Inside a tent supported by a wooden structure, Winnie Saganash is sitting on the left side of the screen on a long red wooden bench. Her accompanying translator, Maggie, is on the right side of the screen. The tent floor is covered with fir branches.
Winnie Saganash
[Winnie Saganash speaks in Cree.]
Maggie
The whole stomach, the intestine, come out. They keep a part of the intestine, but throw away the rest. They keep the heart, the liver, the kidneys. In my experience, it’s necessary to clean the heart properly. There are blood clots inside.
Interviewer
Oh! Yes!
Maggie
So, you have to remove everything so it doesn't rot. It rots easily. And the liver, it remains as is.
A child comes to stand in front of the two women. He’s dressed in a white mosquito repellent suit. He plays with the microphone.
As for the kidneys, you have to remove everything. There's like an extra layer of skin there that needs to be removed. Same for the intestine. Everything has to be well cleaned.
Winnie Saganash
[Winnie Saganash speaks in Cree.]
The child leaves the camera’s field of view.
Maggie
The intestine it’s, it's like fat and on the inside, you have stool. The inside must be completely cleaned. You have to push the fat inwards for it to clean everything. You tie one end, you blow into it, you get some air into it and you tie the other end. You then smoke it with fir branches like that. You burn the intestine before you boil it.
Interviewer
Okay. Smoking before boiling?
Maggie
Yes. Not everyone does that, but that’s how... we do it.
Change in sequence. Maggie isn’t present for the beginning of the shot. She returns to sit on the red bench. The child makes a quick appearance. The interviewer can be seen in the lower right corner of the screen. He's sitting on the ground.
Winnie Saganash
[Winnie Saganash speaks in Cree.]
Maggie
The whole stomach, the large intestine, that's what comes out first, and then they reach for the heart, the first organ that, that retrieve because we eat the heart.
Interviewer
And didn’t you say that the heart could easily rot?
The child returns to put on his cap which was sitting on the red bench between the two women.
Maggie
The blood clots inside.
Interviewer
The blood clots... So it has to be prepared quickly?
Maggie
Yes, yes. As soon as... That's the first thing. The first three things we take, uh, the heart, the liver and the kidneys.
The cap’s velcro is stuck in the child’s hair. He asks for help in Cree.
These are the first things brought home by the hunter. He’ll leave the moose there overnight, depending on which day it was killed, but the three organs must be brought home right away. And the woman must tend to it right away.
Maggie tries to help the child, Winnie Saganash handles it.
Interviewer
And is it always the woman who tends to it?
Maggie
Yes. Yes.
Change in sequence. Winnie Saganash is now alone on the bench.
Winnie Saganash
A long time ago, cause my husband died maybe 16 years now, my husband left and we used to kill moose, but we don't have [any] uh, [any] place to put it, a cold place.
Maggie returns to sit on the bench beside Winnie with the child on her lap. The child leaves again.
So when we finish cleaning it up, we hang it up on those sticks there to dry, to not, flies won't touch it, the smoke, to get away from the, from the meat. So we leave it there for a couple of days and after uh we eat it.
Interviewer
A couple of days suspended next to a fire with smoke?
Maggie
No fire, only smoke.
Interviewer
Okay.
Maggie
Yeah. Especially for, uh, so that flies don't attack the meat. And then, the meat becomes dry, and flies can't come and lay their eggs.
Interviewer
Yes, yes, yes.
Maggie
They do this especially in the summer. When you're in the woods, you don't have a freezer, a refrigerator. It's a way of preserving meat.
Winnie Saganash
[Winnie Saganash speaks in Cree.]
Maggie
She says that the moose that they just killed, already has plenty of flies. It must soon be cleaned and placed somewhere for it to be smoked..
Change in sequence. Maggie's not there. The interviewer is still present on the screen. He's sitting on the ground.
Interviewer
[Do] you use wood to make the smoke or you use...?
Winnie Saganash
No, not [that] kind.
Interviewer
No? [They’re] a different kind... [than] this?
Winnie Saganash
No, not [that] kind. It's a, it's a wood that’s already almost finished, or old wood, something like that, not that kind too.
Maggie adds to the interview, but she doesn’t appear on the screen.
Maggie
They use wood, old damp wood... it’s used to, uh, add flavor to the meat.
Interviewer
Is it [a specific] kind of tree or any kind of tree?
Winnie Saganash
[Winnie Sagasash speaks in Cree.]
Maggie
There's one that she calls awush [Cree term]. That can't be used because the smoke is much too black.
Interviewer
Oh! Yes!
Maggie
I don't know the name of that tree in French nor English, but it's the tree that rabbits eat, that hare eat.
