Mom adapts rites of passage due to COVID-19 for son's first hunt

When Marion Erickson's nine-year-old son Keom made his first kill — a porcupine — she realized they'd need to adapt the traditions that go along with this milestone in his life because of physical distancing restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Erickson and her family live in Prince George, B.C., and they go on annual traditional hunts. She said the first kill marks a significant rite of passage for her son and that the family is expected to process the animal and give it to other clans in the Dakelh Nation.

"In non-pandemic times, he would have to go and hand out the meat to somebody that's not our clan. And with the quills, of course, give the quills away and go to each house," she said.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/porcupine-hunt-pandemic-rite-of-passage-1.5693882