Tuesday's Folklore Photo - Gosine's Grocery Store, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's

This week's folklore photo is of the former Gosine's Store, in Portugal Cove- St. Philip's. Katie Harvey, one of our youth speakers at our upcoming Youth Heritage Forum, collected the photo during her work as heritage researcher for the town.

Katie writes,

"This is a photograph of Gosine's Grocery Store which was located at 25 Hardings Hill in the 1950s. It was a two storey grocery store. The house that is in its location now is brand new, so unfortunately there is no trace of this store left."

The photo will be part of a collection of photographs and interviews from Portugal Cove- St. Philips, soon to be added to Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative.

Youth Heritage Forum 2015 Guest Speaker - Katie Harvey

Guest Speaker: Katie Harvey

Katie Harvey is a 22 year old folklorist whose primary interest is museology. Since beginning her career in the heritage sector in 2009, she has worked in a variety of capacities with the Cupids Legacy Centre, The Rooms Provincial Museum, The Museum of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove and The Railway Coastal Museum. She obtained her B.A. in Folklore from Memorial University in 2014, and has plans to return to complete her M.A. in Folklore.

Why are you passionate about heritage?

Ever since I was a little girl I remember being fascinated with the past, and the ways in which we choose to preserve it. I'm passionate about heritage because it shows us the path which led to where we are today. It tells us a little bit about ourselves and those who lived before us. Our heritage is all around us, and can be studied in everything that we do. Museums are particularly interesting to me because they preserve artifacts and knowledge that might otherwise have been lost or forgotten. They offer a rare glimpse into the past, educating us in a variety of ways. It is so important that our customs, traditions and heritage are not forgotten, because it is a part of our identity, and we can always learn from it.

Want to hear more from Katie? Join us for Youth Heritage Forum 2015!

Registration forms can be downloaded here! 
Keep up to date, join our Youth Heritage Forum Facebook Event!

Join us for Heritage Day at the Fluvarium this Monday (Feb 16th)

The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) will be celebrating national Heritage Day on Monday (February 16th), at 10:30 a.m., at The Suncor Energy Fluvarium, 5 Nagle’s Place, St. John’s.

Mr. Kevin Parsons, MHA for the District of Cape St. Francis and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development - along with representatives from the education and heritage communities and municipal and provincial governments - will join HFNL as the winners of this year’s provincial Heritage Places Poster Contest are announced. Over 1000 students from 50 schools across the province produced submissions for the contest. This contest was open to all schools in the province, and was organized through HFNL. The winning submission is featured on the Foundation's poster promoting Heritage Day in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mackenzie Boyde, a grade 11 student at Marystown Central High School, Marystown, submitted the overall winning submission – a depiction of the Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Registered Heritage Structure and National Historic Site in St. John’s.

The winning submissions at the other grade levels are: 

Primary – Jakson Ganz, Grade 3, Immaculate Heart of Mary School, Corner Brook for his depiction of Bacalhao Island Lighttower Recognized Federal Heritage Building,

Elementary – Emma Tetford, Grade 6, Amalgamated Academy, Bay Roberts for her depiction of Western Union Cable Building Registered Heritage Structure in Bay Roberts and,

Junior High – Nathan Corrigan, Grade 8, Stella Maris Academy, Trepassey for his depiction of Cape Spear Lighttower Recognized Federal Heritage Building.

Judges for the event included Margaret Walsh Best, artist and art educator; and Debra A. Barnable, visual artist and consultant. Please visit our website at www.heritagefoundation.ca to view the winners.

The Foundation is also encouraging municipalities and heritage groups throughout the province to celebrate their heritage by holding a Heritage Day Proclamation and calling upon their citizens to celebrate their rich and diverse history.

Heritage Day is celebrated on the third Monday of February each year. It is an opportunity to explore the past and to discover what shaped our communities and our history.

The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador is a non-profit organization which was established by the Provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1984 to stimulate an understanding of and an appreciation for the architectural heritage of the province.

For Further Information Contact:

Andrea O’Brien
andrea@heritagefoundation.ca
1-888-739-1892 ext 4 1-888-739-1892 ext 1

Join us for "The Fishing Grounds of Cupids" sharing session

On Wednesday February 11th at 7 pm, the Cupids Legacy Centre will be hosting a sharing session on "The Fishing Grounds of Cupids". Please join us and bring along your stories and knowledge of traditional fishing in the Cupids area.

We look forward to seeing you and hearing about your fishing experiences!

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Facey's Taxi Stand, Twillingate

It's been a while since we posted one of our Folklore Photos. So here is a gem, from Twillingate, showing the Facey's Taxi Stand.

