Cultural Expression

208 B.C.PART First Nations FOU StudiesR Cultural Expression Culture . is dynamic, grounded in ethics and values that provide a practical guide and a moral compass enabling people to adapt to changing circumstances. The traditional wisdom at the core of this culture may transcend time and circumstance, but the way it is applied differs from one situation to another. It is the role of the family—that is, the extended network of kin and community—to demonstrate how traditional teachings are applied in everyday life.—1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. 1 ulture is a guide and a moral compass, as Images are often the most distinctive way in which the Report of the Royal Commission on Abo- an individual or a group expresses culture to the C riginal Peoples states. Aboriginal cultures outside world. The visual arts are explored in Chapter are rooted in an enduring relationship with the 16, including a look at the traditional art forms of the land; beliefs and values held by Aboriginal peoples interior and the coastal First Nations, and the impact reflect their unique world views, in which all of life that governmental policies had on their execution. is seen holistically. This is the way people expressed Additionally this chapter discusses the contemporary their cultures in the past. The elements of what we resurgence of the visual arts, which plays a role in classify today as “the Arts” were part of the whole rebuilding the identity of First Nations communities cultural fabric, integrating social, political, spiritual, and also offers significant career opportunities for and economic realms. The forces of colonialism, as Aboriginal artists. discussed in the previous chapters, severely disrupted Canadian society has in the past frequently stereo- many aspects of cultural expression, particularly the typed and misrepresented Aboriginal people in the oppressive policies which attempted to force all First media through ignorance and racism. These issues Nations people to abandon their languages and their are studied in Chapter 17, which presents a variety ceremonial practices. of ways that Aboriginal people have been (and still Today cultural expression is often a means of continue to be) represented in print, advertising, reasserting Aboriginal identity. By examining the and museums. The chapter concludes with some wisdom of the past, Aboriginal artists in contemporary highlights of positive cultural initiatives, featuring the society are able to bring into focus their own cultural achievements of a number of prominent Aboriginal beliefs and values and express them both for their own people. people and for the wider Canadian society. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Part Four focusses on cultural expression through calls for a renewed relationship between Aboriginal word and image. Chapter 14 looks at the importance and non-Aboriginal peoples built upon the principles of oral tradition in its many aspects, from storytelling of mutual recognition, mutual respect, sharing, and to political oratory. The modern extension of the mutual responsibility. Dynamic, rich, and diverse spoken word is the written word, and this is discussed expressions of the vitality and legitimacy of First in Chapter 15 through an examination of First Nations Nations and Métis cultures are important for building literature. The issue of cultural appropriation in mutual understanding in Canadian society. literature is also considered. The Fur Trade Era 209 David Neel, a Kwakwaka’wakw artist, dancing his Keeper of the Animals mask on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, in 1998. The mask is a representation of the endangered species of the world. 210 CHAPTER 14 Oral Traditions or countless centuries First Nations knowl- Stories and Narratives edge, traditions, and cultures have been passed F from one generation to another in stories and Stories and narratives have many elements in common narratives, as well as through songs, dances, and but can be distinguished from each other. Stories — ceremonial artifacts. Before Europeans arrived in B.C., often creation stories—are set long ago in a mythical First Nations had oral cultures; their languages had age; these stories communicate the moral traditions no written form. The oral tradition was integrated and knowledge of a people while telling of the into every facet of life and was the basis of the origins of the landscape and the human and animal education system. The education system in an oral inhabitants of the land. Such stories are often told tradition society is very precise and procedural: the in a performance setting and may be accompanied information is taught to the next generation exactly by songs and dances that extend their meaning. as it was taught to the one before. Stories are used Narratives meet a more concrete need and pass along because they are easier to remember: you learn by specific skills and knowledge or record