Herring Ball

Looked out the window today to see seagulls and eagles and diving birds furiously circling a turgid spot in the strait that was moving slowly north. The harbor seal was following near the shore. I called Ian to see and he said, "Herring ball." Of course, I wasn't able to get any pictures, but I looked it up and other people have photographed similar events.

This is what I was seeing.

Herring swim in big schools that are called balls. Fishermen call them bait balls and go through them with a net. They're a major food source for seabirds, eagles, seals, bigger fish and whales. They were over fished in the 60s and a ban was put on commercial fishing for a while. Only first nations and sport fisherman could catch them. Of course, the first nations people have been eating them for centuries and especially loved the roe. They put fir branches in the water near the spawning grounds and then harvested the roe. And who doesn't love a bit of pickled herring for breakfast?

Here are some youtube films of herring balls. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9bUlV8alj8&list=PL0CA821CEFBBC6CE5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS4kvi_Cmsw&list=PL0CA821CEFBBC6CE5

Why it's called Fir Street

This is my favorite walk down Fir Street away from the Village. Some of  these Douglas Firs are around 300 years old. When it rains, the pavement doesn't even get wet under their branches the needles are so thick. A few of them have been cut down. They're what gives the street its name and I love to walk under them.

It's so damp and fertile here. People grow a lot of beautiful flowers and vegetable gardens and struggle every spring to reclaim their yards from the overgrowth of grasses and vines and bushes.

Think these are foxgloves.

We're going to drive down to Nanaimo tomorrow to look at boats. In a way, I hate to leave the island for even a day. I've gotten used to the peace and silence. I don't want to see a city.

Full Moon Rising

The tide chart lists the full moon as today, June 23rd. This is last night's moon rise before it was it even very dark. Looks pretty full to me.

 The most extreme tides come at the full moon. The highest tide of the moon cycle is over 17 feet at about 2 am and the low one that follows it is .20 feet at about 9 am. I'm going to try to get up and look at them.

This is the Tommy Cod Ian caught from the fishing pier. He's going to catch a bigger one next time.

I picked this up for lunch from Betsy Blue's after working at the Thrift Shop again on Saturday.

National Aboriginal Day

The unrelenting social life of Alert Bay continued today with several events centered around National Aboriginal Day, set aside by the government to honor Canada's First Nations. The Namgis band started the day with a thanksgiving ceremony in the Big House, which we didn't get to.

 Followed by a picnic on the beach and the opening of a photography exhibit by ? (I can't remember his name, I'll have to look it up and put it in later). Anyway, he was photographer and poet in residence for Amnesty International for a while because of his work showing the struggles of indigenous people.



 

  One of the traditional canoes was there filling up with kids, paddling out a little way and coming back to discharge the group and pick up some more.

 

The weather turned hazy and warmer and the atmosphere on the beach was so peaceful. There were tables set up with hot dogs, buns, condiments, fruit, water, juice and cake. There were two fires on the beach and sharpened sticks for roasting the hot dogs.

People stood around the fires while kids splashed in the water and played in the trees on the grounds of the old St. Michael's school.

 St. Michael's was a school set up by the Anglicans and the government to "civilize" the native children. They were removed from their homes and brought to the boarding school. The same happened in the US. The Shawnee Mission School in Roeland Park is an example. The Namgis have  left the building to ruin. They had a healing ceremony a few years ago with elders who had been to school there.

After a couple of hot dogs, some watermelon and a piece of cake, Ian and I were ready for a nap!

Some odds and ends

Here are a few little random things that didn't seem to merit a whole page of their own
Our neighbors are interesting people. Christy and Jared, the couple that lives in the brown house are marine biologists who study the whale population here. Christy is a photographer and rushes out of the house with a gigantic camera every time a whale goes by. Since we've been here there's only been one. A solitary minkie. The rest of the time they're working on cataloging or are out in a boat.

In the white house on the other side is the captain of the ferry when he's not at home.

One door down from the ferry captain is the Alert Bay Lodge. It's been through a lot of different purposes. It used to be an Elder Hostel where groups would come to learn about killer whales and the First Nation culture of the island. It lets rooms right now and the summer managers are Rich and Emma from the north coast of Wales.





There are three churches on the island the old Anglican church, something called the House of Prayer and this little Catholic Church with a complicated schedule of masses. The priest only comes twice a month.

Clockwise around the collage: The old hospital crumbling into a ruin. The new one is beautiful. Old British buses belonging Colin Richie who owns a lot of property in Alert Bay, including the Seine Boat Inn. Really beautiful, large rooms right out over the water in an old wharf building. He lives in the little yellow house. The London taxi cab is parked in front of his hotel.