The date on this is uncertain. I'm sure someone out there can offer some suggestions, either a Twillingate native, or a expert on vintage automobiles! If you have thoughts, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

Update 11 Feb 2015:

Helen White writes: ' The date of this picture I would assume would be 1931 or 32. The stand was owned by my Grandfather, Silas Facey who is the gentleman in the picture, the little boy is his grandson Walter Facey. Silas Facey died August 25th 1935 at age 69. He also owned the Tinsmith Shop across the road from the Stand."

Help find the missing words to "Here we go down, Sir Johnny Brown"

I recently wrote an article for The Telegram on singing games we used to play, about three traditional games: "Little Sally Saucer," "King William was King George's Son," and "Ring Around the Rosie." You can read more on "Little Sally" on author Leslie Lindsay's blog.

This morning, I received a response from Rosemary Thorne. Thorne now lives in St. John's, but was born in the early 1960s in Thornlea, Trinity Bay. She remembers playing Little Sally Saucer and Ring Around the Rosie.

Another song game she remembered was "Here we go down, Sir Johnny Brown," but she could not remember all the lyrics to the first verse of the song. Here is what Thorne remembers:

Here we go down, Sir Johnny Brown
This is the way to London town
.... here
.... by
Don't you hear your true love cry

On the carpet (carver?) here she stands
Take your true love by the hand
[Take] the one that you love best
Pick her out from all the rest

What a heck of a choice you made
You better be home and in your bed
Since you can no longer stay
Give her a kiss and send her away.

A quick internet search reveals little on "Sir Johnny Brown," but does turn up this fabulous query to the "Correct Manners" section on Page 13 of the Ottawa Citizen, for Monday, 1 February 1926:

Is the letter in question addressed to a real child named John Brown, or would Sir Johnny Brown be a name known to a child, presumably through some version of the rhyme related by Thorne? Does anyone have a memory of this rhyme or song? Any thoughts on the missing words? And who exactly is Sir Johnny Brown, Esq? 

Email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca if you have a lead! And I'll have none of your "monkey-shining," please.

update 9 Feb 2015:

I found this counting-out rhyme, from Indiana, printed in 1888 in "The Counting-Out Rhymes of Children: Their Antiquity, Origin, and Wide Distribution - a study in Folk Lore" by Henry Carrington Bolton (noted American chemist, bibliographer of science, lecturer, folklorist, photographer, and one of the founders of the American Folklore Society):

Oh! Johnny Brown
He went to town
Three score miles and ten;
He went at night
By candle light
And never got home again.

Youth Heritage Forum 2015 Guest Speaker - Crystal Braye

Guest Speaker: Crystal Braye

Crystal Braye received her Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2008 before completing her Masters of Arts in Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. During her time at MUN, Crystal’s work focused on documenting root cellars for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador,  with additional research on Newfoundland’s “Screech-In” customs and mummering traditions. She is presently on the board of directors for the Mummers Festival and has been working as a folklorist for the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador [WBMBL] since 2012. Crystal is responsible for WBMNL’s cultural heritage research which includes the documentation of traditional design, construction and use of wooden boats in their unique community contexts and the collection of stories and experiences of the people who built and used wooden boats throughout the province.

Why are passionate about heritage?

My passion for heritage comes from my interest in understanding the ways our culture (including our customs, beliefs and practices) shape our everyday experiences and perceptions of the world around us. Through an understanding of our tangible and intangible cultural heritage, we can gain new insights on contemporary experiences and develop appreciation for the simple things in everyday life we too often take for granted.

Want to hear more from Crystal? Join us for Youth Heritage Forum 2015!

Registration forms can be downloaded here! 
Keep up to date, join our Youth Heritage Forum Facebook Event!

Up and running with Play and Games

On Tuesday, February 3rd, Hoist your Sails and Run got off to a fine start. Folklorists and folklore students met with 8 tradition-bearers at MacMorran Community Centre to talk about where they grew up, what their neighbourhoods were like, and how they used to have fun.

We talked about alleys (marbles), jacks, skipping rope, Bonfire Night, and getting up to mischief. We shared memorable Christmastime traditions, remembered the old shops in downtown St. John's, and the events they found most exciting as children. Teresa Boland remembers watching for the Peanut Man: a man dressed head to toe as a peanut with a top hat and monocle who delivered bags of salted peanuts to waiting children on special occasions.

We even played a few schoolyard games ourselves, and we topped the morning off with a delicious lunch of sandwiches and chicken soup, made by Marg Connolly, who has lived in the community for 77 years.