oral history. listening closely and remembering. The oral tradition Formal oratory is another form of the oral tradition. passed on the spiritual beliefs of the people and the It is important to remember that the phrase “oral lineage of families. It recorded ownership of property tradition” does not have a single meaning but is and territory, political issues, legal proceedings, and expressed in rich traditions that vary from nation to survival skills. The oral tradition also mapped the nation. Each First Nation gives its own oral tradition geography of an area, and it recorded history. a name in its own language. For example: This chapter introduces some aspects of the oral • the Okanagan Nations use cepcaptikwl to tradition, a tradition that varies from nation to nation. pass historical narratives from generation to Drawing on examples from many First Nations, it generation; these narratives are owned by the looks at songs, stories of origins, Trickster stories, Okanagan Nations as a whole. family narratives, and formal oratory. All of these • the Wet’suwet’en call their historical narratives aspects of oral traditions continue to be an essential kungax; kungax are owned by the hereditary chiefs part of First Nations cultures in B.C. today. Although and clans of the Wet’suwet’en. today First Nations knowledge is often recorded • the Gitxsan’s narratives are called adaawk; they are in printed form, the oral tradition has a profound owned by individuals, clans, and family groups. significance for First Nations people, expressing who • the Stó:lø have sxwoxwiyám (stories) and Sqwélqwel they are in the world. (narratives); the first are stories from the ancient past and the second are more contemporary stories. ORAL TRADITIONS 211 • the Nlaka’pamux have two prominent types of First Nations people still use storytelling to teach oral traditions, speta’kl and spilaxem. The speta’kl skills. Here Gwen Point and Helen Joe of the Stó:lø Nation are (also spelled sptakwelh) are stories that refer to working with cedar bark, a traditional skill that has been events from the mythological age. They include passed down through many generations. creation stories, stories of the Transformers such and narratives, while in other cases, certain stories can as Coyote, and stories of characters such as Musk- be told by anyone. To repeat a First Nations story, one rat, Beaver, and Black Bear who also walked and needs to determine who is the owner of the story and talked in human form. The spilaxem (also spelled whether it is available to be retold. Permission must spilaxam) are non-creation stories such as hunting be obtained before a story is passed along. stories, news stories, and personal narratives. Once a spoken story has been committed to print, it becomes static. The printed form of a story from Each nation has its own traditions and procedures the oral tradition is sometimes referred to as “oral for its stories, and how they are to be told. In some literature.” It is no longer strictly oral. cases, individuals, families, or clans own the stories 212 B.C. First Nations Studies Songs of the Nisga’a half the population between 1860 and 1890, many of the oldest and best “songcatchers” died before they Historically among the Nisga’a, family histories and could pass on their musical heritage. lineages, prime hunting and fishing locations, songs of In 1927 two outsiders, Marius Barbeau, an love and loss, lullabies, and ancient tales of victories ethnologist, and Ernest MacMillan, an esteemed and defeats with rival tribes were passed down orally musician, visited the area northeast of Prince Rupert to through songs from generation to generation. When record the songs of the Nisga’a Nation using an Edison successive waves of smallpox and measles killed wax cylinder recording machine. Two elderly F IRST N ATIONS V OICES Nass River chiefs, Txalahaet (also known as Frank Bolton) and Pahl (Charles Barton) Jessie Gurney sang dozens of songs, some learned from their great-grandfathers. The songs contained Jessie Gurney is an Elder and a granddaughter of Txalahaet, who sang some of the traditional Nisga’a elaborate lyrics, complex polyrhythms, and songs that were recorded in 1927. When she heard a often enchanting melodies. CD of her grandfather singing, she said she was deeply For seven decades the wax recordings moved. She waited for almost eight decades to hear this were buried in the basement of the Canadian music—music that her own grandfather would not let Museum of Civilization. Only a small fraction her hear. were ever transcribed into music because I remember he took us children up to his fishing of the technical and financial challenges and hunting rounds, up the Nass. I heard him involved. Recently the National Library singing to himself, in Nisga’a, in the woods. I purchased a custom-made “Archeophone” can still remember his voice. I wanted to know that song, the words, how to sing it.

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