I wove this little ‘medicine bag’ now at the bottom of this Memories weaving after my son Aaron gifted the woven bracelet he bought for me as a ‘souvenir’. It is now the ‘handle’ of the bag. It contains dried sage and cedar from Northeastern Ontario that I took from a smudge bundle given to me by my English/Anishinaabe friend last Christmas. The dollar store fringe is imitation leather. I do have another genuine leather ‘medicine bag’ that I received when I attended the 100th year Commemoration of Treaty 9 in the Matachewan area at the invitation of my Anishinaabe friend. I have glimpsing memories of my lives as ancestral Grandmothers and Grandfathers of First Nations long ago. I lived near Lake Superior before the ‘white man’ came. I lived on the Plains before there was a Canada-US border. I lived on the West Coast of what is now British Columbia. I’ve worn many ‘skins’ in my many lives. I’ve worn many feathers too. Reincarnation puts a whole new slant on the subject of ‘cultural appropriation’.

(July 29, 2020- Shelley Wilson)