Sounds of a crackling campfire, drizzling rain, and student laughter filled Camosun College’s Interurban Campus as people gathered for a Coast Salish pit cook demonstration on Nov. 2.
The annual pit cook hosted by the Eye Sqa’lewen and Camosun College demonstrates the process, educates students on the traditional use of the camas, and is a time when the community is encouraged to share stories.
“It’s a time to get together and to have food,” said knowledge keeper J.B. Williams of the Tsawout First Nation. “It’s an important event to have within our territory just to show that there are still some knowledge keepers that practice this.”
To begin the cooking, a pit was dug into the ground and a fire was lit. Volcanic stones were heated and then submerged in cold…