Earth Medicine

Students will:

• Hear personal stories of healing power. (4-6)

• Identify people who have healing knowledge and ability. (4-6)

• Understand that Dene elders have a lot to contribute to our society with their knowledge of earth medicine. (4-6)

• Understand the importance of group co-operation for survival and the contribution of Dene elders with their knowledge of earth medicines. (5-6)

• Understand the Dene are returning to the old ways of doing things, to a form of self-help. (4-6)

• Know that students must not take or use earth medicines without the knowledge of an adult. (K-6)

Experiences:

• Research earth medicines using elders who are recognized for their knowledge of earth medicines. (5-6)

• Have an elder demonstrate how medicine is made. (4-6)

• When students have common ailments, suggest a community elder who they can go to for earth medicine. (K-6)

• Identify people in the community who are recognized for their knowledge of earth medicines. (4-6)

• Show in some way that they value the knowledge they have gained about earth medicine: (K-6)
  • Indicate greater self-respect for the knowledge they have gained.
  • Gather or use earth medicine on their own.
  • Continue to pursue interest in earth medicine outside of the school by approaching elders.

• Give students an opportunity to express how they feel about having learned about earth medicines using a circle sharing time or in their journals. (4-6)
• Have students share personal experiences with Dene earth medicines used on them by adults. (K-6)

• Make a first aid book.
• Press flowers/plants, and name. Describe how to prepare medicine from each.
• Chief Dan George's book, "My Heart Soars, My Spirit Soars".
• Make potpourri.
• See pamphlet Dene Medicine Book, Gwich'in Language and Culture Program, Fort McPherson, N.W.T., 1989.

Special Information for the Teacher:

Specific Information on Earth Remedies and Healing from Deline Elders' Workshop

• Kweh tsih: This rock is found in the Mackenzie Mountains, Port Radium and around Fort Rae. It can be found between split rocks. It looks like gold but, when added to water and boiled, it melts. When the boiled substance becomes yellow, apply with a feather to the infected areas and let it sit on the sores for as long as you can. When the white substance on the cold sores starts falling off, remove till the mouth is completely red. It takes about one and a half days for recovery.
• Eke ghalere: Boil with water till it turns black. Consume for tuberculosis and cancer.
• Ech'ire: Uncooked muscles of moose or caribou legs are eaten to destroy worms.
• Aju Dek'ale (used by caribou for food): Boil it and drink it for stomach ache and for ulcers.
• Fish oil was believed to protect you from all sickness.
• K'ak'odze: Pick along the shore, boil and use for a cold. This is also very good for diarrhea. It can also be drunk when a person is not urinating well.
• Tamarack fat: Used to staunch blood flow.
• Remove the long hair from a beaver pelt, place grease on the pelt, and place on open wound.
• Dzidi: Helps breathing if you are short of breath. Also used for open sores and for aches in your body.
• K'aagoka: It's like black birchbark with white dots found around Fort Smith. Boil the roots of this tree and use as eye drops for infected eyes.
• Goka: Use the part of the tree as described above. Boil and drink to maintain your strength and to regain your appetite. Goka, without the bark, when sap is running, is used for dying hides red for decoration.
• Dzeh kw'ele tu: Boil this for a long time until it turns yellow. It is used to treat shortness of breath and constant coughing. Drink for a period of time. It can also be used as an ointment for other aches and pains.
• There is a little plant which when stepped on, releases a powder-like substance. Boil for a while and drink. It helps you when you are short of breath.
• A plant that grows about 10-12 cm and has berries on it. This can also be boiled and used as a washing solution for open sores.
• Thick green plants that grow on the land are used as a pad and placed on the wound as a poultice. It sucks out the pus and infected substance from the wound.
• Aju Dek'ale: Used for colds. Boil and drink half a cup.
• For stroke victims when the eye and mouth are not in normal appearance. Cut the thorn bush into small short pieces and boil for one hour. Because it is believed to be a pure plant, say a few words of confession to purify yourself before dealing with this plant. Rub the affected areas on your face and drink one cup three times a day. There has to be genuineness on your part.
• Tseniht'e ele he ts'elohju: Boil these two together and use as a mouth wash.
• Elegare: Chew for cold sores.
• Ts'uwa ele: Boil, then use as a mouth wash for toothaches.
• T'eoladze: Boil with some grease till it is thickened, then apply with a feather to the infected areas.

• Spruce gum: Good for cuts, wounds, rashes and cold (drink broth).
• Labrador tea: Leaves and twigs to make a tea or broth to clean out kidneys.
• Blue/blackberries' stems: Good for colds, good for all ailments.
• Birch buds: Boil with grease. Good for sores.
• Green leaves from ground: Boil with grease, good for sores.
• Raspberry stems: Boil with water tomato berries, good for sore eyes.
• Spruce buds: Boil with water. Good for sore mouth.
• Ashes from burning wood: Good for pain.
• Beaver and caribou hide: Good for stopping the flow of bleeding.
• Heated rocks: Good for flu, phlegm.
• Baby spruce tree roots: Good for any illness. Boil with water.
• Kli kos, k'ilesher - kot: Good for bad indigestion. Look at the natural root to determine the correct age to select for use.
• Trees struck by lightning: Boil with water. Good for anything.

• Red willow: Boiled for sore throats, stomach ailments, colds. Chewed for sore throats.
• Rat root: For sore throats and colds.
• Dahmbaye/Silver Willow Berries
• Dzehtth'i /Yellow Spruce Gum: Boiled with grease, to make ointment.
• Edehpoh ts'ahpoya - ts'ahpogha: Boil and drink broth, or chew the roots for throat irritation.
• Ts'uk'a : Boiled bark good for stomach ailments and diarrhea.
• Beehives and Clamshells: For sores. Clamshells are baked to a powder and applied to the sore.
• Ts'enehxoh chie: Boil, strain, drink broth.
• Mebpi jie: Boiled branch broth good for sore eyes.
• Ndeh gok'eathet'i: Cut up, boil and apply to joints that are swollen.
• Spruce needles: Chew and swallow juices for sore stomach.
• Gots'ago/Labrador tea: Boil and drink broth for sore throats and colds.
• Ladzee/tips of black poplar tree: Boil, strain, and drink for colds.
• Caribou droppings: Broth good for cold or flu.
• White caribou moss: Broth good for cancer.
• Broth of wild chicken: For colds.
• Moss: For gauze or Band-Aids.
• Beaver pelt: Fur side down on open wound helps to close the wound and prevent a vivid scar.
• Goose grease: Used like "Vicks", rub on chest and throat, also good for sores.
• Glands in ducks/chicken and geese: Used as a cream to get rid of white spots on the face.