Large Fierce Mammal

If you want to learn about Mi'kmaq medicines, we know a guy. (Mrs. LFM photo. Click the picture to enlarge.)

This past Saturday, Mrs. LFM and I attended and participated in the Kejimkujik Story Telling Festival at Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site. The event was also the venue for launch of the revised second edition of  Mi’kmaq Medicines – Remedies and Recollections written by our esteemed Friend, and bottomlessly effervescent fount of ethnobotanical Wisdom, Laurie Lacey. I’ve written of Laurie before in my article Medicine Man and he was the inspiration for my poem, Trails – With Dedication to Laurie Lacey.

This is what the Parks Canada website had to say about the festival:

Participate in numerous workshops and demonstrations by local artisans and partake in traditional storytelling, musical performances, food sampling, children’s activities, a free BBQ lunch, and many other activities which celebrate the art of storytelling. Return in the evening from 8pm until 10:30pm for an open mic event and a campfire drum circle. Regular admission fees apply.

The Park, locally referred to simply as “Keji”, encompasses a vast area that has been inhabited by the Mi’kmaq People for thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived, and some areas within its boundaries are clearly marked as subject to restricted access due to their significance as sacred sites. The location of the Story Telling Festival was adjacent to one of them.

The revised second edition! Buy it and schedule a talk with Laurie Lacey. (Mrs. LFM photo. Click the picture to enlarge.)

On arrival, we dismounted our vehicle to the sound of Mi’kmaq drumming and singing, and the stage was set for Laurie, who we met as he came striding up the trail mere seconds later. Everything about the event was flavoured with an air of celebration of Mi’kmaq heritage and culture, including Laurie who is of mixed Irish and Mi’kmaq ancestry and enjoys the well earned respect of Mi’kmaq elders, many of whom have assisting him in his quest for knowledge in the field of traditional Natural medicines.

It’s my understanding that this was the first Story Telling Festival ever held at the site, and we sincerely hope it becomes an annual fixture in the Park’s schedule. None other than Laurie Lacey himself led this year’s traditional story telling circle, and participants ranged in antiquity from children of elementary school age, all the way up to those of us old enough to fart dust.  Let it be said that if you get a chance to participate in a traditional story telling circle, even if only as a listener, don’t miss it. I’ll elaborate on why I feel that way in a future article.

We first learned of the event because of Laurie’s book launch, so we came to support him in that, and to participate in the story telling circle. What we found was that and much more; but then, Kejimkujik’s like that.

The drumming. The singing. The palpable and pervasive cultural power. The people. The pride. The Place. I sat down the day after we attended the event to write a detailed report, but quickly realized this thing simply needs to happen again, it needs to build on this year’s foundation, and if the aromas I’ve fanned here today speak to your appetites, you need to be there. In the mean time, I need some time to put my rampaging thoughts together so they can appear coherently in related future articles, you need to buy a copy of Mi’kmaq Medicines – Remedies and Recollections, and read my review in tomorrow’s Worldly Wisdom Wednesday.