Living Heritage Podcast Ep014 Philippine Culture with Hazel Ouano Alpuerto

Hazel Ouano Alpuerto is a Filipino-Canadian living in St.John's. She is a psychiatric registered nurse by profession, and works with Eastern Health with Mental Health and Addictions. Hazel is also is the Philippines Honorary Consul General, whose role it is to oversee fellow nationals requiring assistance. She is also a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award. We talk about Hazel’s move to Newfoundland, her work as the Philippines Honorary Consul General, and Philippine culture and traditions including pig roasts, Christmas traditions, and the vibrant local Philippine community.

The Memory Store: Huge, built like a motorboat...

The video for this week's the Memory Store was filmed in Elliston, NL outside one of the many root cellars found in the community. In this short clip Don Johnson with Tourism Elliston describes the construction of root cellars including how the large porch stones were put in place by a local strongman by the name of Jimmy Chant.

Watch the video below or click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Click here for more information about the root cellar's history and architecture.
If you missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store clip here to go back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our YouTube channel at ICH NL.

Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

-Terra

Rare photos of the Forest Road Cemetery Lych Gate and Mortuary Chapel #nlheritage

Followers of the ICH Blog may remember that I have been interested in lych gates, a very specific type of gate that was found at the entrance of Anglican churchyards and cemeteries. You can read more about the history of lych gates in the Occasional Paper #004.

In it, I talk about one of the province's vanished lych gates, the one which once stood in the Forest Road Cemetery.  I knew it had existed, and it is clearly shown on aerial photos and insurance maps, but I had never seen the building before.

Thanks to some detective work by Professor Frederick R. Smith, and the kindness of Mr. Arthur King, we now have this photographic gem - a photo of the gate before its demolition, likely taken sometime circa 1950-1952.

The lych gate is very similar to English examples, and has some similarities to the rebuilt lych gate at Bonavista. It features a sharply gabled roof, with slight bellcurved eaves, Maltese cross motifs, and at least two painted inscriptions, though the photo is just out of focus enough to make it difficult to identify the scripture being quoted (the word "resurrection" seems to be the second word). The woman in the photo is a Mrs. Butt, of the nearby Collier's Lane.

Mr King writes:

Here are some old Forest Road Cemetery photos I scanned from originals supplied by Mrs. Barbara Fry (Heale), a daughter of Victor Heale, caretaker circa 1948-59 . The family lived in the caretaker house on the cemetery. Photos of the entrance gate and old chapel are included. A daughter Elizabeth Heale, shown in the photo, was born in 1942---the photo with her was probably taken between 1950-52. The age of the old chapel photo is uncertain, but probably much before that time---it probably was taken by a commercial photographer such as Holloway as there is an inscription which was his style.

The Church of England Mortuary Chapel photo was said to have come from "The Archives" -- we are uncertain which one. If you have any information on these photos, if you have a theory on the most likely scripture being used on the lych gate, or have any other old photos of the Forest Road Cemetery, please comment below, or contact me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

- Dale Jarvis

Living Heritage Podcast Ep013 Researching Wooden Boats with Folklorist Crystal Braye

Crystal Braye is a folklorist with the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador. She holds a bachelor of arts in cultural anthropology from Wilfrid Laurier University and a masters in public folklore from MUN. Since 2012, she has travelled around the province learning from boat builders and fishermen to enhance the museum's collections and exhibits. Audio and video recordings, photographs, and boat design and construction details are archived and exhibited online and at various locations across the province - including the Wooden Boat Museum headquarters in Winterton. We talk about the history and development of the museum, its programs to document and safeguard traditional boatbuilding skills, work on Gander River boats, bully boats, taking the lines of boats, and the organization’s annual wooden boat conference.

 

Traditional Games of Newfoundland and Labrador designated a Cultural Tradition and Practice

Today was the annual designation ceremony for the Provincial Historic Commemorations Program. This year, following a nomination made by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, Traditional Games of Newfoundland and Labrador was designated as a Cultural Tradition and Practice!

You can read a bit more about the designation here. 

