Vancouver, part 2

"The  [First Nations] totem poles - the totem was the British Columbia [First Nations] 'coat of arms.' Totem poles are unique to the north west coast of B.C. and southern Alaska. They were (are) carved from western red cedar and each carving tells of a real or mythical event. They were not idols nor were they worshiped. Each carving has a meaning.The eagle represents the kingdom of the air, the whale, the lordship of the sea, the wolf the genius of the air and the frog the transition between the earth and the sea."  - from plaque in Stanley Park

This trip was about connecting with things that feed our souls. For Elaine it was in part reconnecting with the mountains and making new connections together. For me it was all new connections with the Canadian West and connecting with Elaine and her past.

In Vancouver our greatest connection was with the First Nations peoples and their art; our favorite activity was our visit to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Although they have special exhibits and artifacts from all over the world, their focus is the First Nations peoples.

We love the "house posts" = huge carved red cedar log used to support the center beam of the great house, one outside -

one inside.

We're working on ways to incorporate house posts carved with Taino pictographs in PR.

I've read that our tradition of "pot luck" dinners actually originated in the "pot latch" of the First Nations. Based on what we learned about pot latches, this seems unlikely to me. In the pot luck tradition everybody brings something to the party. The pot latch was more like a royal court, hosted by a tribal leader. Since the First Nations had no written language, they relied on witnesses to record and remember the proceedings of the "court." To that end a clan leader invited other clan leaders to a multi-day "court." It was up to the host to feed and house the invited guests, rather than each guest bringing something to the table. These "courts" and accompanying feasts could last days or even weeks.

This is a carved "serving bowl" from a pot latch. Each of the three separate bowls is as big as a love seat. The "tongue" of the beast is a giant carved serving ladle.

We would love to have more time learning about the First Nations. We will do more research; they are fascinating. There are more photos from the MOA on our Flickr page.