In the Fall of 2019 Elder Gordon Favel, from the Kawacatoose First Nation Reserve, gifted the song, pe-wapan (Coming of Dawn), to the Regina Symphony Orchestra and community to sing during the May 2020 Link Up concert. The RSO is thrilled to have permission to share the educational materials that have been developed for young people to learn this wonderful song!
About pe-wapan
Capital letters are not used in the Cree language, which is why the song title is not capitalized.
In Cree culture, songs are given by the song spirit and shared in the same way. All things in nature have spirits. The drum, for example, has the spirit of the tree that was used to create its frame. It also contains the spirit of the animal that was used to create its head. Even the stick that is used to play the drum has the spirit of the tree it was taken from.