Many people gathered on White Bear First Nation March 6 for a feast to honour Victor Sammy, an elder of the community.
Within this culture, a feast of this type is traditionally held to honour someone who has passed on. However, due to Sammy's current state of health and his extensive involvement in the community, his family wanted to recognize him now.
"We honoured him because we figured it was time to honour him, and Victor was ready to be honoured, too," explains Murray Bird, principal at White Bear Education Complex. "He has to heal right now. He has to get better. So we're praying for him right now and doing as much as a school possibly can to help him get better."
People travelled from many neighbouring communities, from as far away as Carry the Kettle First Nation, as Sammy is as highly-respected elder.
Family, friends and neighbours came to honour him at White Bear Education Complex on March 6. By the time the ceremony started close to 2 p.m., about 300 people - young and old - sat inside the gym.
Armand McArthur started the ceremony by saying a few words about Sammy, before introducing a group of young men who were chosen to participate in, what many in the community referred to as, "The Spoon Dance."
In the past decades, people have rarely performed this dance on White Bear. One older woman said she had never seen the dance before - speaking to rareness of the occasion.
The significance of the dance was for Sammy to choose one of the young men to become a community leader. By "passing the ladle," to a chosen young man, he was passing the responsibility of being being present at future feasts.
In this culture, the women prepare food for the feasts and the men serve it, and it is a great honour to be chosen as the man who holds the ladle.
Sammy chose Dakota Kakakaway to carry on the tradition, and now The Spoon Dance is going to be performed at many feasts on White Bear.
"It's a great honour, like being given an eagle feather," explains Bird. "It even goes beyond that because he now has that spoon and he keeps it. When it comes time for feasts, they'll call on him to do the dance."
After the dance, Sammy and others walked around the gym a couple of times, before taking a spot at one end of the gym. At this time, everyone in attendance was invited to shake Sammy's hand to honour him.
When the feast began, the young men who participated in the dance politely served all the people in attendance. The feast was grand, with much food leftover for people to bring home and share with their family and friends.
Sammy has been involved in the White Bear community for many, many years in different ways. But, one of his biggest passions was the school.
"I've been here for 10 years now, and when I started here, he was a school elder," says Bird. "He helped staff, students and anyone else in the school with guidance and support with his teachings."
"He was always instrumental helping out here at the school when we have our ceremonies, such feasts, flag ceremonies, pipe ceremonies, [and] smudging," Bird continues. "He comes to school as much as he can. He loves the school. The school, he said, is what gets him going. When he was in the hospital, he wanted to get back out of the hospital right away because he wanted to come to school and see how things were going. He's very dedicated."
Students at the school hold a high level of respect for Sammy, and have learned much over the years from his stories. Sammy has this seemingly innate ability to intertwine pieces of his own history and the history of White Bear into stories that both entertained and educated the youth.
"There is something about him that attracts the kids," says Bird. "He's quite wise, and he has a really good sense of humour that he uses to work the children and staff. His knowledge of stories, legends, tales, [and] regalia - they're so interesting."
Since becoming ill, Sammy has spent less time at the school, which has had an effect on the students.
"He's involved here [at the school], but now due to his illness, he's slowly retracting himself away from a lot of the stuff that is going on," Bird explains. "The reaction of the students, I think, has been one of disbelief. To see this strong, vibrant person going into a shell of what he was, and not being here so much anymore, [is difficult]."
"A lot of times when he was here, he'd come in and talk to them. His [office] door was always open. He'd walk around to all the classrooms, stop in and say his little quirks and jokes to the students - like [he was] teasing them, which they truly liked. Coming from an elder, he's acknowledging them in a good way - a fun way - and they like that."
"I have noticed them walking by his office, looking in to see if he was there, and then walking on."
Currently, there are two other elders working in White Bear Education Complex, but Sammy's sense of humour and incredible ability to connect with the students and staff is missed.
"When I came here 10-years-ago, he was one of the first people who did take me aside and talk to me," Bird recalls. "He didn't tell me what he expected of me, but we just talked - talked about where I was coming from and what was going on with me."
"He's always looked out for me," continues Bird. "As I became administrator, he looked out for me more. He was always someone I could call and talk to. On the First Nation here, he's very well respected. The people utilize him for ceremonies [or] to just go have tea with him and talk to him - and he loves that. With any feast happening out here, he's always one of the first people invited to participate."
With Sammy taking a step back from his involvement within the community, the natural question is: who will step up and fill his shoes?
"You can't fill his shoes," says Bird. "Finding someone that valuable [and] knowledgeable in the traditions, the ceremonies, [and] the Nakota culture, is going to be almost impossible. Almost impossible."
