Traditional games, buffalo hide featured at Oskana Day in Regina

Oskana Day featured traditional games, a tipi raising, and buffalo hide. (Damian Smith / CTV News)

Saturday was a notable day for Indigenous history in Saskatchewan, as Oskana Day was celebrated at the legislative building in Regina.

On site, tipis were raised at 10 a.m., with a display and demonstration on hand. Traditional games were available, and a discovery table was present for people stopping by.

The Buffalo People Arts Institute had a chance to show off their own buffalo hide, with artist Wade BigEagle looking to continue the art legacy started by his parents.

Many stopped by to see the hide, and how Wade and his brother used the entire animal.

“We’re creating a space so we don’t waste the hide. We don’t waste the bones, we don’t waste the horns,” he said.

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“Everything is going to be used in the buffalo in some way or another. That’s basically my mom’s goal, which is to be able to bring this back to the public, to the community, for everyone to enjoy,” he added.

This is a new art form for BigEagle, who started in his late 20’s.

“I’d like to thank my mother for the knowledge that she’s passed down to me, because it took me a while to absorb that knowledge” he said. “I’m 32 years old right now, normally speaking, you’d be working on this kind of stuff for your whole life.”

The word ‘Oskana’ refers to the Cree word meaning “pile of bones,” referring to the amount of buffalo that were lost in the Regina area during the 19th and 20th century.