Night Flying Woman Essay

Improved Essays
Passing on Traditions, One Generation at a Time
The world is revolving and advancing more efficiently each day. Although some things change and exceed any expectations, other things stay the same. Traditions are ideas, activities, lifestyles, or customs that are passed down from generation to generation. It could be something you carry on everyday or a certain day of the year. In the book, Night Flying Woman, by Ignatia Broker, the idea of traditions is portrayed many times.
The book Broker wrote was about an Ojibwe tribe and traditions. Oona, the main character tells her story about the many traditions and her lifestyle. She told about many traditions such as farming, death and birth rituals, and much more. One quote that shows one of the traditions is on page 122, “The words of the Old Ones were indeed wise,”. This quote presents the tradition of elders. Elders are the oldest people in their tribe, they are known to be the wisest and experienced. The tradition of Elders is important and sacred because it never changes, and the tribe is suppose to look to them in troubles and complications.
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She has to overcome losing family, friends, and feeling like she’s losing herself. When Oona becomes an Elder, she tells about the white invaders or aliens and how they are changing her tribe and their beliefs. Oona’s grandfather, points out towards the end of the story that children will never learn the Ojibwe ways going to public school. Oona starts to worry that the tradition of the Ojibwe culture would not be endured. She starts a group that teaches women the old ways of the Ojibwe and starts missionaries. On page 124, it states, “..in the summer the missionaries came in wagons to teach them the true path.” The missionary brought children to the woods and the original Ojibwe land and taught them many

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