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Visitors of the 2025 Canadian Western Agribition got to experience the traditional way of scraping a buffalo hide on Tuesday.
With buffalo populations making a steady recovery across North America, knowledge keeper Wade BigEagle said it was only appropriate to showcase the various ways in which buffalo were used historically.
“It’s really important to be able to connect with the buffalo because of what they bring to us, not just as Indigenous people, but to us as a human race,” BigEagle said.
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He stressed the incredible versatility of the buffalo – noting the use of everything from the meat, to the hide, which can be used to make clothing, shelter, art and jewelry.
Representing the Buffalo Culture Collective, BigEagle was hosting a booth that demonstrated the scraping process using modern tools. People were also invited to participate in the process.
“People who come here, they understand and appreciate how much hard work goes into it,” he said.
“I, of course, showcase the traditional and hard way of doing it. I don’t cut any corners or use any chemicals to speed up the process. It’s all just hard work and labour to be able to go from start to finish.”
BigEagle said modern hide-tanning techniques use lye and ash to remove fur and skin.
“It’s something that you can’t really forget, which is how to do some tanning,” he said.
“We should be very appreciative and grateful for what it’s like to acquire leather. How difficult it is to actually make leather people don’t realize, so to be able to see the process is to create understanding of how to get there.”
He said the one-day event at Agribition has provided the Buffalo Culture Collective with networking opportunities.
“I just like being able to spend some time with either children or adults that are willing to learn, and to allow them to do a little bit of scraping,” he said.
BigEagle said he was following in the footsteps of his parents, Lorne and Joely BigEagle-Kequahtooway of the Buffalo People Arts Institute.
He said for 15 years, the institute has been focused on bringing the buffalo back physically, mentally and spiritually.
“The idea is to get a buffalo hide, allow the participants to work on it so they can turn it into something like an art form, a mural, or a kind of wall piece of art, or into something like jewelry,” BigEagle said.
“Or even, if you ever get as far as making leather, then we could turn something like moccasins, clothing, or if we’re very ambitious, make a shelter out of it, as in a teepee.”
