Monday, December 5, 2022

From One Cataclysm To Another

This is the ceremonial headdress of Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow, the most decorated Indigenous soldier in Canadian history. Following the First World War, he would serve his people as a councillor and chief, and then at the national level.


One of the last to die in World War One, and certainly the last Canadian soldier, was Private George Price.


Canada had gone to war from the start, and the cost was staggering. 66 000 dead (over one in ten of those who enlisted), with far more wounded.


Memorializing them happened in stained glass windows, cenotaphs, and gravestones.


From one global war to the next. The failure to resolve the First World War created the conditions for the Second World War. In Europe and Asia tyrants rose to power in Germany, Italy, and Japan, unchecked by the rest of the world. This car starts off the Second World War gallery in the museum, and once belonged to Hitler. Captured by American soldiers at the end of the war, it ended up here.

40 comments:

  1. That's an impressive headdress.
    War after war, after war, after ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Really impressed by the head dress. So dazzling

    ReplyDelete
  3. The combination of beatiful feathers and intricate beadwork on the headdress is exquisite.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello,
    The headdress is beautiful and I love the stained glass. Take care, enjoy your day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ...here, indigent people have never received the credit that they deserve.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Seeing the swastika is rather chilling.

    ReplyDelete
  7. When you look back it was a very dangerous situation with the tyrants.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Siempre hay dirigentes que incitan a la guerra y con el paso del tiempo la historia los pone en su sitio.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Beautiful indigenous head dress and lovely stain glass memorial ~

    Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's very colourful and would've stood out nicely, I wonder what birds the feathers were taken from?

    ReplyDelete
  11. The stained glass is magnificent.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love how those feathers looks like a sunflower. And oh, what gorgeous stained glass.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The ceremonial headdress is spectacular.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Even though I deeply believe it to be true, it is often hard to accept the fact that we have to remember history even the horrible parts. ... I'm glad you included some beauty -- the head dress and the artglass along with the memories of evil.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Excellent honouring First Nations.

    ReplyDelete