Mother and Baby Bear
2019
SOLD

The Oneida Bear Clan are known as the Medicine People. They are the caretakers of the earth’s medicines and our protectors. Iroquois people have passed on stories for generations about how the Bear Clan people came to receive the gift of medicine from an elder woman who had knowledge of healing with medicines from the earth.

BEAR STORY
They say that at one time a fox had some fish and he met up with a bear. The bear asked him where he had got the fish and the fox told him down by the icy river. The fox asked the bear if he wanted to go fishing. The bear agreed and they arrived there by the fishing hole in the ice. The fox told the bear to put his tail in the hole. The bear put his tail in the hole and because it was very cold his tail froze and when he jerked, his tail broke off. So that is the reason the bear has a short tail.

Told by: Walter Skenadore
Transcriber: Maria Hinton

Dimensions: 25"H X 50"L X 1"D

Traditionally, stories were not told until the first snow fall. Iroquois oral culture sustains many traditions and ceremonies. In earlier times, when life was more agricultural and settled, young people had the opportunity and inclination to listen to the old stories. The oral tradition developed young people's capacity for remembering long, involved speeches and songs. Storytelling was a cultural contact between generations. Story-tellers used a variety of memory aids, including canes, staffs, wampum beads and belts, feather arrangements and stone construction. These devices helped to convey messages and strengthened memory of the customs and beliefs of a people.