Katie Carter:
It's time for Area Voices. Area Voices tells the arts, culture, and history stories of Northern Minnesota, and I love that Kari played that song because i feel like I keep coming back to Bob Shimek for <laugh> lots of education about things! I mean, I'll just say it here on the radio, is one of my favorite people. I'm really happy he's with us this morning. We've got snow snakes on the brain around here, and snow snakes is an Indigenous winter game that I've really only recently learned more about. I'm still learning more about it. First of all, they're not made of snow, but rather they're made of wood and they're actually raced through the snow.
I bumped into Bob Shimek at the Watermark Art Center in Bemidji recently. We were looking at the snow snakes in the exhibit called "What We Were Given." I want to recommend that you go to that exhibit because it's super powerful. But as Bob and I were talking about the snow snakes and looking at them... Like I said, they're not just a game. They are gorgeous art. And they're made of wood. And Bob is here to tell us more about it. Bob, how are you doing this morning? (He is meeting us from the powwow grounds at the White Earth Reservation. I always love that that's where you get the greatest reception on your phone.) So, welcome Bob!
Bob Shimek:
Good morning, Katie. And yes, it is a beautiful crisp, clear Groundhogs Day morning here on the White Earth Indian Reservation. And I first want to say a happy Groundhogs Day to all, and please do celebrate safely. This is an important holiday. <laugh>
Katie Carter:
Say, Bob, that just reminded me. (Like normal conversations, we're going to get a little bit off track right now.) You were out looking for the comet last night, or was that two nights ago?
Bob Shimek:
It was a couple of nights ago. And well, I wasn't looking for it. It is just one of those things when you walk out your house, especially at night, you sort of get familiar with how the night sky looks as you come out. And there was this thing: I said, "Now wait a minute, this is different." And I'd spotted one or two nights before, but it was sort of cloudy. For just a little bit, I could see this green spot in the sky. So anyway, long story short, yeah, first I put on my glasses and I said, "Yeah, that's different." <laugh> Then I went and got my binoculars, and sure enough, there was this comet. I guess it's not named, it's numbered or something. But yeah, it's just one of 'em that we'll never see again, the opportunity to see them probably isn't going to come past Earth for another 50,000 years.
Katie Carter:
Right. So, it's a good reminder to get outside and look up and consider.
Bob Shimek:
Absolutely. I do all the time. I mean it's the first thing I do when I get out there, is just look up at the sky, see what's going on.
Katie Carter:
Well, let's bring it down to Earth for a minute. Let's talk about snow snakes. How about that?
Bob Shimek:
Do it.
Katie Carter:
Alright. So, I was blown away by these things when we were standing at the snow snakes part of the exhibit at the Watermark Art Center. I just didn't realize how beautiful they are, these creations. There's a couple different styles: some are more square and really artistic-looking, individual, painted... I don't know the word. I don't know, 'Totem' is not the right word, but they were just... I don't know how to describe them. They're just so beautiful. And then the other ones were also beautiful, but very aerodynamic, almost like a smaller javelin: Not pointy at the end, but metal tipped. Could you talk about the different kinds of snow snakes and the legend, lore, and story behind them?
Bob Shimek:
Okay. First, I mean to say, how many hours you got?
Katie Carter:
Well, we got a while. <laugh>
Bob Shimek:
Now, I'm going to try and condense this all down. First of all, there is a legend. There is a story that goes with all this in Ojibwe communities. And I guess I just need to say I've been doing this for about 30 years. If I'm going to take on something like this, I always ask the question, "Okay, how did we get these games, why did we get these games, and why is it important that we still play them?" It was a 19-year journey to find that story, to find that legend making inquiry along the way as I went about my business.
And so, the legend first and foremost is about: How do we take care of our families, how do we take care of our communities, and how do we take care of the land? That's all in that story. And of course, you know, it's the Anishinaabe Way, the Ojibwe Way, the Ojibwe worldview on this whole thing. And one of our cultural heroes, Weynaboozhoo, we call him around here, he sent his half-sister (whose name was Awanikwe or Fog Woman) with some gifts for the Anishinaabeg. And there's this whole story that unrolls around the occurrence of events that took place that led up to her actually gifting these to the Ojibwe, as well as how she did it. And it's a pretty detailed and involved story, which we don't have time to tell here.