Next week, we'll meet again to look over childhood photos, and the folklore students will pair off with tradition bearers to do the interviews that will become the content for the booklet. Keep an eye on this blog for updates as we start to put the pieces together!

For more information about Hoist your Sails and Run, contact me here or at 709-739-1892 ext 3.

Youth Heritage Forum 2015 Poster

Check it out! The poster for Youth Heritage Forum 2015, March 7th, 2015. Poster designed by Graham Blair Designs

Registration form can be downloaded here!

Youth Heritage Forum 2015 Guest Speaker - Lisa M. Daly

With the Youth Heritage Forum just weeks away it's time we get to know a bit about our guest speakers! We'll be profiling one of our youth speakers each week leading up to the forum, and to get the gears turning I asked each of them why are you passionate about heritage? 

Guest Speaker: Lisa M. Daly

Lisa M. Daly has been working in the heritage sector since 2001, first with the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, then Parks Canada, and now as a tour guide, both independent and with Wildland Tours. She holds a B.A. in archaeology from MUN, a M.Sc. in forensic and biological anthropology from Bournemouth University, and is in the process of completing a Ph.D. in archaeology from MUN. Her study focus is aviation in Newfoundland and Labrador. Up to now, most of her academic work has focused on World War II aviation in Gander, Goose Bay and Stephenville, but she has also done some work on pre- and post-war aviation history in the province. She is also collecting stories and images of the Hindenburg as it flew over Newfoundland. In her free time, she loves to explore the beauty and culture of the province. Follow her work on Twitter, @planecrashgirl, or her blog, www.planecrashgirl.ca.

Why are you passionate about heritage?

I am passionate about heritage because it is who we are. Our culture, history, landscape, etc. it all shapes us as individuals and as a people. Exploring heritage allows us to learn about ourselves and our neighbours, and gives us the opportunity to bring new people into that culture. Wherever I go, I  try to imerse myself in a community as best I can, and I try to give that experience to visitors as a tour guide. The challenge is to do that when exploring on a tour bus. As an archaeologist, I am fortunate to get to talk to people about the history and stories of an area. Sometimes what I find in the material culture doesn't agree with those stories, but it certainly leads to great discussion and doesn't take away from the importance of those stories to the community.

Want to hear more from Lisa? Join us for Youth Heritage Forum 2015!

Registration forms can be downloaded here! 
Keep up to date, join our Youth Heritage Forum Facebook Event!

For more information about Youth Heritage Forum 2015 contact Alanna at 1(888)739-1892 [Ext 5] or by email alanna@heritagefoundation.ca 

About to hoist sail!

The smiling faces ready to collect memories!

It's here! It's here! Hoist your Sails and Run is about to take off!

On Tuesday, we introduced Jim Crockwell of the MacMorran Community Centre to the MUN Public Folklore Class. Jim gave us a great presentation about the history of the centre, the services they offer, and the community that avails of them: all useful context for the students about to go in. We covered some last-minute logistics and questions, and we are ready to go!

Hoist your Sails and Run begins this Tuesday, February 3rd! Watch this space for updates as we start the conversation about play and games with tradition-bearers!

If you're interested in joining us or in sharing your memories of play and games, please contact me at 739-1892 ext 3 or by email.

Youth Forum News, Memories of Childhood, and Fisheries Architecture

In the January 2015 edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update newsletter: Alanna Wicks invites youth aged 18-35 to the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador's first Youth Heritage Forum, set for March 7th, 2015 in St. John's; Sharon King-Campbell interviews Berkley Reynolds about his memories of growing up in Salmon Cove, as part of the Hoist Your Sails and Run games research project (including a fabulous story about cheating time in order to squeeze in an extra hour of cards); Memorial University of Newfoundland is seeking organizations who would be willing to host interns through the Department of Folklore's public folklore co-op MA programme; and Dale Jarvis provides an overview of the Fisheries Heritage Preservation Program and its work to safeguard the vernacular architecture of the traditional fishery in the province.

Contributors: Dale Jarvis, Sharon King-Campbell, Rebecca Newhook, Alanna Wicks.

Download the newsletter in pdf or other formats.

Photo: Berkley Reynolds, circa 1955. Courtesy Berkley Reynolds.

Co-op intern possibilities for Newfoundland and Labrador non-profit organizations

Memorial University Master of Arts, Folklore co-op students are seeking full-time, paid work terms of at least 12 weeks duration from May to August. Co-op folklore students work in a wide range of areas including archiving, curating, cultural documentation, tourism, culture and economic development and festivals/public events.

