Little Women’s Lodge Stories
The Little Women’s Lodge Stories are included in a multimedia kit,
a Woodland Cree Cultural Resource to help children to learn about traditional parenting roles
and responsibilities from a young age, while also teaching them Cree language reading, writing and singing.
The four Cree storybooks are the core of this resource, bringing ancient Indigenous teachings to a new generation:
Mîkiwâhp:
The Traditional Tipi
The Tipi is connected to the creation of life and the mother and child. When babies are born, they are slowly let down with a rope into the Tipi. The rope is the Spirit Mother’s umbilical cord and the cord ties the tipi poles together, creating a nest at the top for the baby. When the baby is born, the cord makes its journey inside the tipi, and the cord is used to make the baby swing.
Wîpison:
The Baby Swing
The story of origin of the baby swing in the Cree tradition. Morning Star’s mother is bringing home a new baby. Her Nôkhom (grandmother) and her father are making a swing for the baby. Grandmother tells Morning Star the legend of how Grandmother Earth brought materials for the swing to a young woman named White Flower who had been left to care for many babies while the parents were off hunting.
Wâspison:
The Moss Bag
When a baby is born, she is wrapped in a moss bag to keep her warm, secure and protected until she can move about on her own. This story tells of Fawn, whose mother brings home a new baby sister. Her mother teaches Fawn all about the moss bag (wâspison). It is made from soft hide and decorated with beautiful beadwork.
Nitisîh:
My Belly Button
This is the story of the birth of Kîstin, or “Little Tornado,” and how the baby is brought from Spirit World after choosing its Earth Mother and Father. It tells of connection of the baby’s belly button to Spirit World and to the ancestors, who speak to us through our land, our language, our songs, our ceremonies and our dreams and visions.