Since time immemorial, Blackfoot creation stories have always been passed down orally through generations of people. One of these stories is Anitupis, Spiderweb, which the late Clement Bearchief has kept since he was a Kipitapuka, one raised by grandparents. And he has retained that story throughout his life. He shared it with his younger brother, Roy, and eventually gave him permission to use the story to share and educate people. The story of Anitopisi, the spider web.
When the creator instructed Anitopisi to wrap the world with a peephole in it and bring him down here, he did as he was told. He brought him down here. And then the creator told the people, I will leave you with Anitopisi. But if there's any emergency or any trouble anywhere on the web, it will, it will vibrate. And when it vibrates, that would signal for For me to go and help.
If it vibrates here, it would signal for the crater to go and help. To come and help. Then man was told to pattern their lives after Anitopisi, the spider web. Which means to stay close together and help each other.
If there's a vibration anywhere on the web, whether it's over here, or over here, or even over here. It will travel and even if there's a vibration here, it will travel and vibrate over here. But when there's nothing happening, an EWC will sit still until the vibration.
And part of that is, as people, it's our duty to go and help. That's what I need to be saying. In my language, we say, Matushpumpstad, which means go and help. Go and help. Wherever that vibration is.
This one here, the center part. The hop. Because with the human spiderwebs, people were in here.
And of course there were the drummers that were in there. The MC, John Fisher. The ceremonialist, the one that did the opening and the blessing.
Clarence Woolflake, Mixicum. Hayden Meltingtallow. And myself. And Stephen Price, the Dean of Health, Community and Education was in here.
So we filled that space. And the people were that created the human spider web. My late brother commented, the author of the story, when he talked about the globe, he said, He said, if you look at the globe. He said, look at it. Look at the globe.
Then he said, if you look at the lines, the longitudinal I said, when they go out, I said, then you look at the latitudinal lines. I said, if you look at it, that's the web. That goes back to the story, the first part of the story.
When Crater instructed Anitopisi to wrap the world with a peephole in it and bring it down here because in the world any place where it has where there's a vibration you you go across the ocean and hit over here Just like COVID-19 happening in China, a vibration, a huge vibration went down to Australia, went down to Africa, right across Europe and into North America, South America, even The Antarctic and the Arctic. Anywhere, because this is what's happening. Here's a vibration.
Here's a vibration. Here's another vibration. And here's a vibration.
So anywhere on... And anywhere in the world, you see those vibrations. And that's the story of Anita Pesce. What I often say is a seed is like an idea. An idea is like a seed.
And in our minds, we have it sort of like a pot where the idea is. So that idea came from when I was the elder in residence over at the Business School of Business back in 2017 to the end of the year 2018. But during 2017, they gave me an office over there. So during lunch hour, I closed the door and kind of...
My office faced south, and I can see the soccer fields and everything. So I closed my door and looked out the window and then... I started seeing students playing on a soccer field and students walking around.
And then this one time I was looking out and then the idea about, boy, I wonder if we could build a human spider web on one of those soccer fields. I left it alone until I switched roles and I was the S-Bump staff or a helper over at Child Studies and Social Work Department. Eventually Health, Community and Education Department.
But Stephen Price asked me if I wanted to be part of his DAC, which is Dean's Advisory Group. They were talking about June, the Indigenous, National Indigenous Day. And when they were talking about it, this idea popped up again.
A human spider web. And then I got up and I went to the whiteboard and I started drawing on the whiteboard. And then I told them I'd like to see a human spider web out in one of those soccer fields.
And then when I finished that, I was looking around. Looking around at me. And I saw sparkle in their eyes. And I knew what that sparkle meant. That sparkle meant, I'm in.
I like the idea. Let's go for it. And Pat Costuras was sitting over on that side. For some reason, I saw that extra sparkle in her eyes. And without asking her or telling her, she took charge.
And then we started making plans around it. So we chose September the 28th. And then everybody started pitching in. And Steve said, ah. He sent emails to the grounds crew or whatever.
So they decided on a soccer field out by Bissett. So things started coming together. But for me, it was a journey of highs and lows.
The lows were when I get really... the anxieties, some of the questions. Will we get enough students to participate?
If it rains, shall we move it indoors? But at that point I told them the human spider web remains, should be built on land. I told them not inside. So I told them if the weather is not cooperative I'll have to cancel, cancel the whole thing.
But the weather cooperated. We had enough students or people that wanted to participate and we were able to do the human spider web. For me I see the spider web as stretching out there.
And I'm hoping schools out there will decide maybe next year let's do a human spider web in our in our football field or whatever. High schools may be doing the same thing and maybe by reserve maybe they'll catch on to it and then maybe they can do. I like to see different human spider webs being made. To me, I think that would speak loudly to reconciliation.
To me, I think that's what the human spiderweb is about. Joining people together. Because if we look at that human spiderweb that was made out there, it was made up of people.
But people of diversity. It's whatever Mount Royal has. And that speaks to, let's all build that human spiderweb, irregardless of who we are.
The spirit of that spiderweb that was left there because the people formed it. And then when the people backed away to form the big circle, the spirit of that spiderweb was still there. And that's what we're continuing to see.
We have to understand that, you know, about the spirituality surrounding Anitopisi, the spider web. And the other thing is when I pointed upwards, my late brother up there looking down, just above the drone, but looking down, looking down. I'm the human spiderweb.
And in my language we say, Sukapi. But it's sign language. So my brother up there saying Sukapi. To me that, that's also the icing on the cake. You know.
But to me being very, very humble and grateful to those that came out. Those that are saying, I want to participate. And those people walking, walking when they get back. I call, share it with somebody, from an idea or a seed in here that manifested into creating that human spider.
It took six years, 2017 to 2023, it took six years to make this a reality. I like