[image description: semi realistic flat colored, digital drawing of a light brown skinned Cree woman with dark brown hair in braids, a cream colored tanned hide dress, who is leading an American Paint horse by a lasso. The Cree woman has two large dots of red ochre painted on the apples of her cheeks, and single line of red ochre across her forehead. She has 4 lined tattoos running down her chin, and to lines extending outward to make an inverted "V" from the corners of her mouth. Her braids are tied off with circular conch shell ties, and she wears a beaded blue belt with red triangular detailing, a blue beaded necklace, and a bone choker with red beads. She has red and white moccasins with a long, fringed dress, with red pigment yoke painted onto the dress, and blue and white quillwork underneath. She has a Hudson's Bay blanket over her right shoulder. Speech bubbles pointing to the relevant details are as listed in bullet points below. end image description.]
Weddings usually were not as formal, big events in Cree culture, but there were some formalities and gifts that were exchanged, including what's depicted here.
Horse: marriage dowry. She was gifted a horse in exchange for marriage. All horses belonged to her.
red ochre makeup, for special occasions, and chin tattoos indicating status as a married woman.
newly made moccasins and a blanket: gifts from her intended. She was gifted the moccasins alongside the horse.
A mixed media piece I've been working on; primarily acrylic on wood with addition of paint markers and various colored pencil types. I cannot stress to you enough how excited I am about how this piece is coming.
Dibaajimowin. Kade Ferris put this site together as a hub for research--both in stories but also to provide links on learning Ojibwe, Cree, and Michif.