Akwesasne Hide Camp – Sharing Traditions

By Kaniehtonkie

Karennotakies Barnes, Akwesasronon, now living in Six Nations with her young family travelled back this weekend to hold her first 'Akwesasne Hide Camp'. The workshop was held on Saturday and Sunday at Generations Park where dedicated students learned how to prepare a moose hide.

One participant stated, "Akwesasne Hide Camp 2023 was awesome! My first time watching and working on moose hides. It was a little smelly, tough on the body, and freezing cold on both days, but I learned a lot and had some laughs! Nia:wen Karennotakies Barnes for this awesome workshop!"

When the posting call for 'dress for the weather' – you know you'll need something to help keep you warm - hot tea and coffee was offered along with hearty corn soup and fried bread from Three Feathers Café was served to keep participants well fed and warm.

Barnes said, Niawen to CKON Radio and the Akwesasne Communication society for bringing this to life!"

CKON regularly funds sports teams, cultural events, community events school clubs throughout the year through heir Community Fund.

Reen Cook, Director of CKON stated, "I felt it was a great way to continue learning our culture and traditions to bring back some of our ways, especially for our youth and families."

Barnes added, My heart has been so full these past few days. We battled the cold and the wind, thinking "oh this hide will be ready for the 1st smoke soon" to it not being even close to it haha! It was a awesome group that came out to work on the hides. Life lessons from hide tanning is the creator humbling you if you're doing too good at scraping with a hole, and during hide tanning, you'll lose a little bit of faith in your work. But that's when you know you're on the right track"

Another participant stated, "She is such a great teacher and had so much knowledge to share with us."

Barnes shared how she works with hides, "The whole process is considered hide tanning, right from when the animal is skinned - that's when the process for hide tanning will begin. All the scraping we do is to get to the core of the hide, we have to scrape the excess meat, fat, and take the hair off.

Then we work on taking the membrane off. While we do this, it helps to open the pores and agitate the fibers. We do the 1st smoke or a pre-smoke, to help lock in our work and to basically to keep the pores open. It's a long process but well worth it!

After the first smoke I usually use the brain of the animal, this helps fill the open pores, so they don't close up again. The final smoking helps soften it and preserves the work put into the hide. The longer the hide is smoked – the darker the color."

Within the three days of the Hide Camp, they completed many of the steps. Once the hide is done the final smoke, it can be used for anything leather work related.

Barnes also has experience with salmon skin tannings turning the skin into unique salmon leather.

Barnes stated, "Hide tanning is great for kids because of the bilateral stimulation that helps them work thru any stresses or frustrations. Hide tanning is also good for grief work, so it great at 'grounding' for anyone who is dealing with grief, anxiety, or depression.".

She added, I will be coming back for more hide demos with the schools, which I'm really excited about!"