LEECH LAKE-Is that a fisher or a bear in the night sky?
At Leech Lake Tribal College Thursday, it was the former in Michael Price's "StarLab," where he told attendees about Ojibwe star knowledge at the college's fourth-annual Across the Universe family night.
In western astronomy, the constellation comprises Ursa Major-a bear-but among Ojibwe people, traditionally, it's Ojiiganang-"fisher star." It rotates around the North Star, which remains in almost the same spot in the sky, and Ojibwe people could use the constellation's position relative to the star to tell when the seasons were about to change, Price said.
"One of my goals is to revitalize and kind of wake up our Indigenous star traditions, some of the stories that we have that are totally unrelated to western science and western astronomy," Price said. "These constellations have been in our families or our community for generations, but we nearly lost them. Me and other people are working to bring those stories back."
Price is a forestry instructor at the tribal college, but he's spent decades gathering information about Ojibwe star knowledge since he first heard an elder speak about it in Winnipeg.
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His lab was one of nine family friendly workshops at Across the Universe, which aims to get people-and potential new students-excited about science and the tribal college, which offers degrees in earth science systems, forest ecology and liberal arts with a STEM emphasis.
Attendees could check out some live birds of prey and learn their Ojibwe stories, defuse bombs and shoot arrows in a virtual reality demo, learn about tree rings, or build a lava lamp, among other activities.
Organizers Melinda Neville, an earth science systems instructor, and Anita Cloud, an earth science systems coordinator, both characterized the evening as a party: college staff set out plate after plate of cake and lasagna, the Leech Lake Tribal College Singers drummed, and kids yelled excitedly as amateur rockets wooshed into the dusk.
"It's a recruitment event for us, as well as showing the relevance of science in everyday life," Neville said. "That science can be fun, especially outside of the classroom. This non-formal learning environment allows us to showcase why we're scientists."
Organizers said they expected about 200 attendees.