Do you have a project or program that a public folklorist could contribute to over the summer?

Organizations that hire co-op students are eligible to apply for a wage subsidy to cover up to $6/hr of the student’s wage. More information is available at http://www.mun.ca/coop/employers/funding/. Applications are now being accepted from small business and non-profit organizations.

Contact Rebecca Newhook on (709) 864-4098 or rnewhook@mun.ca for more information.

Making an indoors in the outdoors

In December, I asked Vida Edwards about indoor games she played when she was growing up in Trout River. This was her answer:

 “Let’s face it, when you’re growing up in Newfoundland and you have a little small house and it’s six and seven kids and the house is probably I’m thinking maybe 900 sq feet, you don’t have a lot of space, (…) you don’t want to be inside.”

She has a point: indoor space was at a premium. So some children built themselves some outdoor space that still provided a bit of shelter from our fine Newfoundland weather.

The Dictionary of Newfoundland English has an entry for just such a structure; “copy house” is defined as “a little house built by children.” Paula Roberts remembers one in particular in Clarenville:

“We built a fort up behind Randy’s house and I remember he was nailing from the top and I was nailing from in the fort, and I stood up and one of the nails wasn’t driven in and I drove the nail into my head.”

Aside from that memorable incident, Paula and her friends spent most of their time pretending to be baking, making mud cakes and serving them to guests on plates made of wooden planks.

Photo provided by PANL

In the winter, of course, the building materials changed, but the idea was the same. Paula recalls digging out from mounds of snow left in their yard by the plow. She says,

“Building snow forts was mostly what we would spend our time at. In the same area that you’d be making up the mud cakes and everything in the summer, you’d be building snow forts, and creating benches, and everything.”

Winston Fiander’s snow houses in Coomb’s Cove were even more sophisticated.

“We used to make the walls perpendicular, and then we’d get pieces of lumber and put across the top, and put snow on top of the lumber,” he said. They’d care for and maintain their houses all winter long, and hope that it stayed cold.

“Of course you had to be careful now when you got a mild spell because the thing would collapse on ya. Weren’t allowed to go in there.”

If you built a play or copy house, or a snow house, and would like to share your memories, please consider participating in the Hoist your Sails and Run project (see here), filling out our online survey (here), or contacting me at 739-1892 ext 3 or by email here.

PSA: Youth Heritage Forum, March 7th

The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Intangible Cultural Heritage office is looking for youth representatives from local heritage organizations and community groups to attend our upcoming Youth Heritage Forum. We hope to bring together youth, ages 18-35, from various backgrounds to discuss heritage and what they would like to see happen in this field in the future.

Heritage organizations and community groups in the Avalon Region are invited to nominate 1-2 youth representatives to attend.

If you are a youth passionate about heritage and would like to become involved please contact Alanna Wicks at 1-888-739-1892 [Ex 5] or email to alanna@heritagefoundation.ca

Listen to Alanna speak with VOCM's Paddy Daly:

Bringing Together Youth and Heritage

Hello out there!

My name is Alanna Wicks and I’ve just come on with the ICH Office as the Youth Heritage Forum Coordinator. My background is in Anthropology and Folklore and since finishing up my MA in Public Folklore in 2012 I have spent my time working and volunteering with archives and community groups in St. John’s, NL and Halifax, NS.

I’ll be hanging out around the ICH Office for the next couple of months organizing an exciting new forum for the youth of our community to come together and talk about heritage and what that word means to them. Being a youth in this community myself (30 is just around the corner!) I know that there are many more individuals like myself that have a great interest in what’s happening in and around our community and would love a place to talk to like minded folks about just that.

The Youth Heritage forum will bring together individuals, aged 18 to 35, from various backgrounds to hear from their peers who are working and involved in the field of heritage, and to engage in an informal discussion about heritage and their place in the community. We want to hear what young people think and feel about heritage and what they would like to see happen within this area in the future. Participants of the forum will also be invited to discuss the creation of a new youth heritage committee that would meet in the future to discuss what’s happening in the field of heritage and to stay informed about opportunities, projects, events, and so on.

The Youth Heritage Forum will take place March 7th, 2015 at The Lantern, 10am to 2pm.

Entertainment and lunch will be provided.

If you’re interested in join the forum or would like more information please contact me at 739-1892 or alanna.wicks@gmail.com

Research question: Esquimaux murdered at Keatulik Island

I had an interesting research question this week. A colleague came across this entry, on the Newfoundland's Grand Banks webpage "1926 News and Events of the Year from The St. John's Daily News"

The page lists a short death notice from May 11, 1926.  The item reads, simply, "An Esquimaux Tuite murdered at Keatulik Island."

