“The drum teaches you to take care of yourself. Medicine, eyes, heart, blood. That’s part of its teachings.”
Barry Sarazin, from white wolf clan, goes by the spiritual name Abitung – the one who analyzes – and has been a traditional drummer, singer and dancer since 1982. He carries a thunderbird grandfather and a thunderbird grandmother drum . He has learned a great deal from the elders, including in 1998 when he visited the Long Point First Nation community. “It’s part of the job of the drums : revitalize the language, the culture. The drums are about ceremony, about honour our people, the spirits of the grounds, that lived there.”
Barry is also a guardian of ancestral knowledge and leads the Kitchi-sippi-rinni drum group, which has taken him all over Canada and the United States. He currently resides in Pikwakanagan, where he is involved in initiatives to revitalize the Anicinabe language and culture.
In the 90s, he travelled throughout the Anicinabek communities to collect sacred songs from the Elders. His apprenticeship with mentor Jim Wendigo deepened his knowledge of Thunderbird traditions.
Barry is also an artist. He makes handicrafts and paints. His inspiration comes from the transmission of Anicinabe culture and spirituality. He learned a great deal from his parents (who called him Little Beaver when he was young): his father was a canoe builder and his mother gave him a taste for dance. He built canoes with his children and his father.
As a knowledge keeper and artist, Abitung embodies the harmony between life on the land and the spirit world. He shares his knowledge through nature, hunting, trapping and gathering, passing on the art of living anicinabe – mino pimatiziwin. For him, the spiritual dimension of his actions is essential, for it is here that the true meaning of life lies. He refers in particular to the importance of drum ceremonies: “You have to hold at least four drum ceremonies a year. Spring is breakfast, summer lunch, autumn dinner and winter New Year’s Eve. This is also the time when cubs are born. But today, these traditions are being lost, and all we have left are pow-wow sites.”
Find out more about Barry in a podcast produced by The Legacy of Hope Foundation: https://legacyofhope.podbean.com/e/episode-41-roots-and-hoots-interview-with-barry-sarazin/
