The Half-Breed Ball `Aen ball Metif`

The Half-Breed Ball
‘Aen ball Metif’
An Evening of Traditional Food, Culture and Art
Hosted by Maria Campbell
featuring the work of artists Christi Belcourt and Sherry Farrell Racette
Saturday June 15, 2013
Art Show and Reception 6 pm
Traditional Dinner and Cultural Performances 7 pm
Dance to follow
Location: St. Paul’s United Church
Egbert Avenue and 105th Street
Saskatoon
Tickets:
Dinner and Cultural Performance $75
Dance Only $30
Tickets Available with NAISA 2013
Conference Registration
Menu and Cultural Performance
Cranberry Mousse
Ballad
Pemmican Soup
Poetry
Smoked Fish, Beaver and Muskrat Pate,
Beaver Tail, Chilled Moose Nose and Buffalo
Tongue
Traditional Fiddle
Blueberry Ice
Fashion Show
‘aen ball Metif’
For more than 200 years, all visitors including
Chiefs, explorers, adventurers and traders
ranging from Big Bear, Sitting Bull, Sanford
Fleming, Lewis Henry Morgan, David Thompson
and a steady stream of lesser European Royalty
were regaled with a “Halfbreed Ball’ upon
arriving or departing a Metis community.
They feasted and danced when the buffalo
brigades met on the prairies and when the York
boat brigades arrived. Sometimes they danced
on the prairie around a campfire, the dirt floor of
a large log cabin or a frontier ballroom. The
dances were always referred to as ‘aen ball
Metif’ or a ‘Halfbreed ball’ and all you needed
was a space, two or three or four fiddle players,
and people who could ‘step’ and they would
dance until their moccasins wore out.
Rabbit and Tourtieres
Historical Monologue
Wild Mint, Labrador and Burdock Teas
Reading
Fricassee Moose, Fiddle Heads and Cat Tails
Opera
Roast Buffalo and Root Vegetables
Red River Jig
Dandelion, Fireweed, Thistle and
Chick Pea Salads
Classic Violin
Dessert
Old Time Dance
Donny Parenteau
Midnight Lunch
Leftovers, Saskatoon and Blueberry Pies
Coffee and Tea
Traditional attire optional ~ This is an Alcohol-Free Event