The Seabird Island First Nations Festival held last weekend was once again a big success offering youth, young adults, and adults alike an opportunity to showcase their culture and history through Soccer, Ball-Hockey, War Canoe races and Sla:hal.  This three-day celebration held the last weekend of May demonstrates First Nations heritage through friendly competition in sport and traditional games.

One of the festival favourites is “slahal” is an ancient game, dating to before the last ice age. In the Coast Salish tradition, the Creator gave “stickgame” to humanity as an alternative to war at the beginning of time.  Thus the game straddles multiple roles in Native culture — it is at once entertainment, a family pastime, a sacred ritual and a means of economic gain (through gambling).  In addition to the games there are displays of artisans.

Long before colonization of Canada, First Nations people from across Canada and North America held games.  In fact a number of modern games like lacrosse were derived from traditional First Nations games.  These games taught First Nations children many qualities that would help them through their journey into adulthood, such as: honesty, courage, respect, and gratitude.

http://www.seabirdisland.ca/

The Spirit Trail began as a walk in the woods with Pearl the Wonderdog.  We discovered a seemingly abandoned trail that meanders through a wonderfully mysterious bit of old second growth forest in which the processes of renewal are seen everywhere.  In the spring and early summer, the false Lily-of-the-valley covers the forest floor in shiny green and year by year the moss envelopes the wind-fallen trees, seemingly giving them a second life.

It is an enchanting place to walk, and as time passed the trees seemed to me to be alive in an other-worldly sort of way.  As a lark, I created a dozen ceramic faces and surreptitiously hung them in the trees, hoping to cause a laugh or two among other walkers who might discover the trail.  The compulsion was on me and the dozen eventually became over thirty.

At the turn around point of the trail, there is a circle of trees, a sort of committee of spirits.  I made a dozen ceramic faces of women from different places and circumstances and I call them the “Goddesses”.  They are meant to evoke the quiet but monumental strength of women from all over the world.  Most have their eyes closed to impart a quiet, meditative feeling to the spot.  The whole endeavor grew of it’s own accord, without a plan or even a particular goal in mind.  The first masks were put in the trees over three years ago, and apart from knowledge of its whereabouts by the Geo-caching community (People who use GPS units to find stuff) and a brief mention in British Columbia Magazine, little effort has been made to publicize their existence.  Instead, it has been a kind of “Guerilla art”, meant to be a surprise and mildly subversive.

photo compliments of Sandra Weins

The Artist: Ernie became involved in the ceramic arts soon after his retirement as a high school shop and theatre teacher four years ago.  He has a small studio in his garage in which he throws pots (sometimes against the wall), sculpts and tries to figure out how to glaze stuff.