"Grand River Days Celebrates Culture of First Nations"

OHSWEKEN - Grand River Days was a chance to emphasize that natives don't live in teepees and walk around in buckskins.

Jan Porters, director of Six Nations Tourism, said natives lived like that at one time. But the third annual Grand River Days on the weekend highlighted native accomplishments as well as traditional and contemporary ways of life.

"It's two days of fun and entertainment for everyone to come out and learn more about us so there's a better understanding all the way around," said Ms. Porters.

She said the event also promotes the beauty of the Grand River, so that when people see it in its natural state, they will think twice about polluting.

More than 3,000 people from across Ontario visited the Chiefswood Tent and Trailer Park to experience native arts, crafts, food, music and dance at 25 booths.

There was a "mini-Olympics" for the children.

"This is the best year yet," said Ms. Porters.

Visitors on international tours from as far away as Holland, Germany and the Philippines stopped by for a few hours.

Audiences enjoyed the Jim Sky Iroquois Dancers and the eagle and buffalo dances performed by the San Juan Pueblo Youth Dancers from New Mexico. The buffalo dance honors the animal that was a means of survival for many Indians. The eagle dance honors the bird "that flies closest to the rain clouds."

"It was excellent," said Graham Wignall of Toronto. "It's great to see the children following tradition."

His mother-in-law, Mair Edwards, was visiting from wales and couldn't stop taking pictures.

"It was really good for her to see how the Indians pass down to the younger generation, because things like that should never end," said Alison Wignall. "Just like she passes down to me her favorite recipes."

Don and Shirley Thomas of Burlington have visited the event every year.

Both are hooked on the fried bread. This year Mrs. Thomas enjoyed Sheila Ferguson's Buckskin to Broadcloth tribute to poet E. Pauline Johnson.

Ms. Ferguson took the audience through the poet's years at Chiefswood, Brantford, Winnipeg and final resting place in Stanley Park, Vancouver.

Ms. Porters said the tribute is part of the 1991 Ontario Heritage Years, but organizers hope each year to have a tribute honoring a person or event.

They hope, eventually, to attract First Nations performers from across Canada and the United States.

"We want them to come to us. But we have to build slowly," Ms. Porters said.