A winter count is an illustrated calendar or painted history on a buffalo hide. (Photo: Lethbridge College)

By Joel Mendelson

Lethbridge College displays traditional Buffalo Winter Count Robe

Sep 26, 2023 | 2:39 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge College unveiled its traditional Buffalo Winter Count Robe on Monday, September 26, 2023, as part of the week of events surrounding the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The robe is a teaching tool, a record of history, and a token of the college’s continuing efforts to understand and honour traditional cultures.

A winter count is an illustrated calendar or painted history on a buffalo hide. The counts were created by many Northern Great Plains First Nations, and each count carries the story of a community.

Habitually, each nation would choose one keeper of the winter count. Each year, at the first snowfall, the keeper, along with the elders, would reach a consensus for choosing a name and pictograph to represent the year.

The winter count robes often served as guides for telling the oral history and traditions. The robe on display at the college will be used to exhibit the school’s history, the history of the land on which it stands, and for the future.

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Lethbridge College got the idea to acquire a winter count robe from its participation in the McConnell Foundation’s Social Innovation Lab on reconciliation in the postsecondary sector. The college’s Indigenous Services team felt that a winter count robe would not only be a prominent symbol of traditional Blackfoot Territory, but also a reaffirmation of the relationship between the college and Indigenous communities of Southern Alberta.

The robe was painted by Kainai Knowledge Keeper and artist William Singer III (Api’soomaahka/Running Coyote). Singer has worked with the college since 2017. His first project was creating a painting for Founders’ Square to commemorate Lethbridge College’s 60th anniversary. In 2020, he was part of the creation of an online tour of the traditional plants found in the coulees (Iissksiniip Coulee Walk).

He said, “Winter counts were created and are still created as a way of communicating, of transferring knowledge.”

The robe was painted by Kainai Knowledge Keeper and artist William Singer III (Api’soomaahka/Running Coyote). (Photo: Lethbridge College)

Singer continued, “Looking at a history, this robe tells the story of the college. It’s for teaching as well. Some of the symbols are straightforward. Others have different meaning. And there are also elements where you have to take action.”

He said, “Each symbol has a story, they all fit into each other and form a chain until the end, and once you fill up a hide, you start another. There is space left on the college’s winter count so the story can be added to.”

The Buffalo Winter Count Robe will be displayed on campus, however, it will be housed in a portable showcase to be transported to other areas like classrooms, or to be used in events like convocations.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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