The Daily News for 1926 is not yet scanned on Memorial University's Digital Archives Collection, and I've not verified that the spelling on the website is a correct transcription.  

Does anyone have suggestions about the location of Keatulik Island? Somewhere in Labrador, perhaps? Or do you have some thoughts on the word "Tuite"? Is it a person's name, or does it refer to a group of people? 

If you have thoughts or theories, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

- Dale Jarvis

Building your own fun

Have you ever made yourself a toy?

I bet you have. I bet you've made a kite, or a spinning top, or a model boat. I bet you've tied a loop of string for Cat's Cradle, or picked out a good stick for a bat before playing ball.

I made a top out of paper this morning. 

See? It spins and everything!

A few decades ago, in most of this province, toys weren't available in stores year round, if ever. Kids had to make their own.

Winston Fiander grew up in Coomb's Cove, Fortune Bay, and he had a few tricks up his sleeve when it came to making his own fun.

"We used to make these slingshots. (...) you'd take a piece of line (...) looped, and in the base of that loop would be a couple of pieces of line where you could support a rock. And so we would have it rigged so that you put your finger through a loop in the end of the line, and you caught a hold of the line with your finger and thumb, and you just put a rock in it, and you'd wind it round and round and round and then you'd let it go. (...) And it would go, geez, it's amazing how far the rock would go."

When we got to talking about hockey, he told me he and his friends had a puck to play with, but they made their own sticks.

"We used to make them out of wood. Well, you know how they used to make timbers for boats (...) you just go into the woods and you find a stick that looked like a hockey stick (...) bent already and you chop it off and bring it home and shave it down a bit and there you are, you got a hockey stick."

Paula Roberts, from Clarenville, did some quite ambitious building with her friends:

"Somebody threw out a baby buggy once, and I remember... we took the wheels off of that and made the wickedest go-carts."

And then, they hit the jackpot of scavenged building (and bouncing) materials.

"Somebody had thrown out a mattress, and we tore the mattress apart, and all the springs that were inside the mattress, we took and attached them to our feet, and made like bungee, springy things. (...) I'd say for about two weeks we were occupied by tearing up that mattress. But the wood that was inside the mattress we used for the go-carts."

If you'd like to take part in ICH's Hoist your Sails and Run project, or talk to us about toys or game equipment that you once made, please drop me a line here or by phone at 739-1892 ext 3.

Starting the New Year with play and games!

It's a snowy old day here in St. John's, and as I watch the snow blow in diagonals from the warm side of the windows in the quiet ICH office (Dale is being an Intangible Cultural Heritage rock star in ASIA, and I'm sure he'll tell you all about it when he gets home), I am thinking about how much I used to love weather like this. You remember: back when the snow meant sliding and snowmen and forts and snowball fights, instead of shoveling the driveway 3 times in a 24-hour period and falling down twice (TWICE!) on your way in to work.

The view from ICH today. Good luck out there, City of St. John's truck.

But then I got excited, because I realized that the good old days I was just thinking of are some of the same days that we get to talk about in the Hoist your Sails and Run project, and that project is just ramping up!

I've been doing some interviews with the folks who have already filled out our survey about play and games (you can too! Click here), and I haven't had one yet where we didn't talk about sliding. Everyone seems to remember sliding on the perfect hill, whether they were on a wood slide borrowed from their father, or a discarded plastic bag, or a pilfered pizza pan.

We're going to be meeting on Tuesday mornings in February at MacMorran Community Centre, and talking about sliding and any number of other ways we used to play!

If you're interested in becoming a part of this project, please email me or be in touch by phone at 709-739-1892 ext 3, and tell me your sliding memories!

Hauling Pinkston's Forge: Heritage Building On the Move in Brigus

I've written before about the Pinkston's Forge in Brigus, Conception Bay. The Brigus Historical Society has been working to document it's oral history and stories. The photo above, from July 28th, 2014, shows Muriel Pinkston Wells, John Pinkston, and interviewer Dale Russell Fitzpatrick --  you can read and listen to their interview on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative (DAI).

It has been important to the Brigus Historical Society to document what they can about the forge, because the building had to be removed from its original location. Yesterday, December 15th, was moving day. The building had been covered in plywood to keep it together during the move, and hoisted up onto a sledge made of long wooden poles. A local company was hired to facilitate the move, and a crowd gathered to watch the old blacksmith shop be hauled to its new home near the Brigus Stone Barn museum. The old forge squeaked over the little bridge near Hawthorne Cottage, with only inches to spare on either side, and was then dragged to the new concrete pad that had been erected to receive the forge.

