Showing posts with label canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canada. Show all posts

Monday, 27 August 2018

mammoth gone :(




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BISON RETURN






Sunday, 19 August 2018

the Bumblebee dance


 
Object type
Artist/maker/manufacturer
Culture
Place made
Canada: British Columbia, Kingcome Inlet; Gwa'yi
Location
Object Number
A8239


Used in the Bumblebee dance, which is a children's dance and is often one of the first dances a child participates in during the Winter Ceremonial among the Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw. Represents a bumblebee. In the dance, a father and mother bee lead progressively smaller bees out onto the dance floor one by one. When the children are led back into their 'beehive' at the end of the dance one child is discovered to be missing. The father bee circles the floor fourt imes searching for this lost child. On the fourth round the child is found hidden amongst the spectators and is led home. Used in potlatch by Alec Nelson,Kingcome Inlet, 1938 (D. Hawkins, 1966).




http://collection-online.moa.ubc.ca/search/item?keywords=bumblebee&row=2&tab=media

Thursday, 22 February 2018

Nitáówahsinnoon

Nitáówahsinnoon covered over half of present-day Alberta, most of Montana and parts of Saskatchewan. And while the Niitsítapiiksi (in this context, the Blackfoot) shared the land with all other ksahkomitapiksi or earth beings (plants, rocks, and animals), they shared the cosmos with the spomitapííksi or above beings (spiritual beings, celestial beings, and birds), and the soyíítapiksi or under-water beings (fish, amphibians, reptiles, water birds and mammals) (Blackfoot Gallery Committee, 2001). Many of the stories and ceremonies of Blackfoot-speaking peoples originate in the sky, and many ceremonies revolve around bundles, which contain parts of animals and plants from all of the realms.ii These bundles and their contents stand in for the extended network of animate, inspirited kin from all the realms. The bundles serve to remind human beings that their survival depends upon alliances formed with other beings in times past, social contracts still in force. The origins of these kinship ties and the ongoing web of reciprocities and interdependent responsibilities they evoke are recalled through song and stories (Ingold, 2000). Through ceremonies and ritual, as well as through more mundane practices of visiting and feeding, these alliances are continually renewed (Heavy Head, 2005).

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

Alberta Ribstones

https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4665-0111

The Viking Ribstones are very hard quartzite boulders which have been modified by aboriginal people. They pecked two kinds of marks into the boulder surface: grooves and pits. The grooves are thought to represent the backbone and ribs of the buffalo. The circular pits or "cupules" may have been carved in imitation of the pock-marked surface of the Iron Creek Meteorite which was the aboriginal peoples greatest and most venerated monument to "Old Man Buffalo" the spirit protector of the buffalo herds.

Aboriginal peoples left offerings of meat, tobacco, or beads at ribstones to acquire luck in hunting and to give thanks to "Old Man Buffalo". Only nine ribstone sites are known to exist in Alberta. These are among the rarest types of archaeological sites present within the Province. All other known ribstone sites have been disturbed. In most cases the ribstones themselves have been removed. The Viking Ribstones are one of the few monumental carvings remaining from ancient times which can be viewed in their original natural setting.







https://prairiepeople.blog/2016/12/12/a-sacred-site-the-buffalo-ribstones-by-viking/

There are also several round holes on each stone. Some people have suggested that these holes represent wounds and were carved to allow bullets or arrows to pass through the stones without harming the spirit animal within. Another theory is that the holes are the result of repeated pounding done to replicate the sound of a running herd as part of a pre-hunt ceremony. A third explanation that has been put forward is that the holes on these and other ribstones were made to resemble the rock-mocked surface of the Iron Creek Meteorite or Manitou Stone. Said by some to be the original ribstone, this meteorite – the largest ever found in Canada – fell to the earth only 40 km southeast of the Viking site and remained there until 1866.

IRON 'PURE AS POSSIBLE, AND SONOROUS AS AN ANVIL
The Fox Indians believed that the manitou dwelled in the stones of the sweat lodge. On heating the stove, the heat of the fire made manitou to come out from its place in the stones. Then it proceeds out of the stones when water is sprinkled on them. It comes out in the steam and enters the body. It moves all over inside the body, driving out everything that inflicts pain. Before the manitou returns to the stone, it imparts some of its nature to the body. That is why one feels so well after having been in the sweat lodge.

Canada's Iron Creek meteorite, a 320 lb (145 kg) Group IIIAB medium octahedrite iron, was long venerated by the First Nations in Alberta as their sacred Manitou Stone, but it was taken without authority from them by Methodist missionaries in 1866. That began the meteorite's long odyssey, as it was transferred first to the Methodist Mission in Victoria (now Pakan) Alberta; then to the Red River Mission in Winnipeg, Manitoba; then to the Wesleyan Methodist Church's Mission Rooms in Toronto, Ontario; then to Victoria College in Cobourg, Ontario; then to the campus of the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario; then to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; and finally to the Provincial Museum of Alberta (now the Royal Alberta Museum) in Edmonton. In recent years, a First Nations movement to repatriate the meteorite to a place near its original find site has been initiated.

Strawstack Hill where the Iron Creek Meteorite once rested can be seen from the site of the Viking ribstones. Indeed, this hilltop provides an incredible view of the surrounding area and would have made a great place to scout out the movements of buffalo herds. This is probably why this location was chosen for these sacred stones. A sad story in the Cree community tells of how after the buffalo herds had been all but wiped out, a group of Cree gathered on the site to try and find some buffalo to feed their people. Unable to see any, they died from hunger and disease.

http://ancientamerica.com/exploring-americas-earliest-rock-art-jack-steinbring-2/

https://forums.arrowheads.com/forum/general-discussion-gc5/fossils-paleontology-old-bones-gc30/79394-ammonites-buffalo-stones

http://rocksstonesdust.com/essays/garneau.html 


https://twitter.com/rudkindave/status/786652996302233600

Thursday, 1 February 2018

animal architectures



resin print of mouse neurones // university of lethbridge digital physicalisation lab


beaver sculpture // lethbridge wetlands



Thursday, 4 January 2018

bitter cold

Earlier this week, king penguins at the Calgary Zoo in Canada's western Alberta province were kept in their indoor shelters to avoid the bitter cold.