How an Indigenous firekeeper links spirit and ceremony

Where there's smoke,there's fireor so the saying goes.

And where there's ceremonialfire at an Indigenous gathering in the London area, there's often Michael Hopkins, a traditional firekeeper for N'Amerind Friendship Centre.

Now 71 years old, it's a job the elder from DelawareFirst Nationat Moraviantown has been doing for 42 years. He's called upon to light the traditional fires at events and ceremonies, everything from weddings to funerals to ribbon-cutting events. He's even lit a ceremonial fireat agathering to celebrate a successful liver transplant.

The fires Hopkins sets aren't lit to bring warmth or to add ambiance. The flames have a spiritual significance, a necessary element Hopkins said is needed tocreate alink between the living and spirit world.

"The firekeeper is the most important part of any gathering," he said. "It represents life and with no fire, there's no life. The firekeeper is responsible for lighting the fire and putting out the fire. Bringing the spirts in, and also responsible for sending them home."

It's that last bit that's the really key: The fire as a portal or window that allows spirits to be present at significant gatherings. To be done properly, the firekeeper has to be the one to light the flame and while helpers can assist with tending the fire, it's the firekeeper alone who must put out the flames when the ceremony is over, he said.

Becoming a firekeeper requires up to 10 years of learning, Hopkins said. A huge part of the preparation involves fasting: No food or water for up to four days. Fasting is an essential step to connect with spirits, which he said include ancestors of those gathered.

"A lot of people think that anybody who lights afire is a firekeeper," said Hopkins. "Itjust doesn't happen like that."

During the ceremony, visitors can expect to put tobacco into the fire as an offering. It's not the brown loose tobacco that might tumble out of abroken cigarette. It's green, fully driedand very fragrant. Hopkins grows and harvests his own, hanging it to dry in his garage. He said most firekeepers willkeep enough tobaccoon hand at their ceremonies for visitors to use as an offering.

Some of the ceremonies also involve pipe smoking. Hopkins has more than 30 pipes. He showed CBC News one he'd made from stone. He shaped and bored the bowl himself and also fashioned its handle out of sumac wood.

He cautions those unaccustomed to smoking traditional tobacco to take care when they puff.

He does pipe ceremonies at local jails and prisons. At one of those ceremonies he was once saw a biker, a big man, collapse to thefloor coughing and gasping after taking an extra long drag against Hopkins's advice to go slow.

"It's really strong," he said.

In a bid to keep the firekeeper tradition going for future generations, Hopkins also teaches his trade, giving guidance to 27 Indigenous firekeeper students. Many are in Ontario, but he also has students in Michigan, New Jersey and one in California.

On Monday, Hopkins will light a fire for the sunrise ceremony at Western University as part of Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. He sees the day, and the ceremony, as a chance to connect with non-natives and educate them about the firekeeper's role and significance.

"As a residential school survivor, what this is all about, we have to understand our ceremonies and our ancestors," he said. "I see a lot of non-native people wearing the orange T-shirts and that's good too. So our job is working, our job is keeping things alive for everybody to respect and understand what First Nations went through."