The photo above is courtesy of The Rooms Provincial Archives Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador (photo A 7-12). It shows children playing pitch and toss, Grey River. There is a description of the game in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: "You stand away so far, an' you pitch your button. The handiest to the peg, after so many pitches [would win]. C 70-15 The object of the game was to pitch a button from the hole [where you stood] so that the button touched the 'nag' (or stick). C 71-22 Make a mot in the ground with your heel. Stand at a distance from the hole and pitch the buttons."

Thanks to Sharon King-Campbell for her work preparing the nomination files, and to Joy Barfoot and Laurie Roche Lawrence at the The Rooms, Judy Cameron with The Town of Carbonear's World Cup of Tiddly, Peter Laracy at Cupids Legacy Centre, and Jordan Brown,  President of The Labrador   Heritage Society Height of Land Branch, for their letters of support for this nomination!

Photographer: Holloway Studio [1913]

The Memory Store: A safe haven for the crown jewels...

The video for this week's the Memory Store was filmed in the stairwell of the Anna Templeton Centre. Executive director Beverly Barbour tells two of her favourite stories about the Anna Templeton Centre building. The first is a story about the building being a possible safe haven for the crown jewels and the second about the building being used by a forensic team.

Watch the video below or click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Click here for more information about the building's history and architectural style.
If you missed our initial post explaining the concept of the Memory Store clip here to go back to our first blog post with the introduction video or check out our YouTube channel at ICH NL.

Stay tuned for more short stories about historic places in the province, in the form of short oral history interviews conducted with the people who care about those places and if you have a personal memory about a historic place in Newfoundland and Labrador, and want to add your voice to the Memory Store project, let us know at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

-Terra

ICH @UVic Day 5 - Indigenous Language and Culture

Today was our second-last day on the intangible cultural heritage course at UVic. We started off with a visit to the First Peoples House. Pamela Clermont and her co-workers showed us around the building, created as a social, cultural and academic centre for Indigenous students on campus. It is a gorgeous space, which you can read more about here, packed full of local, amazing, indigenous art.

Outside is an ongoing totem pole carving project. The artist, Hjalmer Wenstob, has posted the artist's statement on site:

"I see the totem as a means of bringing together and strengthening connections between cultures, both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous. It creates a space to come together where we are all equal, to create a future where we can walk side by side on the same path. To bring together academic and traditional Indigenous teaching for a common goal of unity, understanding and respect. - Hjalmer Wenstob"

After our visit to the First Peoples House, we had a conversation with Janna Wilson, Program Coordinator with the Cultural Management Programs at UVic, who has been working on their Indigenous languages retention programs. Then we went off to the Royal BC Museum for a behind-the scenes look at the Our Living Languages exhibit, with Michael Barnes, Head of Exhibitions, and Dr Martha Black. Curator of Ethnology.

Thanks to all who gave of their time today, and for freely sharing all their expertise and experience!

ICH @UVic Day 4 - Newfoundland Hobby Horses on Vancouver Island for #FolkloreThursday

Today's class was all about revitalizing traditions, using the Mummers Festival as a case study. We started the day with a talk on mummering (which some of the students had never heard of) and then we had a visit from Doretta Hollett of Burin, who came and shared her memories of Christmastime in Burin. Doretta even brought in a bottle of Purity Syrup, so everyone got to have a taste.

In the afternoon, I introduced people to the Newfoundland hobby horse, like the one above, one of the Mummers Troupe's horses, made in the early 1970s by Chris Brookes and company.  And then it was time to put their new knowledge to use. Using the template from the Mummers Festival in St. John's, I walked everyone through the process of creating their own hobby horses.  Here is a peek at how the workshop went, from start to finished ponies:

Living Heritage Podcast Ep012 Exploring the Crow’s Nest Officers Club with Gary Green

Gary Green is a past president of both the Crow's Nest Officers Club and the Crow's Nest Military Artifacts Association which jointly administer the Crow's Nest National Historic Site of Canada. He has written journal articles on the Crow's Nest and has contributed to books on the role of St. John's and the Royal Canadian Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1945. Gary and his wife Ruth, Collections Manager for the Crow's Nest Military Artifacts Association, conduct research in both national and provincial archives and museums. We talk about the history of the Crow’s Nest, its collection of WWII-era gunshield art, the club’s U-boat periscope, the preservation challenges of maintaining the collection, and stories from the club’s colourful past.