"Spring, We Gather" with Helma Erle

Ziigwang Ni Maawanji'idimin or Spring, We Gather was the title of a get-together, spearheaded by elder Helma Erle this past April. She was aided in this endeavor by ACLU coordinator Audrey Thayer and Red Lake Cultural Preservation Program Director, Bill May and others. The event was held at the American Indian Resource Center (AIRC) on campus at Bemidji State University.

The purpose of the gathering was to share information on preserving Ojibwe culture, history, ceremonies, language, and andudake (storytelling). Several persons with knowledge in these areas were invited to speak and took turns at the podium.

Some of the subjects covered were; naming ceremonies, female and male rites of passage, sweat ceremony, and feather significance. Other subjects included current works at language preservation, education, and cultural aspects such as arts and crafts, and sugar bush.

The event was well attended considering it was the first of it's kind at this place. Attendees included Indian, non-Indian, young and old, and students from BSU. Helma promises that this is only the first annual "Spring, We Gather", and that next year the event will be bigger, with more events, and will last two or three days rather than just one.
The significance of the tradition drum was covered. Note the tobacco placed on the edge of the drum. Tobacco is sacred among American Indians and is used for many things. It is used to smudge people, drums and sacred or ceremonial objects. It is placed on drums at gatherings to give thanks to the Creator for allowing the nations to come together and to ask for a good, safe event. It is also given to elders, healers and others as a sign of respect.During a break in the events, people visited. Here Anton Treuer signs his newly released book entitled "Ojibwe in Minnesota". Seated to his right is Audrey Thayer, and to her right Rachelle Houle.
Dr. Anton Truer, an Ojibwe fluent speaker, gives a presentation on efforts to preserve the language. Part of that effort includes an accepted way of spelling, putting together Ojibwe dictionaries, and other efforts. Here he explains Aaniin Ekidong, the Ojibwe Vocabulary Project.
Language preservation is brought home in a sharply defined manner as Treuer puts up a slide showing just how few fluent Ojibwe speakers there are left in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Just a few more than 700 fluent Ojibwe speakers according to this definition, more than half from Red Lake, and I assume most of those from Ponemah.
Several students from Bemidji State University attended all or part of the gathering.
Dr. Don Day, Director of the American Indian Resource Center gives a talk on the resources available at BSU, the AIRC, and programs and classes available in Indian Studies.

Day, a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, previously served as president of the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. Day also served as director of the American Indian Center at St. Cloud State University, as an assistant professor at University of Minnesota-Duluth and as director of Indian Student Services at Bemidji State, his alma mater.
Leech Lake member Jim Jones, is a watch-dog over archeological sites and new building sites in Minnesota that may disturb Indigenous human remains. Any Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary objects contacts Jim, the Cultural Resource Director, Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.

Jones was a major player in the Grand Mound closure near International Falls, formerly a tourist site, along with the MN Historical Society. In 1990, Jones helped rebury some 300 people who had been unearthed in the mounds by archeologists in the 1960s.

Helma Erle looks on in pride at the success of her gathering. Seated behind her is Colette "Tori" Graves, employed by the AIRC as a retention counselor and student advisor.
Red Lake member Karen Bedeau is the Public Relations person for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and is very active in both the Indian and non-Indian communities, takes her turn at the podium.
Michael Meuers of Shared Vision gives a report on the success of the bilingual signage effort going on in Bemidji. Shared Vision hopes to be a catalyst that encourages the Bemidji community to work together to expand social, economic, educational and leadership opportunity for people of all races.

In order to achieve the “vision”, four working groups were created, including Cultural Understanding and Respect. One of several strategies for this committee is to encourage Bemidji businesses and organizations to add Ojibwe/English signage at their work sites. Shared Vision members Meuers and Rachelle Houle are spearheading this strategy.

Bill May of the Ojibwe Language Culture Preservation Department at Red Lake discusses some of the good things going on at that reservation and elsewhere on culture and language preservation. May, one of the unsung heroes of language revitalization and preservation is a Red Lake member. He spearheaded a very successful Ojibwe Language Summit held at Red Lake that included many presenters attending this gathering.

May does much behind the scenes to get both Indian and non-Indian people excited about the Ojibwe language. Bill sends out 4-5,000 texts per month to teach short Ojibwe phrases that may be related to the day, season or events.

As is the custom in Indian Country, gifts are given (never pay for such things) to those giving presentations on their particular issue. Here Rachelle Houle and Michael Meuers from the Bemidji Ojibwe language project and Shared Vision, proudly show off their gifts at the end of an interesting and informative day.

More on elder and teacher Helma Cloud Erle. Among her many activities is to provide Ojibwemowin (Ojibwe Language) lessons in a variety of ways including the internet. She teaches by writing everyday likely used sentences in Ojibwe and then providing the translations. She does this in a very humble and respectful manner.

Helma Cloud Erle was born and raised in Obaashiing (Ponemah) and is enrolled at

Miskwagamiiwizaga'iganing (Red Lake) and is 4/4 (full blood) Ojibwe Nation. Helma was educated in Obaashiing's elementary school and graduated as valedictorian in 1961 from Red Lake High School.

She credits her parents Everett and Margaret (Wilson) Cloud for their belief in education. "They supported education because they said 'education will never be taken away from you, so learn all you can plus education will open doors for you in the future'", say Helma. "They also said 'azhenamaagen i'iw maanigooyan'. (Give back that which was given you)." Most, I believe would think her parents proud.