Thursday, September 16, 2021

Beginning

 The Canadian History Hall is divided into three gallery spaces, reorganized in time for Canada 150 in 2017. The first one starts essentially with time immemorial and goes until the end of the French and Indian War. Archaeology and oral storytelling are the only ways we know about life in North America thousands of years ago. This space starts off with a video display, told by an Anishinabe elder in her language, with French and English subtitles at the bottom of the screen, about how the world came into being.


First Nations and other indigenous peoples of pre-Contact times are examined by geographical area as the gallery unfolds. We start with those peoples of the Great Plains, for whom the bison was sacred.


A display case includes a bison skull and spear points.


A poster. Today Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


A model is set up of the buffalo jump, with commentary from an elder playing on the screen above about the practices and rituals of the hunt.

32 comments:

  1. Must´ve been great! In Kings Park, Perth we saw and heard something similar. Great that these languages are preserved.

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  2. I have seen the buffalo jump on television. An awwful sight.

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  3. Always makes me feel sorry for the buffalo.

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  4. Essential to know the origin of s nation.

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  5. @Linda: very much so.

    @Iris: that it is.

    @Marleen: it was a way of life.

    @Nancy: quite educational.

    @David: true, but they respected the animal far more than white people.

    @Francisco: thank you.

    @Italiafinlandia: true.

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  6. Hello,

    I like the video display! Take care, enjoy your day!

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  7. I was horrified when I learned about the buffalo stampede. But as you say, it was a way of life. :-(

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  8. Whomever developed this museum really knew what they were doing!

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  9. ...there are so many beginnings.

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  10. It looks like that video might make one feel like they are floating in space.

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  11. A wonderful exhibit and a great learning too.l

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  12. Buffalo deaths, food source as they may be, feels sad and a brutal way to die.

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  13. @Eileen: thank you.

    @Gemel: they are extraordinary animals.

    @DJan: at least these people held them in great esteem and used everything. The systematic slaughter by white men in the 19th century was an atrocity.

    @Jeanie: it was a suitable redesign.

    @Tom: there are.

    @RedPat: indeed.

    @Sharon: it feels that way.

    @Bill: definitely.

    @Maywyn: indeed.

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  14. Love the idea of the prehistory told in an Aboriginal language!

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  15. Es interesante saber , como se inició la historia de nuestro país y del resto del mundo.

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  16. Wow! Another great exhibit filled with historical info ~

    Living in the Moment,

    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  17. Nice! I'd like to go there and learn about the history.

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