Author: Amruta Phansalker
Not a typical collection of short stories, but a gem that will set you on a course of cultural discovery!
I have always been intrigued by different cultures, customs, folklore, and traditions. As someone with Indian roots, I grew up hearing tales of the richness of my culture, the diversity of its myriad languages and dialects, and the beauty in its various art forms. Naturally, when I moved to Canada, I was fascinated with Canada’s Indigenous history, and to quiesce my curiosity, I turned to our city’s library. While the library’s collections had me confounded, I felt a tad bit deflated. How was I ever to overcome the vastness of the Indigenous knowledge? Our kindly librarian recommended “Midnight Sweatlodge”, Waubgeshig Rice’s collection of stories centered around the Anishinaabe Sweatlodge Ceremony.
Rice sets stage by introducing the reader to a Sweatlodge Ceremony attended by a compelling cast of characters, each having borne the burden of life’s hardships, whether in familial conflict, personal loss, or in walking the tightrope between old ways and modern ways. At midnight, as the Sweatlodge Ceremony is underway, each character lays bare their pain, grapples with their identity, and seeks healing, all under the tutelage of an Elder. The book consists of four short stories, each an exploration of vulnerability and truth-telling, written in a raw and evocative style.
Interestingly, the narrators of the stories span across all ages. “Dust” tells the story of land confrontation, tragedy, and death through the eyes of a young child; “Solace” is the story of a young adolescent’s tumultuous life as he witnesses familial strife and its tragic impact; “Bloodlines” is the story of a young adult torn between love and remaining true to his roots; and “Aasinaabe” is presented through the eyes of a mature adult, and centers around parenting and apocalypse.
Through the emotional intensity of the ritual and its cathartic effect on the participants, Rice captures the struggles faced by the contemporary Indigenous communities. Rice’s vivid descriptions of the woods, the lake, the dusty roads, poignantly brings out the stark and the subtle differences between contemporary living and “life on the Rez”. The crisp narrative style effectively describes difficult realities, but ultimately offers a message of hope and healing.
Albeit short, “Midnight Sweatlodge” is a thought-provoking read, and a great entry point for those unfamiliar with the Indigenous culture.
This candid memoir tells the journey of Jesse Thistle, a man of Métis-Cree and Algonquin-Scottish heritage, as he shares stories of his childhood trauma, addiction, crime, homelessness and all it took for him to survive the lifestyle he was living. It took Jesse a long time to reach the point where he was willing to accept help to deal with his psychological and physical damage that was rooted in multi-generational trauma from both sides of his family. This story of resilience and strength also speaks to the important role that connecting with his Indigenous heritage played in Jesse’s recovery.
