Wanuskewin: Sample cuisine inspired by the Great Plains indigenous people who have been gathering at this sacred Canadian Heritage Park for 6,000 years!

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6 days ago Nathan

Six thousand years ago, indigenous people in what is now Canada began visiting the area, a gentle valley under the vast sky of the Great Plains, that became a gathering spot for cultural events and rituals.
And today, Wanuskewin is a wonderful Heritage Park located just 15 minutes outside of the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which continues celebrating the First Nations of the Plains with guided walks, a shop offering Native-made goods, and a menu inspired by the natural bounty of the Great Plains landscape including bison that people native to this area have hunted for thousands of years.

Visitors to the park can sample this animal in a contemporary way: a bison burger, topped with bison bacon and housed in a bannock bun (but also in a more traditional stew), or a Three Sisters soup with corn, squash, and beans.
After your meal, you can also take a stroll through the park to view any of the 19 archaeological sites that have been part of Canada’s longest-running dig.
Here archaeologists have found tipi rings, plant seeds, pottery fragments, and animal bones in the park, evoking the daily lives of the groups who flourished here, but the most unique find is the medicine wheel, a stone cairn surrounded by a 13-meters-wide stone arrangement, located at the highest point in the park with a panoramic view of the rolling hills. Dating back at least 1,500 years, it’s one of 100 known medicine wheels found on the Northern Plains, and was likely a center of ceremonies.

Either way, Wanuskewin is a Nēhiyawēwin (Cree) word that can be roughly translated as “sanctuary,” but also “seeking peace of mind” or “living in harmony”, and for the indigenous people who still live near the site, its spiritual and cultural power remains.
In fact locals go back and visit the medicine wheel to connect back to part of their healing, that wellness of everything that was created, and everything that needed help, health and wellness and strength, with indigenous and non-indigenous visitors alike welcome to walk the land, sample its bounty, and feel what continues to make Wanuskewin a vital and traditional sanctuary.