Tabatha June Kataquapit recently started her journey in Attawapiskat. Tabatha is the newest addition to the Kataquapit family and the daughter of my brother Mario and his wife Margaret. The news about the arrival of this baby girl got me to thinking about how important children are in our culture.
I come from a large family of nine children and I have been surrounded by babies since I was a kid. These days, people in Attawapiskat are not having big families any more. Most families have three or four children. I’m not sure why the change but I suspect it has something to do with a more modern lifestyle.
Babies are always welcome into Aboriginal families, no matter what their circumstance of arrival. There is always a place for one more child and so many grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and extended family members to care for them.
In the old days babies were born in the community with the family and the women helped each other to deliver the newborn. These days, mothers have to fly out of the community to have their babies in hospitals. Much of the time, this is a real inconvenience to the entire family, who have to stay behind.
My sister-in-law Christine, who is a midwife and nurse, has been trying to establish a midwife program in Attawapiskat for some time. Hopefully, the community will support the idea and make it a reality. It would be so great to see the development of midwife programs in communities along the James Bay coast.
Babies have a special place in the Cree community. We don’t know the meaning of the nuclear family. Our families are huge and in one way or another span entire communities. Considering we are located in
remote communities, we tend to stick together.
We also have some creative ways to care for babies. Take, for instance, the Tekanagan, which is used to move the baby from place to place. This is a wooden frame structure that can be worn like a pack sack by the mother. It is a safe and efficient way of transporting the baby even for long distances and is still used in Attawapiskat today.
There is also the Wasposian, which is something like a mini-sleeping bag or cocoon and is used to wrap the baby for warmth and comfort. The Wasposian fits easily into the Tekanagan to produce the perfect baby support vehicle. Many times I have seen my mother take a crying baby, place it in a Wasposian and like magic the baby stopped its fussing and drifted off to sleep.
To further comfort the baby we have basic, miniature hammocks that support the little one for sleeping and easy rocking. The average, non-Native mother might be shocked at the simplicity of this hammock or rocker and she might wonder at its safety. The fact is it simply works. This hammock consists of two separate strings running in parallel to each other and fastened in a comer on walls. A blanket is wrapped in a certain way around the two strings, then a pillow is added and the baby placed on top.The weight of the baby nestled it safely into a comfortable, safe, all natural rocker/hammock.
My mother tells me that in days gone by Cree mothers used dry moss from the muskeg forests to serve as diapers for their babies. Imagine, hundreds of years ago, Cree mother invented disposable diapers made from an all-natural product. Mom also explained that the powder from dry rotted wood served as baby powder.
A lot has changed since my mom’s days as a child growing up in her family’s traditionalhunting and trapping grounds, in Lawashi River about five hours by power boat north ofAttawapiskat. Tabathajune’s journey will be very different from those of babies born beforethe coming of this modern age. One thing for sure she will always be surrounded by a largeand loving family.
