[BCMA] First Peoples - Wonder Sunday for Families

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February 16, 2012



Museum Family Event Exploring First Peoples' Life



Victoria - At the next Wonder Sunday, 1 to 3 pm on Feb. 26, families will hear from a First Nations storyteller, watch a drum-maker at work, find out how pit-houses were built, sketch animal symbols, see moccasins being made, use their teeth to make "birch bark" art and enjoy dances of the Kwakwaka'wakw culture. February's Wonder Sunday is on the third floor of the Royal BC Museum.



This event focuses on the past and present of First Nations in British Columbia. Children can learn about the totem poles in the gallery then draw and use stamps to create their own pole and write its story. Families find out what life in the Pit-house, the Ktunaxa encampment or the Skedans village might have been like. Kids can also explore the deeper past with hands-on learning games featuring tools similar to those found in archaeological digs.



Haida storyteller Kung Jaadee is a singer, storyteller, and drummer. She has performed for nearly twenty years and is originally from Haida Gwaii though she has also lived in Yellowknife and Winnipeg, where she served as Storyteller-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture. Her stories tell of a time when the animals taught people how to be true haada laas (good people). Kung Jaadee's name, Woman in the Moon, is the personal crest she wears on her button blanket.



Judy Elk will show how moccasins are made. Here in BC, this footwear created from tanned animal hides was most often made and worn by the peoples of the interior plateau.



Drum maker Jorge Lewis is a First Nations artist from the Snuneymuxw nation of Nanaimo, and is a descendant of shamans, mask dancers and chiefs. Jorge believes that drumming helps people become spiritually centred and connects the inner self with all that surrounds us.



The event's closing ceremonies, will include the masks and regalia of the Le-La-La Dancers and dancing of the Kwakwaka'wakw culture.



Activities for this Wonder Sunday were selected or created by the museum's program developers in partnership with Leslie McGarry, Culture and Community Liaison with the Victoria Native Friendship Centre.



Wonder Sunday is a monthly family event designed for children and their parents or guardians to enjoy the afternoon together at the Royal BC Museum. The Wonder Sunday First Peoples activities do not require pre-registration and take place from 1 to 3 pm on Feb 26. Wonder Sunday is included with museum admission or membership.



This event is preceded by a Royal BC Museum Kids' Club activity. Kids' Club members will be learning about the Potlatch and making their own Potlatch pouch beginning at 12:30 pm sharp in the Student Lunchroom on the main floor (limited to 30 pre-registered kids). To find out more about the Kids' Club, contact membership at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca<mailto:membership at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca> or call 250-387-3287.



About the Royal BC Museum
As the provincial museum and archives, the Royal BC Museum preserves and shares the stories of British Columbia - on-site, off-site and online - through its research, collections, exhibitions, publications and educational programs.  Its two-hectare cultural precinct in Victoria also includes a number of historically significant buildings and First Nations sites; and its seasonal satellite museum gallery in Vancouver showcases BC's history in one of the oldest buildings in Chinatown - Wing Sang.

For more information about the Royal BC Museum, visit www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca or
call 1-888-447-7977.
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Media contact:
Royal BC Museum Media Enquiries
250-387-3207
news at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca


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