Cree tribe

Adolescence is the time of learning and preparation. Anne Cameron in her book Child of Her People describes preparations for girls in puberty in the Cree tribe. Since they turn 8, 9 they spend a part of each day with a specially selected Grandma representing the elders. She teaches them the origin story of the tribe, the story of First Woman, First Mother and the origins of Mother Earth. She teaches them what it means to become a woman, about changes in the body and the development of the psyche. Girls learn self-defence and practice it on the tribe’s boys. They gain knowledge about herbs soothing pain and preventing pregnancy. When they are finally ready, they spend time alone, in cleansing lodges. Only after two years of such preparation they are accepted into the tribe as women. They are perceived as those becoming Mother Earth, fertile, capable of creating and giving life.

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