On Sunday, May 9, 2010, Maverick Nimischuu Coonishish, aged 9 months, prepares for his first walking out ceremony. Just a few days before, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were all working hard to prepare the site of the ceremony, a tepee was set-up adjacent to a young spruce tree. Maverick would walk out of the teepee and go around the young spruce tree, and some fresh game would be waiting for him.
The moment came. Friends and family began to gather around the ceremony site with cameras. Maverick was inside the tepee and then he came out for his first walking out. He was so conscious of the crowd that he paused several times in his walk to pose for cameras. He finally got near the young spruce tree and with his father (Katejun Coonishish) and grandfather (Sydney Coonishish), he fired his first gunshot (with a 22 cal.) and claimed the fresh goose laying near the tree and began to haul it back to the entrance of the tepee.
Maverick walked inside for the first time and delivered his game to his mother (Adrienne Shecapio), grandmothers (Kathy Shecapio and Sarah Mianscum) and great-grandmother (Winnie Mianscum), who were waiting for the young hunter to return into the tepee. Once inside, he gave his goose to his mother and everyone else followed inside the tepee and they all enjoyed a welcoming meal.
WHAT A GREAT DAY IT WAS FOR MAVERICK, FAMILY AND FRIENDS!
In Remembrance of the late Winnie Neeposh Mianscum. October 15, 1930 – February 14, 2011.
