During the school spring break we went up to Whistler for a few days and I visited the First Nations Museum that opened last summer. It features the Squamish and Lil’wat Native Indian tribe’s culture. If you have the chance to visit, it is a wonderful experience. From a Feng Shui point of view, both tribes live in harmony with nature, respecting their environment and taking only what they need to live, nothing more. Traditionally for food they caught, dried and smoked the salmon, hunted animals and gathered berries and other vegetation. For shelter they used cedar planks tied to posts with rope made from the roots of the tree. Although the posts remained in the ground, they removed the planks and moved according to the seasons – nothing was wasted or abused. These planks were used for up to 100 years. For clothing the Squamish tribe wove wool and the Lil’wat tribe used the hide of animals. They always gave thanks to whatever they received from the land.
Although in modern society we cannot live like that, we can try to follow the bigger picture such as the respect for nature and to use and consume only what we need. So, in our shelter, we don’t need to have enormous homes, for food we must learn to use moderation and for clothing we don’t have to have gazillion pairs of shoes. Everyone’s idea of size is relative, so I guess the key words are moderation and thanks for our abundant lives.