CBC has story on the move, and you can check out some photos on YouTube.

Exploring placemaking, the fishery, and traditional games

In the December 2014 edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador: the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) explores membership with the Inter-City Intangible Cultural Cooperation Network (ICCN); some thoughts on placemaking; the Outer Battery’s Charles Pearcey is designated as a Provincial Tradition Bearer; HFNL Announces Three Fisheries ICH Projects in Cupids, Pouch Cove, and Labrador; and Sharon King-Campbell declares war! (Don't worry, it is just a game.)

contributors: Dale Jarvis, Sharon King-Campbell

The newsletter is available here in PDF and other formats

Photo: Children playing “World” in Southern Harbour, Placentia Bay, 1987.

Photo courtesy Delf Maria Hohmann.

What was your favourite childhood game?

ICH has a new project, and it's all about fun!

Not quite two weeks ago, Dale was kind enough to bring me on board as coordinator for Hoist your Sails and Run, a project linking up senior citizens with young people to get them talking about play and games in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

The young people in question are on loan to us from Dr. Jillian Gould and the Department of Folklore at MUN, and we'll introduce them to the folks who volunteer to have a yarn about the fun they had as youngsters. We have some help recruiting volunteers from MacMorran Community Centre, who are also offering us space to meet, eat and chat. We'll get together a few times in February to talk and share a meal, and then the students will put together a booklet about traditional games using the stories, photos and quotes that they collect from their interviews.

If you, dear reader, have some stories about your favourite childhood pastimes that you'd like to share, please consider filling out this questionnaire about play and games!

Watch this space for updates on the project, send me an email if you have any questions or want to get involved, and keep an eye on the horizon for the latest Heritage Foundation publication, coming out in March 2015!

Cheers!

Sharon

Sharon King-Campbell
Project Co-ordinator, Hoist Your Sails and Run Project

Playing games, putting up ice, and a trip to Paris

In this edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador: the ICH office heads to Paris for UNESCO meetings; more from our Petty Harbour oral history project with memories from twins Gussie and Jimmy Kieley; Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador board member Doug Wells shares memories of cutting ice in Harbour Breton; the fall 2014 overview of ICH activities; introducing our "Hoist Your Sails And Run" project bringing together youth and seniors to talk about games; and the schedule for the 2014 Mummers Festival.

Download the newsletter in various formats here.

Contributions by: Dale Jarvis, Terra Barrett, Doug Wells, and Sharon King-Campbell.

Youth Contest for Aboriginal Arts and Stories

Aboriginal Arts & Stories is a national educational initiative that invites First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth (ages 11-29) to submit creative writing or two-dimensional artwork about their culture and heritage. Participants have a chance to win up to $2,000; a trip to the annual awards ceremony, and have their work published or exhibited. Finalists are selected by a jury comprised of celebrated Aboriginal writers and artists, including Shirley Moorhouse, Kent Monkman, Maxine Noel, Lee Maracle, and Drew Hayden Taylor, among many others.

The contest is an opportunity for youth to share stories of their families, communities, ancestors, as well as personal stories, with an audience across the country. Now in its 11th year, more than 2,000 youth have participated in the contest to date. This year’s deadline is March 31, 2015. Visit www.our-story.ca for full guidelines, prizing information, previous winning submissions, and to submit an entry.

Aboriginal Arts & Stories is a program of Historica Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Canadian history and heritage.

HFNL launches 10th Anniversary Poster Contest. $1000 for top NL school

Looking for Labrador Nalajuit!

Are you a Nalujuk? Have you dressed up for Nalujuk Night before? If yes, we would like to meet you. The Mummers Festival is doing some research about Nalujuk Night and would like to know more from the people who know best. How does it feel to be a Nalujuk? What do you wear? What do you do? These are just a few of the questions the Mummers Festival would like answered. If you have 30 minutes to spare, could we meet with you?

Please contact Ryan Davis, Mummers Festival Coordinator at (709) 697-8722 or by email at info@mummersfestival.ca

Mayday Mayday!

Chart image from: http://www.sentinelpressllc.com/emergencydistressposter.html

For a new and upcoming exhibit at the Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse in Gros Morne National Park, Parks Canada is hoping to hear your memories and stories about the use of traditional distress signals in emergency situations. Have there been any shipwrecks or other emergencies in your community? How did people communicate that their boats were in distress? What local stories are attached? 

