Audio Excerpt

One of only two Provincial Forests south of the Qu’Appelle River, Moose Mountain was designated as a forest reserve under the Forest Reserves Act of 1906.  As a wooded oasis in a prairie desert, Moose Mountain is home to many animal, bird, fish and plant species that are more commonly found in the forests to the North and East.  Fish species include walleye, yellow perch, northern pike, burbot and white sucker, while animals such as moose and elk inhabit this pristine land.  

 

Animals were not the only species to reap the rewards of the forested haven as the First Nations people hunted in the area and even built a medicine wheel on the plateau.  A medicine wheel eh, so what do you think that means? Is it, 

 

1. Laying stones on the ground to create a wheel of spiritual health and healing

2. A wheel of pills so the elderly know which pills to take and when or,

3. A giant wooden wheel that, when spun by the wind, would produce an eerie sound indigenous people would use in their healing dance 

 

To repeat, a medicine wheel is a) stone wheel, b) wheel of pills or c) wind wheel for healing dance?

 

The answer is A! The Medicine Wheel, sometimes known as the Sacred Hoop, involves laying stones on the ground in the shape of a wheel and has been used by generations of various Native American tribes for health and healing. It embodies the four cardinal directions, as well as Father Sky, Mother Earth, and Spirit Tree—all of which symbolize dimensions of health and the cycles of life.