Prince Rupert, British Columbia
On a silvery morning we slip into Prince Rupert harbor. This is only one of two seaports in western Canada connected by rail and road to the east, the other being Vancouver. We clear customs and immigration and bus or walk to the nearby Museum of Northern British Columbia. This new dramatic structure is built of huge cedar logs in the style of coastal natives. Modern exhibits specialize in the local Tsimshian tribe and depict a wide range of stone bowls, petroglyphs, masks, argillite and wooden totem poles, drums, Chilkat and button blankets, feast dishes and bent-wood boxes. Depicted in the photograph is a portrait mask of an old woman by Haida artist Freda Deising. Expert docents lead us around the exhibits and provide a commentary that helps to bind this exotic functional art together. A pause in the excellent gift shop arms us for return to our friends and family back home.
We then walk a hundred yards to the feast house, again constructed in traditional style with large cedar beams. Here we enjoy a traditional feast, beginning with a formal introduction of two of our chiefs, then speeches, story telling of myths and dances led by a member of the raven clan. Everybody receives gifts of a wooden spoon and nutritious, delicious, dried sea weed. We leave with a much better idea of truly exceptional culture that lives here on the coast now and far back in time.
As we continue south towards Seattle we enjoy high tea and rare cheeses and sweets. Gretchen then lectures to us on the amazing life history of the seabirds we have been seeing completing a full day.
On a silvery morning we slip into Prince Rupert harbor. This is only one of two seaports in western Canada connected by rail and road to the east, the other being Vancouver. We clear customs and immigration and bus or walk to the nearby Museum of Northern British Columbia. This new dramatic structure is built of huge cedar logs in the style of coastal natives. Modern exhibits specialize in the local Tsimshian tribe and depict a wide range of stone bowls, petroglyphs, masks, argillite and wooden totem poles, drums, Chilkat and button blankets, feast dishes and bent-wood boxes. Depicted in the photograph is a portrait mask of an old woman by Haida artist Freda Deising. Expert docents lead us around the exhibits and provide a commentary that helps to bind this exotic functional art together. A pause in the excellent gift shop arms us for return to our friends and family back home.
We then walk a hundred yards to the feast house, again constructed in traditional style with large cedar beams. Here we enjoy a traditional feast, beginning with a formal introduction of two of our chiefs, then speeches, story telling of myths and dances led by a member of the raven clan. Everybody receives gifts of a wooden spoon and nutritious, delicious, dried sea weed. We leave with a much better idea of truly exceptional culture that lives here on the coast now and far back in time.
As we continue south towards Seattle we enjoy high tea and rare cheeses and sweets. Gretchen then lectures to us on the amazing life history of the seabirds we have been seeing completing a full day.
