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Mamawe Ota Askihk – Sharing Life Together Here on Earth
October 16, 2017 - October 21, 2017
Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, Ploughshares Community Farm, Canadian Mennonite University, Student Christian Movement & the Feast for Friends partners present :
a festival & a feast for friends
Gather with Indigenous community leaders and settler allies to reclaim the homebred, the homespoken, the homegrown, and the homemade.
Come root yourself in an understanding of the land as our health. Share in the spiritual teaching, laughter, and new learning. And most importantly, taste the beauty of friendships formed through nurturing one another as the earth nurtures us.
October 16 – 20: A week-long festival where we’ll winnow wild rice, tan an animal hide, smoke fish, can berry preserves, share skills and tell stories.
October 21: The “Feast for Friends” will wrap up our week with a day of games, ceremony, show & tell, and of course, sharing good food together.
This event is made possible with the support of The James Robertson Trust Fund at the United Church of Canada Foundation and The Jubilee Fund, a project of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Central Committee Canada.
REGISTRATION
COST
TRANSPORTATION & ACCOMMODATION
CONTACT
Program
We will gather every morning for worship and reflection on Biblical stories of food and land. Participants will be able to move between hands-on activity stations throughout the day as they wish. We expect to offer sprouting, hide-tanning, fish smoking, berry preserving, seed-saving, soil-building, sausage-making, wild rice processing and a few tours of small farms in the area. Children are welcome in all of aspects of the festival.
We will share meals together three times a day. An evening fire and story-telling time will follow the dinner-hour, with a special guest each night with a story of food and land from a different culture.
Participants will be invited to contribute to the week by helping in the kitchen, leading music in worship, sharing their experience at the different activity stations, teaching a game or physical exercise and/or telling a story around the fire.
See our (draft) schedule here.
Our small group of 20-30 participants will swell to 100 on the Saturday as we host the “Feast for Friends”. We’ll have a chance to demonstrate the skills we’ve been practicing all week to the guests at the Feast and take part in games, sharing circles, traditional teachings and feasting to build friendships between Settler and Indigenous People as we spend the day together on the land.
Registration
Adults and children of all ages are welcome. Please fill out a registration form for each individual. Participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent, guardian or caregiver.
Space at both the festival and the feast are limited and we are committed to having a balance of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people participate.
Fill out a Festival registration form.
To register for the Feast for Friends ONLY, held on the Saturday of the Festival, click here.
Cost
Children 12 and under are free and youth prices apply to participants ages 13-18.
We hope you will bring friends and family. If you register with a group or family of 4 or more people, you will each get $10 off a Day Pass or $50 off a Festival Pass.
Adult Festival Pass: $300 ($350 after Sept. 15)
Youth Festival Pass: $150 ($175 after Sept. 15)
A Festival Pass includes all meals and snacks, Monday-Saturday.
Adult Day Pass: $80 ($90 after Sept. 15)
Youth Day Pass: $40 ($45 after Sept. 15)
A Day Pass includes meals and snacks.
Receive a SSSC Learning Circle credit for your participation: $100
This option is available for SSSC students who attend the full festival. Contact the Keeper of the Learning Circle at deanna@sandysaulteaux.ca if you have questions.
Adult accommodations: $200
Youth accommodations: $100
You will stay in a guest lodge on site, or be billeted with a friend of SSSC close by.
Feast for Friends: free
Donations are welcome. If you would like to ONLY attend the Feast for Friends, click here for details and to register.
Payment can be made by cash, cheque or credit card. We ask for a 15% deposit once your registration is confirmed, with the remainder of the fees due when you arrive at the festival.
These fees help us prepare for an incredible week of hands-on learning, acquire the supplies and good food for enjoying together, cover travel for elders and teachers and recognize the time and contributions of the festival organizers. If these fees would prevent you from coming though – talk to us! We don’t want money to be a barrier to your participation.
Transportation & Accommodations
Participants are responsible for their own transportation to the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre. We have some funding available to assist with the transportation costs of Indigenous participants. Contact us for details.
The registration form invites you to share your travel plans with us and to indicate whether you are interested in carpooling so that we can connect you with other participants traveling from the same place.
Accommodations will be provided in the guest lodges at the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, or, if additional lodging is required, with a friend of the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre who lives close by.
Contact
For more information, contact the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre at 204-268-3913 or sansau@mymts.net.