Spring Goose Break
by Stephanie Gilpin
In the month of April 1992 there was a walking out ceremony. There were three children walking out. They were Christina, Noah and Mason. There were people who came to our camp who took pictures of the ceremony. We ate goose, potatoes, rabbit with dumplings, cake, bannock, salad, beaver, moose meat and boudin with custard.
Some people took pictures of Noah, Mason and Christina. After the feast we cleaned up the tee-pee, and we decided to give the family the food that was left over to eat for supper or to have as a snack for those who missed dinner while they were out hunting. I got to clean up the tee-pee while my cousins fixed the food and the drinks.
After I finished cleaning the tee-pee I went to help my cousins fix up the food. Then I brought the food for those who didn’t eat dinner while they were out hunting. After that we went to the dock to watch the men go out hunting again. We watched the geese fly in the evening.
Our goose camp is just across where the men go out hunting. Sometimes the men walk across when they go out hunting. It takes 15 minutes to walk across the hunting ground. It’s nice to see geese fly up in the sky while the moon is out. Sometimes we get up early and watch the men go out hunting and after hunting they bring their geese and we pluck them.
It’s best for people to do things the Cree way.
Spring Goose Break
by Sophia Cheezo, Grade 6
During our last goose break I went with my grandparents, plus my family of course.
When my father leaves in the mornings I say, “Be good at your shooting.”Then one afternoon he came home to the camp. He let me open his pack sack. I knew he had killed something. How I knew was that the pack sack was very heavy. I almost fell. So I opened the bag.
He had killed five geese and three ducks. I plucked the ducks. I cooked one of the ducks in the tee-pee. I cooked it on an open fire like my grandmother used to. I would like to eat one right now, but ducks aren’t in Eastmain yet. I like to eat geese too! A big fat juicy goose. Maybe roasted, or cooked on an open fire.
So, on to my story. When the duck was cooked I boiled some potatoes. My mother helped me put some plates, cups and the forks, knives, etc… To set up the table, my father was the first one to sit at the table. My grandparents sat at their own table but we still live together in the shack. After we had our supper we rested. One hour later we slept.
Goose Break
by Sheldon Tomatuk, Grade 6
Three years ago at our camp…
My grandmother loved to pick berries alone. One day she went with my sisters. The snow was so soft. She saw a fallen tree and she tried to walk along it but she fell down. She was stuck in the snow. My sisters didn’t know what to do. Then they ran home. They told my mother that our grandmother was stuck in the soft snow. So my mother and father went and helped my grandmother. My grandmother was laughing. She couldn’t stop laughing.
The next day she went to pick berries but she would have to go with my mother. She will always remember when she fell down from a low tree and got stuck in the soft snow.
