Duane Hicks
Jigging is an important part of local heritage and culture, but these days not everyone knows how to do it.
To change that, a jigging workshop instructed by Justin Boshey will be held this Sunday (Jan. 22) from 2-4:30 p.m. at the Sunset Country Métis Hall.
It is free, but a silver collection will be taken. Advance registration is not required.
“We’d like to give people an opportunity to learn how to jig,” Sunset Country Métis councillor Wanda Botsford noted this morning.
“Then they can join in the dancing when the fiddles come out during the merry-making at the Métis Hall.
“Our community really appreciates it when Justin and many of our First Nation cousins come out and jig and square dance—and when Elmer [Whitefish] plays the fiddle,” Botsford added.
“They really do help to bring the fun,” she enthused. “They have been caretakers of our Métis culture for many generations.”
“I like to get people out and doing something,” Boshey said in an e-mail to the Times.
“Jigging and square dancing has been an ongoing legacy with First Nation communities in our area,” he noted.
“It sprung from the Métis many years ago.
“I was raised on Lac La Croix where there is a history of fiddling and jigging. My dad and his generation did all that,” Boshey recalled.
“We have Elmer Whitefish who plays the fiddle. Elmer’s dad was a fiddle player, as well.
He added songs like “Wildwood Flower” and “Faded Love” are standard fiddle tunes to First Nations’ communities.
“We call it the First Nation national anthem,” Boshey remarked.
In many communities, that tradition is starting to fade away. But Boshey wants to revive it as something First Nations’ people do.
“Métis people are just another group of people that are part of us from way back but didn’t get that recognition for a long time,” he noted.
“They are our Métis cousins. Part of our society but unique.”
“I’ve never jigged. I don’t know how to jig,” admitted Sunset Country Métis president Clint Calder. “I’m looking forward to learning.
“We really appreciate Justin sharing his skills and talents with us,” he added.
