Just a quick entry

I saw a blog that talked about an Aboriginal man speaking to a non-Aboriginal person about traditional hunting and fishing in the US. The non-Aboriginal person was disgusted that the Aboriginal man was using a spear gun in the ocean and traveling in a speed boat. He asked the question about how traditional is that?

Now firstly, I am humored at the thought that people may think Aboriginal people when practicing their right to hunt and fish would be traveling in a canoe with a spear to eat their traditional foods.

Every culture has traditional ways of life but they don’t necessarily practice them with the same tools that they used in the 1700’s – so why would Aboriginal people? Now imagine if to maintain traditions we would still be running around wearing hides, furs and clothing that would set many on their morale high ground about the slaughter of animals to provide us with our necessities of life. Practicing the right to hunt, fish and harvest to eat and provide our communities with the things that were our customary way of life does not mean we need to be living with the limitations of technology that were available in the 17 and 18 hundreds.

Just a thought – but when Europeans practice their traditions or eating their traditional foods are they limited to the technologies of the past? They are not traveling across the prairies in Chuck wagons – why would we be?