Today was a busy, fun-packed day! One of the great activities we did today was to create a talking stick for our class with the Aboriginal Education teacher at our school.
We learned that the talking stick is used in many North American First Nations cultures to begin discussions and show whose turn it is to speak. We had a choice of three different types of sticks. Our class chose to use a Diamond Willow stick.
Next, students got to take turns and come up to choose something to put on our talking stick.
What did you learn about talking sticks?
What do the symbols we put on the talking stick mean?
Dear Mrs. Kostiuk,
My favourite part is the beads. I learned that the beads stand for things like this let me tell you about these things here we go: the black bead stands for the south, Earth. The white bead stands for north, snow. The yellow bead stands for east, sunrise. The red bead stands for west, sunset.
From
Taylor
That is really interesting Taylor, I am really glad you posted this comment so I could read about the beads and their meaning!
Dear Mrs. Kostiuk,
I learned person holding talking stick gets to speak. It is really cool that we get to hold it. I can’t wait until we get to hold it.
From
Luke
Dear Mrs. Kostiuk,
I learned that the eagle feather brings wisdom and courage. The people speaking give wisdom to the others.
From
Nigel
Dear Mrs. Kostiuk,
I learned that black is south white is north yellow is east red is west. I made a bead pattern.
From
Makayla
Dear Mrs. Kostiuk,
I learned the eagle feather for wisdom and courage. Buffalo hair brings power.
From
Leif
Dear Mrs. Kostiuk,
My favourite part of the talking stick is the crystal that is on the end of the stick, because it is pretty.
From
Nikica
Dear Mrs. Kostiuk,
I learned that buffalo brings power. And that some First Nations used sinew from buffalo. They used the fur to make coats. They use other fur too.
From
London
Dear Mrs. Kostiuk,
I learned that they put a blue stone at the top. We used a crystal.
From
Sawyer
I learned that sinew is from Buffalo. What did it mean when we put otter fur on the stick? A blue stone was put on the top of the stick, but we used a crystal. My mom says maybe the crystal helps focus our thoughts so that we can communicate better when we hold the talking stick. Is she right?
I did a little more reading on the talking stick and each tribe made their own beliefs, so really the crystal can have any meaning, but I really like your moms idea and I think it would be great for the class too. The otter fur was used to replace the buffalo hair that I didn’t have, which represents great warriors. The otter is referred to as a quick and sleek animal who loves to play.
Dear Mrs. Kostiuk’s Class,
Thank you for sharing all of your knowledge about the talking stick on your class blog. I also have a talking stick in my class but had forgotten many of the symbols’ meanings so you helped me remember!
Keep on blogging 🙂