Friday, March 18, 2016

Something Different...

A year and a half ago I visited a North American Indian religious site. I took a bunch of pictures, and I thought that some wargamers might be interested in this sort of thing to model on a DBA camp or diorama.


 The area is a wide expanse of bare granite rocks in the Whiteshell area of eastern Manitoba. A series of designs were created by Indians long ago (First Nations peoples) and spiritual ceremonies were carried out there. Today it is seen as a religious site for these people, and visitors are asked to look but not touch as people today still visit and hold ceremonies.




Some of the rock forms are easily recognizable while others are not. There are also some overgrown with grass on the edges of the site.




Today First Nations people often leave offerings to spirits and past relatives. Tobacco, prayers, artwork, trinkets, coins are often left as offerings in prayer. Sometimes they leave colourful material tied to a tree.
Unusual for me, I happened upon a plastic WW2 German soldier toy and some dice. Wargaming follows me everywhere.
The area of the petroforms is wild. It's along a lake and the bush around it is typical for the whiteshell, not the easiest bush to walk through.



I saw some wildlife in the form of an eagle and some deer.

2 comments:

  1. Fascinating post. It's interesting offerings take similar forms at sacred wells and prehistoric religious sites here in England, although I have never seen toy soldiers left before...I wonder who offered them?

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  2. My guess is it was left by a child or for a child that passed. There are supposed to be petroforms of grouse, but I didn't see them. There's no map of what is there. Also some rocks have been moved as evidenced by "shadows" on the rock.

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