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A question was asked one time
about Elders and how old you have to be. I said, "how old do
you have to be to be an Elder?" He said, "how old is old? I
don't know how old is old." He said somebody had asked him
that one time and he told him to go over to another man and
ask. He said, "you'd better ask h i m - - I ' only 75, he's
84." So he went over and asked that 84 year old man and that
84 year old man said, "I don't know, but there's a man up
there - - h e ' s 88. Ask him," He went over there and asked
the 88 year old man and he said, "ask that man over there ~
he's 92." The 92 year old said, I don't know how old is old.
That man over t h e r e is 97. Ask him." I never did find
out how old you had to be to be an Elder. We all have a
different concept of what an Elder is. You have to listen
and not ask any more questions. It takes common sence to
make it so that you can understand (Gladys Kidd, Ojibway,
Curve Lake).
Elders should be role
models for everyone else. Elders should be teachers to the
grandchildren and all young people because of their wisdom.
Elders should be advisors, law-givers, dispensers of
justice. Elders should be open to everyone. Elders should be
knowledgeable in all aspects of Innu culture. Elders should
be teachers for everyone of the past history Of the
Algonquin People Elders should be recorders of history, not
only orally but to be preserved in print. Elders should be
teachers of values important to Algonquin's to be passed on
from generation to generation. Elders should be teachers of
language and oral history. Elders should be teachers of
Algonquin medicine. We place great importance in our Elders.
Their directions for us will guide our lives. Their
instructions have been to advise us to fight for our land.
We will do this by keeping up our protests against
development. The role of teaching Elders has become
increasingly meaningful in First Nation communities,
especially u r b a n communities. Elders are important for
their symbolic connection to the past, and for their
knowledge of traditional ways , teachings, stories and
ceremonies. It is very common for respected Elders to be
called upon to help communities with decisions regarding
everything from health issues, to community development, to
governmental negotiations regarding land use and
self-government. In the context of First Nation communities,
the term "Elder" can have many meanings. Most commonly, it
simply refers to an older person. It can also mean someone
who has been sought by their peers for spiritual and
cultural leadership and who has knowledge of some aspect of
tradition.
What is an Elder?
What is a "Real" Elder? We are still looking for
teachers, people who still remember, people who still know,
people who still held onto it and there's not many around.
There are people who know parts of traditions, parts of
teachings, some songs, some of the culture,some of the
language. There's not very many who are teachers who know
the teachings as they were handed down and who know how to
put that into your life and practice it as everyday living.
So in our need to find that for ourselves and for our
children, we are looking for what we call elders. That's
what an elder is. He's one who knows the teachings,who knows
them so well that he's able to live by them. And he's lived
through all those stages of life and he's held onto them and
now he can give people those teachings and not only can he
give them those teachings, he can help them to understand
them because he's lived it. That's what an elder is (Ojibway
Traditional Teacher, Sudbury, Ontario [Stiegelbauer, 1990]).
The term "Elder" can refer to anyone who has reached a
certain age and in some cases is used interchangeably with
the term "senior" as in senior citizen. In both cases, the
individual has had enough life experience to have something
to offer those behind them.
In a
sense, Elders are "experts on life." Their exact expertise
may be dependent on the nature of their experience, but in
one way or another it involves some aspect of traditional
knowledge and culture, or an
interpretation of their experience in traditional terms.
What they
learned from their experience and how they
interpret it is as
important to being an Elder as the experience itself. It is
also important to be able to communicate that learning to
others. While age is a part of this, it is not the only
part. As one Ojibway traditional teacher described it: "some
people say that it isn't a matter of age, but to a certain
extent it is when you have experienced enough of the stages
of life that you can look back and reflect on them...some
people have been able to do it more completely than others.
When you're 35, you're only about halfway,so you can't talk
about all of life, not from experience.
The aspect
of enough experience, and enough learning, includes life
experiences and experiences with aspects of traditional
culture and knowledge. Learning enough traditional knowledge
is usually the result of the influence of an older person
who acts as a teacher and role model. Being a role model for
the path of life is an important part of being an Elder. It
is not surprising that many of the people recognized as
"Elders" have lived through difficult times, both personally
and politically. Some have had problems with the law, with
alcohol, with family separation; some have seen such things
happen to others. What they have in common is the fact that
they learned something from those experiences, that they
turned to the traditional culture for understanding, support
and healing, and that they are committed to helping others,
especially those of similar background.In traditional terms,
an Elder is also a specialist in ceremonies, traditional
teachings, language, and heritage as it applies to mind,
body and spirit. As each individual is unique in their
experience, learning, personality and knowledge of
traditional culture, each potentially has something
different to offer. Some individuals may be specialists in
certain teachings, ceremonies or healing practices, while
others have another expertise.
Individuals
seeking an Eider to talk to consider these factors in
approaching an Elder, but often find the decision is a
combination of personal attraction and the type of expertise
needed for the particular situation. One quality, however,
that is common to "real Elders" is expressed by this
statement from a Native Centre Board Member:When you ask an
elder for advice about tradition, you are also asking for a
kind of honesty and purity and the best of tradition itself
which was the spiritual as well as the everyday. Elders are
practical, they have practical situations to attend to. You
can confide in them and just ask for direction and help
yourself. Diversity among Elders offers choices to
individuals seeking an Elder to talk to or be involved with.
Such diversity also represents an area of strength in
Elders' Councils.
Becoming
an Elder: A Learning Process:I
am called a teacher in two ways. One is that I have learned
the teachings, I wasn't just sitting around enjoying
ceremonies, I was learning them, I was rehearsing them, I
was practicing them, until the day they asked me to stand up
in the lodge and give those teachings. That's when I was
recognized. On the other side I have taught it to my
children and raised them by it and lived by it myself so in
that sense I am a teacher. I am qualified to teach because I
live by the teachings and I raised my family by them. So
it's not just that I am good at remembering and I am good at
talking, but it's that I practice it and that I have put it
into my life and the life of my family. |
