We performed the walking out ceremonies for our children. Today, it seems that people do this ceremony during mid-summer.
That wasn’t the way it was done. It was done during spring. That was when the children were always taken out. That was what I saw. A child was not taken out during mid-summer. During the time of the expectation of geese, the child was taken out. Occasionally, when geese were not killed very much, geese were saved. The child was then taken out. Sometimes, the child would really release the geese when that was done. That was done to Isabel. We soon ate goose immediately after she was taken out. That was when geese were really killed. It was like she was bringing them in.
As I see it today, the walking out ceremony is done during midsummer. That is not the way it is done. In the spring, that was when a child was taken out. In the group I banded with, that was what we used to do with our children. It is said that the child released the geese by walking. I truly knew what was done. Once a child had been taken out, many geese were killed. As soon as there were enough geese for everyone, we did the ceremony. When it came time for us to eat one each, it was distributed. We didn’t just eat one each. Sometimes, we had three geese to eat for each person when a child was walking out.
Today, people perform the walking out during mid-summer. The walking ceremony is done during the mid-winter also. The walking ceremony used to be during the fall. Once the teepees were made, the child walked – approaching the teepee. That was what I saw done. It wasn’t done during mid-winter.
As for me, John couldn’t walk. It was during when I wasn’t doing very well. He was the only one who didn’t do the walking ceremony. Daisy and Anne did the walking ceremony. Even when we were two families, we still did the walking ceremony for our children.