Shirley Alyward from Parks Canada provided this quote as an example:   

"Mr Gordon Caines of Norris Point put out a sweater with its arms halfway up his ship pole that indicated to the Young family on shore that a boat was in distress."

Shirley would love to hear from you. She can be contacted by email at: shirley.alyward@pc.gc.ca

Thank you, and as always, stay safe!

-Lisa 

Fishing Stage - Fishing Shed – Shed Stage

Guest blog post by Jennifer Murray, P.Eng

Ever notice the stages in rural Newfoundland? No, not the fishing stages – the performance stages. Nearly every small town and outport in Newfoundland has one these days.

These are the places where the summer festival is held, where local teenage bands play their first gig, and touring entertainers put on the big show of the summer. It’s the spot where local mayors announce the winner of the raffle, thank all the volunteers, and ask the owner of the red pickup to please move his vehicle because he is blocking traffic.

Mostly simple structures – a shed with the door on the wide side – they are cleverly designed to their purpose and climate. Unlike many amphitheatres and outdoor stages in other parts of the world, the shed-stage has a roof and walls on three sides to protect performers and their equipment from the wind and the rain which are a common feature of summer festivals in Newfoundland.

During performances, the doors can be opened out of the way or made into an extension of the stage; when not in use, the doors are secured and the building becomes a storage facility for equipment.

With the closure of many rural churches and schools, and the decline of fraternal organizations which once maintained large halls, these stages and the fields and recreational areas they typically adjoin have become the spaces where the community can come together for celebrations and special events. This infrastructure also supports the expression of many aspects of our intangible cultural heritage. These small stages represent a relatively new form of vernacular architecture, and demonstrate an adaptation of an existing type of building to meet the needs of small communities.

Thanks for a summer filled with meals of lobsters and glasses of slush!

Petty Harbour

Things have finally settled down (a little) so I wanted to stop in and make a final blog post to say thanks! Since I last wrote on the blog I finished my job with the heritage foundation, took a quick trip out to the west coast of the island, attended the fishing for folklore workshop, headed to Witless Bay for field school, and am currently making my way through courses at MUN.

My summer job as a heritage intern with the Heritage Foundation was definitely one of the highlights of my summer! The Oral History Project in Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove taught me a great deal about interviewing, photography, working with the media, metadata, and much more.

As a heritage intern I had the opportunity to assist with cemetery clean ups, gravestone rubbing workshops, and heritage district plaque ceremonies. I was able to interview a number of people from Petty Harbour about the community's social events such as card games, community concerts, and garden parties. I also learned about growing up in Petty Harbour and the children's games played in the area (pidley, rounders). I was told stories about folk beliefs and instructed not to whistle on the water, turn against the sun, or have the gangboards turned over in the boat. I was given meals of lobsters and glasses of slush, I attended community breakfasts, and met wonderful people. I would like to send out a huge thank you to everyone in the community who took the time to talk to me, send pictures or plays, stopped by the oral history booth, sourced out potential interviewees, and all in all made me feel like a part of the community.

If you would like to listen to the interviews from the Petty Harbour Oral History Project check out MUN's DAI. Here you will find links to the interviews and accompanying pictures of the lovely people I had the opportunity to meet. There are still a handful of interviews to be processed by the DAI so check back for more interviews at a later date. Also if you would like to learn more about the community events found in Petty Harbour there is a small article in the ICH Update for July 2014.

Last but not least I would like to thank everyone at the Heritage Foundation, particularly Dale and Lisa in the ICH Office for a fantastic summer!

In closing I've added a short video of Petty Harbour resident (and my uncle) Gordy Doyle doing a recitation of the Smokeroom on the Kyle.

Thanks,
Terra

P.S. Thanks to Lisa for suggesting I turn the recitation into a short video!

"The Tale of a Town" storymobile touring Newfoundland!

"The Tale of a Town – Canada" is a national oral history and theatre initiative aiming to capture the collective community memory of our country’s main streets, one story at a time.

Over the next three years, The Tale of a Town will tour across the Canada, gathering downtown stories in small towns and big cities alike, and creating performance installations in the capital city of each province and territory. This national venture will culminate in a multi-platform celebration of the country’s main street culture, in commemoration of Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017.

And now the storymobile is coming to a town near you in Newfoundland!

