Aboriginal Day – June 21, 2015

What an amazing day.

So how’s this for a day at the office:

A fellow librarian and I were honoured to be invited to participate in an Aboriginal Heritage Day celebration at a local park and community center.

We were invited to set up shop in an authentic First Nations teepee.

It was an incredible experience – it was a hot, hot, hot day outside, but inside the teepee we were cool and shaded, with a beautiful breeze that blew in from the base of the tent. It was without a doubt the most comfortable place to be in the entire festival!

We were initially invited to set up a storytelling tent, with librarians providing story times in a nontraditional setting. However neither of us have Aboriginal heritage, and we felt uncomfortable with the idea of telling traditional stories that could have deep significance for many people. Even with the purest of intentions we would not be able to do these stories justice.

In recognition of this, we turned our “story telling tent” into a “story tent”. Instead of leading conventional story times, we instead created a story space in which families could share stories together. We collected Aboriginal picture books from Canada and the United States, picture books featuring local animals, and little stuffed versions of local animals. We scattered the books and toys around the teepee, and invited families to come in and read and play together.

We took turns reading with small groups of children, or with individual children, which allowed us to model and share literacy tips with families. It was beautiful to see families interacting and exploring together.

I also had a bit of a rock star moment when I heard an excited chorus of “Miss Jane!” coming from across the field. Several of my story time regulars had come to the festival as a group! We’re currently on a story time break, so it was lovely to see some of my little munchkins again, and they were delighted to not have to share me with 50 other children!

It was an amazing experience to be a part of this celebration, and to be able to connect with families in such a unique and meaningful way. And really, how many librarians get to share stories in such a beautiful setting?