Cultural Reclamation Through Beading: Tayvie Van Eeuwen
Hi, I’m Tayvie. I am Ojibwe and Métis from Saulteaux nation in Manitoba, along with settler descent from Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands.
I have been part of Girlvana for almost six years since I attended my first retreat in the summer of 2015. This community has helped raise me and I am ecstatic to launch a limited edition earring collection in anticipation of Ally’s debut book, Girlvana.
A year ago, I began to learn to bead from my Indigenous mother. It has been my honour to receive her teachings and heal beside her during COVID-19. This is my story:
I grew up knowing that I was mixed race; my dad was white and my mom was of Indigenous and settler heritage.
As I’ve grown older and closer with my Indigenous family, I have experienced the joys of learning about my culture. However, as most Indigenous folks know, delving into your history also brings pain, trauma, and unspoken truths.
As my mother was shamed and denounced in her Indigenous identities, she stopped practicing her culture years ago. At the beginning of COVID-19, I encouraged her to teach me the traditional art of beading as a way for us to reconnect and heal with our ancestors.
In my culture, beading represents a cultural practice of connection with our ancestors. In order to bead, you must be in the right state of mind and if frustrated, upset, or angry, your ancestors will guide you away from beading. For myself, this always takes the form of repeatedly knotted strings.
Over the course of six months in 2020, I learned fringe beadwork beside my mother as she watched me reclaim a practice she had long given up. It was an emotional experience for us both—she was able to see her culture be planted in her child, while I got to see intergenerational trauma begin to heal.
Beading has been the most heart-wrenching and heart-fulfilling work I have ever endeavoured. I have been broken apart only to be put back together with a renewed sense of empowerment—I want better for my community, my people, my family.
This work is inherently difficult. It comes with waves of emotion that are unpredictable and deeply personal. Some days I can get caught up in what my family has lost: our language, our land, our identity without status cards.
But, then I remember that one day my children will grow up and not have to feel lost in their Indigeneity. That’s when I know the healing has truly begun.
Sharing my journey of cultural reclamation is not a sole narrative, it is the compilation of generations of strong Indigenous ancestors who did not perish or assimilate. My story and work is a continued celebration of their resilience.
What initially started as an internal healing project has grown much larger and I know that my ancestors are proud of the progress I’ve made in their honour.
I am ecstatic to share my latest collaboration with Girlvana as part of my beading journey. To purchase these limited edition celestial earrings, head to the Girlvana shop!
Miigwech (Thank you).
Tayvie is a Métis/Ojibwe and Irish/Scottish/Dutch student and writer. Her circle is small, but her joy is large. She splits her time between over-thinking and visiting Disneyland. Follow @passagebeading for her handmade Indigenous earrings.