Places | SWEENEY CREEK
Stories
Tommy Attachie, telling about Dane-zaa people and Dreamers gathering at Sweeney Creek, 2005.
Click to Watch
Tommy Attachie remembers Dane-zaa people and Dreamers gathering at Sweeney Creek. He tells the story of the Dreamer Gaayęą dreaming the "Prairie Chicken Song" at Sweeney Creek, 2005.
Tommy Attachie, talking about the Dreamer Makéts'awéswąą at Sweeney Creek, 2005.
Tommy Attachie talks about the Dreamer Makéts'awéswąą, who is said to have become a dreamer at Sweeney Creek after dying for nine days and then coming back to life. Sweeney Creek, 2005.
Margaret Attachie, talking about camping at Sweeney Creek in her youth. Doig River, 2005.
Click to Watch
Margaret Attachie talks about camping at Sweeney Creek in her youth. She recalls tanning hides and doing beadwork there and trading it for groceries and supplies. Doig River, 2005.
Songs
Albert Askoty singing the Dreamer Gaayęą's "Prairie Chicken Song," 1990s.
Albert Askoty singing the Dreamer Gaayęą's "Prairie Chicken Song," 1990s. Gaayęą brought this song back from Heaven in a dream at Sweeney Creek. The drummers and singers camped there helped Gaayęą to remember the song by singing it over and over.
Tommy Attachie and the Doig River Drummers singing a song by the Dreamer Makéts'awéswąą, Doig River, 2004.
Tommy Attachie and the Doig River Drummers sing a song by the Dreamer Makéts'awéswąą at a Dreamers Dance, Doig River, July, 2004.
Tommy Attachie and the Doig River Drummers singing the Dreamer Gaayęą's "Prairie Chicken Song," Doig River, 2004.
The Dreamer Gaayęą brought this song back from Heaven in a dream he had at Sweeney Creek. The drummers and singers camped with him there helped Gaayęą to remember the song by singing it over and over.
Sweeney Creek Photos:
Slide show not displaying? Click here to view images
The Sweeney Creek area, located just east of the British Columbia-Alberta border, is one of the places we would gather seasonally to hunt, camp and learn from our Dreamers as they traveled across our lands.
Elder Margaret Attachie remembers camping at Sweeney Creek in her youth in the 1940s and '50s. Her family would set up a seasonal base camp there. She recalls spending time tanning hides and doing the beadwork that she would often trade for groceries and supplies.
As he traveled between his people in Alberta and British Columbia to share his prophecies and dreams, the Dreamer Gaayęa used a trail that later became the first wagon trail through this area. The old wagon trail is now expanded into a road, but we still use parts of the old trail, unaffected by the road, to access our traditional hunting and camping grounds.
Elder Tommy Attachie tells the story of Gaayęa bringing back his Prairie Chicken Song from Heaven while camping at Sweeney Creek in 1922. We continue to sing this song today at our Dreamers' Dances. Listen to two different recordings of this song; one sung by Charlie Yahey in 1966 and the other sung by Albert Askoty in the 1990s.
Tommy Attachie also recalls the story of Makéts'awéswąą becoming a Dreamer after dying and coming back to life while passing through the Sweeney Creek area. We still sing many of Makéts'awésąą's songs today.
The Sweeney Creek area, like many others, is sacred to us because of the Dreamers who spent time there with our people.