But I mean, there were a number of different things. One, she brought ginebig which is our word for snake. Two, she brought ogaa, which is our word for walleye. Three, she brought chi-ginebig, or the giant snake. And she brought fingernails, and she brought snow snakes. And, that's where I want to kind of focus, because all this stuff is related. As you go through this story, it's all intertwined. It all dovetails. But, at the end, she explained to the Anishinaabe that you take your Anishinaabe asemaa, your Indian tobacco, and you go out to the woods and the Memegwesiwag, the ones we call the Little People, will guide you to the stick or the cane that will become your snow snake. And you take it in and you peel it and shine it, and you polish it and you decorate it.
And then, at that time of the year when the snow is on the ground, you make a hoop and you roll that hoop, which represents your circle of life, and you slide that ginebig through the snow and you try and slide it through that hoop. When we play this game, it makes all these different ones that are previously mentioned in the story, all these different cultural and spiritual beings, it makes them all happy, makes them all feel good, so that the Anishinaabe will have lots of Indian food and medicine in that upcoming time of the year when the water is open. And when I say that, I mean when it's not frozen. Okay, so that's just a little bit of a synthesis about the story, about the legend.
And I want to spend a couple minutes just talking about the different styles of snow snakes. So, there is what I call the traditional style where you go out to the woods, you find this cane, or you find this stick, you find this small sapling and you bring it in and you transform it into this snake-like object. So, it's been a really interesting path as I've gone down this for the last bit of my life- seasonally, of course. It's one of those things you get out of it what you put into it. Okay. I mean, like so much else in life, you get out of it what you put into it. And I have seen some of the most beautiful and creative artwork come out of this project, especially in the schools working with students. And there are those that just work to make these really vivid, clear, spectacular artistic expressions with their snow snakes. [There are] also some (and this isn't just students, this kind of happens across all age groups) that make a ‘story stick’: they're telling a story. Sometimes, it's about a dream that they've had that maybe they can't quite articulate, or they don't want to talk about it. But yet, they'll tell the story of that dream as they create their gooniginebig, their snow snake.
I think the other piece is (and we all have these things happen in our community,) but we've had some who make their gooniginebig, their snow snake, as a memorial to a recently deceased loved one in their family or their community. So, all kinds of this incredible expression comes out as people work on these projects during the winter months. The other type that you're referred to, that look more like javelins or a big dart or something, those are more of something that we kind of borrowed from our eastern relatives. And when I say that, I talk about the Mohawks, the Seneca, the Iroquois, the Cayugas, the Oneidas: all those ones out east of Bemidji. Let's just say those tribes out East of Bemidji a ways there.
They originally used those as messenger sticks between villages during the wintertime. They would fashion… They're almost like a mini luge, except they're not on a hill, of course. But they would fashion a shallow trough or channel through the snow between villages and they would fasten messages to the snow snake and then they would shoot the snow snake over to the next village. That’s how I understand that [snow snake type] came about.
Katie Carter:
I just want to remind the listeners when we're talking about the snow snakes. I really didn't realize what they were until you and I were standing at the Watermark that day. I'd never seen one in real life. And they're like three feet long: they're long pieces of wood that have been created in these incredible fashions. I’m just trying to give a visual for the listeners, if you didn't mind me interrupting there for a second. They're quite stunning.
Bob Shimek:
Oh yes, and there are some that are longer.
Katie Carter:
Oh my gosh. Okay.
Bob Shimek:
I have some in the car with me right now that are closer to six feet than they are anything else. I have another one that I think is probably only maybe two feet. So, there's really no limit on size other than what you can comfortably handle, carry, and of course slide when it comes time. A student over at Fond du Lac reservation did make one time that was a small birch tree. And it was beautiful, but it was huge! And I just kind of in a joking way, told 'em, “You need to make a launcher for that thing!” Like, get inner tubes from some truck tires or something big, <laugh> like a giant slingshot for that thing because it was huge and it was heavy. But it was spectacular. But anyway, back to these more streamlined and aerodynamic ones. So, I don't know if anybody out east of Bemidji or east of White Earth uses these as messenger sticks anymore in this day of cellular technology and digital communication and all this stuff. But, they've converted that kind of into the sport where they'll take those real smooth, streamlined aerodynamic ginebig and they build a track that's similar to what was formerly done, when these were communication devices. And we see how far we can throw them. It's purely a contest of how far long can you make your snake go.