The little green boat with the net floats is called the Necklace. The wood shed belongs to the wood working artist. We see the fellow in this beautiful canoe paddling around once in a while.

The Van Isle 360 passed by the house a few days ago. They had just left Telegraph Cove where they had stopped for the night. There were probably 40 or so sail boats of different classes from really big with a crew of 8 to really small with a couple of people on board.

 It's a sailing race that goes all the way around the island about 500 miles. One the most unusual ones was this catamaran with Chines style sails and dragons on the sides.

 These two pictures aren't a perfect match but this is one of the old growth trees up on the mountain. Who knows how many hundreds of years old it its.

Walking the trails

I don't know how the Deer Trail got its name because there are no deer on the island. The woman in the information center said there was no wildlife on the island at all. It's strange not to see squirrels everywhere. I know there are rats. Ian had to have them removed from under the house once.

The trail is mossy and undulating. The ground is soft and spongy. Moss and lichen and fungus are everywhere.

Mossy, did I say it was mossy? There a few old growth trees. They never really die, though. They spout new trees from their decaying trunks.

Lots of moss and ferns and the forest was open airy in most places

There was a side trail that led to the beach. You could see Malcolm Island, the biggest island in the area and Port McNeill across the strait.

The Deer Trail starts across from this cemetery which is Christian but true to the First Nation culture of its inhabitants. The whole place is well-tended and many of the graves are getting new concrete

boundaries. The workers weren't there today but we saw their frames and other materials. The boundaries have the shape of a cross or a heart in the center. People leave flowers and items that their 

loved ones like.

The Raven Trail was darker and denser with a lot more deciduous trees. It started with steep climb that literally took my breath away.

There were several sections where the trail turned into dim tunnels of vegetation. The trail wasn't as well maintained as some of the others. We had to splash around several muddy, swampy parts.

 A wrong turn at a trail junction led us out onto the beach and we had some rough going on the stony beach. It's like walking on a cobble stone road that's been hit by an earthquake. The rocks shift and roll under your feet. Ian very kindly did not take a picture of me wobbling along with a driftwood walking stick I picked up, cursing and groaning under my breath. Still, well worth the struggle. The aches and pains are forgotten after a few ibuprophin and a lie-down!

Children's Cultural Presentation

Yesterday we went to the Big House, what the ceremonial building for the Namgis is called, to see a presentation by students from 1st to 7th grade from the local school. Kids in the higher grades go across to Port McNiell for school. It was to celebrate the end of school and show what the students had learned from the traditional culture integrated into the curriculum. I'm pretty sure these are from the 1st grade.

The teachers were great, getting them prepared and giving them last minute instructions and retying aprons when they  fell off. She was reminding them that was no smiling in the dance. They had to look serious.

The Big House is the size of a basketball stadium and has cedar bleachers all the way around except for the front. The big log drum is at the front and the elders sit in front of it. There's a fire pit in the middle and an opening in the roof for the smoke to go out. There's some additional lighting but it's generally dim and smokey which adds to the mystery of the ceremonial dances. I can't explain all the dances. Most of them are invoking various spirits and telling stories. The kids did a good job. There must have been about 10 kids drumming.

Here's a link to a little film clip showing a scan of the Big House, part of the Wolf dance and a bit of the  dancers and people from the audience circling the fire at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPUEkmQ828k


                                                                                            These are the totems that flank
                                                                                              the front door.
The elders sit in the front in front of the drum/log.

There were two dancers with these birdlike masks that

are associated with an evil spirit that makes the 

people crave human flesh. 

(To be avoided, I imagine.)

There were four little boys doing this dance representing bears.









The blankets are traditionally blue felt with red appliques adorned with white buttons. Before they had these trade items, they wove cedar strips into capes and coverings.

This was a dance for women and involved a lot of whirling and and back and forth movement. The speed and rhythm of the dances are all controlled by the drum beat and singing.








There were several boys dressed in white with bulging eyed masks rattling clam shells and it had to do with the Coast Salish bands and being connected by marriage.

Ian's blog probably has more reliable information. He actually researches the things he writes instead of spreading misinformation like I do. summerinalertbay.blogspot.com (Ian's blog) It was a really fun evening and ended with people from the bleachers going down to join the dancers circling the fire with black and white feathers.

At the very end the hosts of the event, the school and the kids, put a blanket in front of the elders and filled it with home-canned salmon and vegetables and euchalun oil and fruit. After it had all been displayed, the kids distributed it to the the people in the audience. This is a version of the traditional Namgis Potlach, where all the wealth of a group is given away. It's a generous society and there were no war dances.