And with that came a growing disenchantment with the church, Thomas says. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Native News North List info{all lists}: http://nativenewsonline.org/natnews.htm Yahoo! 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