These stories come from my father about the beliefs of our ancestors long ago. My father was able to see these practices. My father was born in 1874. During the years of 1884, 90’s, when my father was reaching his teens, the Anglican minister arrived. So, the first foreign religion in the area was the Anglican church. But prior to this, he followed the beliefs of the Crees which was to respect his surroundings, and animal life. When an animal is killed, great respect was given to the first kill. For instance, after the first goose was killed and cooked, it was buried and prayers given out of great respect for it. Because life was difficult, and the geese had flown south in the winter, and north in the spring, there was significance in this. The Canada goose, it was told, thought that it was time to go back north. “We will go north and look upon the Crees up north”, the geese thought. It was said that the geese felt compassion for the Crees who had endured the extreme cold in winter, and starvation for some. So our ancestors had said that the geese had returned north as offering. And so the ancestors held these geese in great respect. After killing them, cooking them, they covered them and gave prayers being thankful that they had survived the harsh conditions of the winter and the coming of the geese. So this is the kind of belief they had before the arrival of priests.

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