by Linden Thomas and María Ingrahm

Michael R. Denny recalls the magic of entering his uncle Po’pi Poulette’s basket shop at eleven years old to watch him create a wooden instrument the Mi’kmaq call the ji’kmaqn.

“Without that memory and [him] showing me how to do it, I wouldn’t be able to [make ji’kmaqnn],” says Denny.

Denny is a renowned Mi’kmaw musician, part of a drum group called The Stoney Bear Singers and powwow arena director from Eskasoni in Unama’ki (Cape Breton). He is also the chair of the cultural committee for the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG).

He hopes to showcase the vibrancy of Mi’kmaw culture to the thousands attending NAIG while also sustaining traditional knowledge for future generations of Mi’kmaq.

A ji’kmaqn is a traditional Mi’kmaw rattle, most notably used to keep rhythm during the Ko’jua dance. Ji’kmaqnn are made out of black or white ash trees; wood that splits easily into sections when hit with a mallet. They are traditionally made as a byproduct of basket splints.

“[The ji’kmaqn] played a big part in our identity because that doesn’t exist anywhere else,” says Denny, “It only exists here.”

Denny still has the ji’kmaqn that his uncle made when he taught him. Patched with black duct tape, this is the ji’kmaqn that Denny used when he first learned to sing Ko’jua.

The Ko’jua will be a big part of the NAIG opening ceremonies and the cultural village, which will be se ...

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