Here's the list of places and dates that The Tale of a Town will be visiting in the next little while:

Oct. 7-9 -- Grand Falls-Windsor
Oct. 10-13 -- Stephenville
Oct. 14-16 -- Corner Brook
Oct. 17-19 -- Gander

Below, you'll find links to The Tale of a Town website, Facebook page, and a great Youtube video showing what's done with the tales after they're collected!

thetaleofatown.com
facebook.com/thetaleofatown
youtube.com/watch?v=6hfVUTjbTU8

Looking for stories and artefacts from Newfoundlanders working in Alberta

The Royal Alberta Museum is developing a new exhibit display that will tell the story of Newfoundlanders who work in the Alberta oil patch, particularly those who travel back and forth between home and work. We are looking to make contact with people who might help us in telling this story by sharing their story. We are also looking to collect objects associated with this story that we might feature in the display. If you would like to contribute, please email Mathew Levitt at Mathew.levitt@gov.ab.ca

Tiddly On The Lawn - This Sunday at The Rooms

TIDDLY TOURNAMENT AND OTHER
TRADITIONAL GAMES ON THE LAWN

Tiddly, also known as piddly, pippy, snig, or puss, was once a very popular game that was played all over Newfoundland and Labrador. While the rules changed from community to community, the game pieces were usually the same – two rocks or bricks and two sticks. Come and join us on the lawn of The Rooms for a fun-filled day of Tiddly and other traditional games.

We're bringing in the experts! Participants from Carbonear's World Cup of Tiddly will be in St. John's to show the Townies how it is done! Come watch, and learn how to play yourself.

The event will be happening from 1pm to 4pm on Sunday September 28.

1pm – 2pm Various races (sack races, egg and spoon races, three legged race)

2pm – 2:45pm Tiddly demonstration game

3pm – 3:40pm Visitors can try the game, various races

For more information, contact:

Jena Mitchell
Marketing Manager
Phone: 709-757-8144
Email: jenamitchell@therooms.ca

or

Dale Jarvis

Heritage Foundation of NL

ich@heritagefoundation.ca

709-739-1892 x2

Wednesday night Root Cellar talk and tour in Cupids

This Wednesday, September 24th, myself and folklorist Crystal Braye will be hosting an event all about root cellars at the Cupids Legacy Centre, at 7pm.  The event will include a tour of two cellars at the Cupids archaeological site, a presentation on root cellars, and a discussion of local traditions around root cellars and food preservation. Tickets are $8 at the door, and include light refreshments after the talk and tour!

See you in Cupids! - Dale

Convent Life -- The Witless Bay Folklore Fieldschool

Right now the new graduate students to MUN's Department of Folklore are nearing the end of their second week of the Witless Bay Field School.  This intensive round-the-clock research methods program is three weeks long and is taking place all around Witless Bay on the Southern Shore. The students are staying together in the local convent--a historic building with many rooms, two large staircases, a confession booth, and a chapel, which is serving as their classroom. It's also a building that is no stranger to communal living, so it's essentially perfect housing for the field school participants.

Over the past week, I visited the students a few times to check on their progress and provide a workshop on some of the data entry they will be doing when they are at the archiving stage of their work. Based on my time with them, I must say that I'm envious of the incredible experience they are having. I took a few photographs that I will share below, but they don't really convey the story of their lives in the convent. Lucky for us, the MA students are blogging about what they are learning and who they are meeting, so please follow them here:

http://witlessbayfieldschool.wordpress.com/

chapel/classroom

MA student Terra Barrett in her sleeping quarters.

Religious artifacts that come with the territory.

MA student Andrea McGuire as she explores the church next to the convent.

Dr. Pocius with some students as we check out the top floor of the Priest's house (currently for sale in Witless Bay!)

-Lisa

Back to School, Back in the Day

During the month of September I always think of the teachers and students who head back indoors for the fall as they go back to school. It has been a few weeks for students in Newfoundland, but in British Columbia the first day has been delayed due to a labour dispute and consequential teacher's strike.

Yesterday, just as this conflict was finally resolved, I came across these wonderful class photographs from the 1940s of young pupils in Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland. The top photograph is a grade 2 class, and the bottom is grade 1. Right now I am thinking about all the young kids who are just starting school for the first time, and the teachers in B.C. who've had a late start to their teaching year.

I wonder what it was like to be a student back then. Or a teacher for that matter...some of these kids look like trouble.

Special thanks to Charlie Payne of Winterhouse Brook, and the Town of Woody Point, for donating these photographs to the MUN's Digital Archives Initiative. Over the next few weeks a collection of close to 500 photos like the ones above will be made accessible online. I will post links to the collection as the work gets done.

-Lisa

For the Love of Blues & Bluegrass!

Quidi Vidi Village: BOOKLET LAUNCH PARTY!

Quidi Vidi from above, taken Sept. 2013 by Xuan Wang (M.A. student in Folklore)