Going on a Bear Hunt

We went on a bear hunt today, right after Bud shot a turkey, Sis netted fish, and I gathered green beans, berries, and squash (real decorative gourds from our farm!). Sis also made a salad. Yep, we were preparing for our big annual harvest feast.

They wore deer skins (brown flannel with ragged edges a la a real skin) and carried spears and bows (I wasn't appropriately dressed in my fleece). We had a wigwam, albeit two-storied (but at least not a Plains Indian tipi, which they made in art class in school this week as part of their holiday observances!), complete with a cooking fire, which tinder we gathered around the yard. "Everything we have comes from Mother Nature," except the things we traded with the settlers. Like our iron cooking pots.

It's the historically-accurate way to play Indians! Without pilgrims. Or cowboys. And we were specifically the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, remembering our visits to that fabulous museum (and the Museum of the American Indian in DC). Our neighbor, Miss J, who came out to say hi and request some of the bear meat (which was, hilariously, the big blue recycling tub) was of the same tribe but lived in a different village.

At our feast of thanks, Sis and Bud devised a ritual: "smooshing peace rocks." Inspired by our tattered Tibetan prayer flags, which blow prayers to the wind as the fabric unravels, they decided we would crush mud clots with our feet, while standing atop our turtle sandbox, and spread the dirt around "to spread peace and thanks."

Not a bad way to celebrate.

(Which we then did by going inside for hot chocolate and marshmallows. Now, they're inside playing in their igloos. Welcome back, Brother Bear!)

Brother Bear Rewrite

Brother Bear, the movie, is back on the scene here. But with a twist. Sis has given it some rewrites. In her new version, Sitka doesn't die, Kenai doesn't kill Koda's mom, and Kenai doesn't turn into a bear. Instead, the three brothers and the bear cub hang out together. It's a lighter, happier version.

Maybe she should be in movies!

Hunting Vegetarians

Is it hypocritical of me, as a vegetarian, to pretend to eat meat when my kids play "feast"?

How about playing "buffalo hunt" and helping them pretend to kill imaginary animals to make bison burgers like the Native Americans might have done?

See, we have their cool igloos (hee hee hee) set up in the living room, one for each at opposite ends, so that they can play Brother Bear without actually recreating the narrative of the movie. So, they ask me over and over again what it was like when the movie would have taken place (because I've gone to great lengths to explain that there are still Native Americans today and they don't live in wigwams and hunt bison any more than we drive covered wagons like our ancestors!) . They've drummed and danced to our collection of Native American songs; they've played "trade." But the thing that most fascinated them was that there weren't grocery stores hundreds of years ago, that people got food from gardens and from hunting, just like we saw at the Pequot Museum. So now we have to hunt bison. Bud uses a box for a trap and his pointy space rocket "spear" to kill the bison; Sis uses her "Handy Manny" tools to prepare the carcass like she saw in the diorama at the museum. They set up a fire, complete with pans and bowls for cooking--it's a community fire between the two igloos (let's not get into the historical confusion of igloos and wigwams and Pequots and Inuits; they are only 4). Sometimes, they even make clothes from the animal! We've talked about only killing one bison at a time, which is all we need, even for just pretend. They're fascinated and obsessed, so we play over and over again.

But, some days, as cute as it can be, it's just a bit much for me, and I long for a pretend veggie burger.

Call Me Koda

I have a new name. I've switched from "Mommy" and then from "Scott" (my "Imagination Mover" name), and am now, usually "Koda," the little bear in the movie Brother Bear. We've been playing out the story for the last few days, near a huge 2-couch and 1 table tent in the living room and with the soundtrack as background--particularly the "Great Spirits" song, the "woolly mammoth" song ("On My Way"), and the "salmon run" song ("Welcome"). Sis (formerly "Dave" and now "Kenai") likes to do the part where Kenai, then a bear, becomes a man again and then changes back into a bear to be with Koda. Bud (formerly "Smitty" and now "Denahi") then drums while Sis participates in the "paw print ceremony," slamming her little handprint onto the living room window, and we all hug. And start all over. Changing the music as we go.

Mom, is this how I was about Star Wars so many years ago? I was 6 then, so a little older than the kiddos, but I sense the same all-encompassing obsession. Too bad the movie is something like 6 years old, and was never immensely popular to boot. Or maybe it's good not to have to compete with all the tie-in merchandise and mania. I have found the read-along book on Amazon and I think that's about all we need.

Mainly because it's infiltrating our lives despite the lack of stuff. Bud wants to wear blue, like Denahi. Today at the zoo, the Andean bear was just like Kenai. And Mama and I are considering a trip to the Mashantucket-Pequot museum this weekend to see the exhibits on the Native Americans of our state, complete with huge, life-sized, walk-through diorama of a village. Sure, Kenai and co. are probably from an Inuit tale and the movie is set when woolly mammoths roamed, but it's a teachable moment about first peoples. And about love and life . . .

"Great Spirits"

When the earth was young
and the air was sweet
And the mountains kissed the sky
In the great beyond, with its many paths
Man and nature lived side by side

In this wilderness of danger and beauty
Lived three brothers, bonded by love
Their hearts full of joy
they ask now for guidance
Reaching out to the skies up above

Great Spirits of all who lived before
Take our hands and lead us
Fill our hearts and souls
with all you know
Show us that in your eyes
we are all the same
Brothers to each other
In this world we remain truly
brothers all the same

Give us wisdom to pass to each other
Give us strength so we understand
That the things we do
the choices we make
Give direction to all life's plans

To look in wonder
at all we've been given
In a world that's not always as it seems
Every corner we turn
only leads to another
A journey ends, but another begins

Great Spirits of all who lived before
Take our hands and lead us
Fill our hearts and souls
with all you know
Show us that in your eyes
we are all the same
Brothers to each other
In this world we remain truly
brothers all the same

Brothers all the same