Winter Count 2013

 Winter Count 2013

This year, Gelsey, Galen and I attended Winter Count, a primitive skills gathering held each year in February in Southern Arizona. It is a magical experience. The camp is in the true desert, graced with suguaro cactus, creosote and palo verde. For the period of a week, a village appears in the desert. Tipis, yurts, tents are set up, strung out, staked out. People from all over the country migrate to spend the week with friends, play games, tell stories and learn the skills of our ancestors.

Winter Count Camp

 We have heard of Winter Count for  years, and finally made time in our schedule to attend. Over four hundred people show up, including many families. Over eighty classes are held each day, so it is challenging to stay sane and focused over the week as a first-timer. A friend of ours says  "It is easy to spot the newcomers because they are the ones racing around all day, never having time to sit and visit". We tried to give our selves time to visit with friends, but were definitely there to learn.

Our friend Digger's hides

 Gelsey and I focused on primitive pottery during the week. There were a couple of different classes to choose from, but we attended an Anasazi-style black-on-white class taught by Kelly, one of the newer pottery teachers but deeply passionate about her work. We learned how to process wild clay, construct pots, add a slip, paint using Yucca brushes and bee plant paint, and fire the pots in a pit kiln.

Lounging on a buffalo robe

 Gelsey showed her passion for baskets during the week, taking several different classes, and learning new techniques. She also attended an advanced cordage class, learning new ways to process and wrap fibrous plant materials. Galen showed up a day late, but jumped into Cherokee-style blowguns, horsehair braiding, knife-making, flinknapping and rawhide containers.

Cedar Bark basket

Black Ash Star basket

Beyond pottery, I was looking to fill certain holes in my knowledge. To complete my hunting gear, I learned how to make a sinew bowstring. A day was spent in the flintknapping pit, making stone tools for woodworking, as well as a unique drilling method. I also focused on the handdrill, to me the ultimate way to start a fire.

Classes held around the central fire

In addition to the skills, there were games being played constantly. There is a wonderful kids program as a part of the event. Around the fires in the evenings music was made, and stories were told. Some folks from Elemental Awareness even set up a skateboarding jump, pretty unique in the desert! While some people have been attending the event for years, there were the nearly 100 first time students.

Neal painting Anasazi-style pottery

Over the course of the week, we made many new friends. We invited several to come out and teach at Laughing Coyote. It was the first time we had witnessed such a vibrant community come together around the pursuit of primitive skills, and we hope to return on a regular basis.

Pots awaiting the fire

The pit kiln

 Winter Count, and its sister gathering Rabbitstick, are hosted by Backtracks: www.backtracks.net. Rabbitstick is held in Idaho in September every year, and Winter Count is in Arizona in February. These are family friendly events, and are a great place to meet wonderful people, and learn the skills that were used by our ancestors. We are planning to attend each year, and would love to see members of the Laughing Coyote community there are well.

-Neal Ritter

The projects we worked on over the week