And then of course there’s that [game] with the rolling hoop. That one, because of the way that the traditional snow snakes are fashioned, you have more of an advantage there for jumping through the hoop just because of the way the heads are shaped. But again, we've invented a point system for when we play these tournaments or play these games and we give prizes away. And when we’re doing things with students, sometimes we'll give 'em trophies.
Katie Carter:
How far can they go?
Bob Shimek:
Well, on Lake Bemidji last year (and that was the first time we did it there) at the end of February, some of those new snakes went 430-450 feet. Some of them hit the end of the track, so I don't know how far they could have gone.
Katie Carter:
I mean that is such a testament to the aerodynamics of these things. That's amazing.
Bob Shimek:
Absolutely. And we had people coming from Michigan, Wisconsin, and (of course) all throughout the Minnesota area for our first little tournament on Lake Bemidji last year. I want to say the last game we play… I sort of invented this game recently because those first two games, when you're seeing how far you can make that ginebig go, or you're trying to slide it through that rolling hoop as it moves through the snow, some of that stuff requires a lot of coordination, skill, athletic ability, and things of that nature. The last game I put into effect a number of years ago, because especially with schools, we have a lot of kids with special needs, whether it's learning disabilities or we've had students out there in wheelchairs.
And so we do what we call a target shoot, and we just set up a target in the snow. It can be anything. It can be a water bottle or a half a liter pop bottle, just something that gives them something to shoot at. And the distances aren't very far, but it gives those students who may not be athletically gifted or real coordinated or real strong, it gives them the opportunity to also win. And I still think back to this moment, one of the first times we did that, we had a girl in a wheelchair and she won that event. So, we try and cover all spectrums, capacities, capabilities. But I think the biggest thing when the community gathers and we play this game is that we have fun. It is so much fun! All the hooting and cheering and yelling and groaning and moaning when somebody almost makes it, oh, just it's really good sport. A lot of fun.
Katie Carter:
And you must see these kids light up. I mean, you work with kids, you work with schools all around the area teaching about snow tanks and helping kids create their own. It must be pretty cool to see them lighting up as they're creating these examples of, I don't know. It's sort of like they're creating a little bit of themselves out of these wood pieces.
Bob Shimek:
It is. Some of the schools I work with, they do not have an arts program, they just don't have the money for it. But yet this gives them an outlet for that artistic expression, I guess you'd call it. And yeah, I do work with students, basically mostly here in Minnesota the northern tier from White Earth to Fond du Lac over there, south of Duluth. And for the second year now, this is an all-age festival. They call it a Snow snake Festival. A little bit later here in February, a bunch of us are going over to Madeline Island on Lake Superior for a snow snake gathering. We’ll tell that story, tell that legend and keep the game strong, keep the game healthy, keep our families, our communities, and the earth healthy.
Katie Carter:
But there's an event coming up in Bemidji the end of the month too, right?
Bob Shimek:
Yeah. So, there's a couple of things going on. February 24th on Lake Bemidji, right next to Paul Bunyan Park at 10:00 AM, we’re having the School Invitational Snow Snake Tournament. And that's where schools from throughout the region will gather on Lake Bemidji and have their own competition. In the evening on February 24th, that Friday, there will be a storytelling at the Rail River Folk Center. And I'm not sure what time that is, I think that's maybe seven or eight or something. I don't know. There'll be more publicity about that shortly. And then on February 25th, Saturday, it is open competition. All ages. Everyone's welcome. Come down, try your hand if you have a snow snake lurking in your closet someplace, bring it on down. We'll have extras for those who don't have one.
Katie Carter:
Well, I think I'm looking forward to that. I'm putting it on the calendar. I think we have to go, though, Bob. <laugh>. So, miigwech for sharing this knowledge and history and wisdom with us. And I just am so looking forward to my first snow snake tournament, to witnessing it at the end of the month. And thanks for sharing the wisdom with all the schools around the area and sort of reinvigorating this sport for wellness of the whole community.
Bob Shimek:
It is. It's really what it's about. Wellness. Yeah. Thank you.
Katie Carter:
Yeah, thank you. Have a wonderful day, Bob Shimek. Thank you. Area Voices is made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and Citizens of Minnesota.
