“King of All Birds”: a public forum about NL Wren traditions

The wren is just one of several Christmastime house-visiting traditions that continues here today. Typically, children or adults will visit homes within their community carrying around an effigy of a small bird—the wren. Upon visiting a home, they usually recite a poem declaring the wren the “King of All Birds” and may offer some kind of performance, be it song, joke, or recitation.

Join us for the last event of the Mummers Festival on Wednesday, Dec. 14 from 7:00 to 8:30pm at The Rooms. In this public forum, meet some of the people who are keeping this tradition alive in Newfoundland & Labrador. Come learn about the history of the wren tradition and how it’s happening today. For more information visit mummersfestival.ca

#Folklorephoto Under The St. Lawrence Umbrella Tree

While scanning slides from the St. Lawrence Historical Advisory Committee, two photos of a tuckamore tree sparked my interest. The tree stands in manicured field, wrapped in a colourful pennant banner. After some quick research, I found that the tree has been given the name The Umbrella Tree, because of its unique shape.

One of the first results that show up when searching the St. Lawrence Umbrella Tree, is a 2014 article by Paul Herridge in The Southern Gazette. The article talks about the importance of the tree to those in the St. Lawrence area and their concerns for The Umbrella Tree's health. The reporter stated that provincial forestry officials had inspected the tree and had estimated it only had two years of life left.

Do you know the status of this tuckamore tree? What makes this tree important to the community? Do you have any memories of The Umbrella Tree? Email kelly@heritagefoundation.ca

#Makersmonday Do you recognize these logging themed copper relief panels?

At our last meeting with the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society, they brought out three prints they want to identify. The photographs show what looks to be copper (or similar) relief art panels. They show three different aspects of logging work. While they look very familiar to me, we have not been able to place the. Do you know where these pieces are or were displayed? Comment or email kelly@heritagefoundation.ca 

Basic Folklore and Oral History Interviewing Course

Monday Nights
7pm-9pm
January 9th - January 30th, 2017

Calling all budding folklorists and armchair historians! This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in local history, culture and folklore, and who wishes to learn more about safeguarding our cultural heritage through the medium of oral histories.

The course will give a background on conducting research interviews in the field. It will provide an overview of the methodology and explore the practical matters of creating, designing, and executing effective oral history research projects, project planning, interview questions, ethical issues, and recording equipment.

Over the four week course, participants will conduct an interview, prepare archival metadata, and work collaboratively to create a finished oral history project.

The workshop will be taught by folklorist Dale Jarvis, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. He has been working for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador since 1996, and holds a BSc in Anthropology/Archaeology from Trent University, and a MA in Folklore from Memorial University.

Participants will need to bring their own laptop/tablet, all other materials provided. If you have your own digital recording device (tablet, iPhone, mp3 recorder, etc) you are encouraged to bring it, but it is not required.

Workshop fee: $100 (preregistration required, limited to 10 participants)
Location: Newman Building, 1 Springdale Street, St. John’s
Online registration here

For more information, contact Dale Jarvis at 709-739-1892 x2, or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Mummers Parade Day Events - Saturday, December 10th!

Mummers Parade Day. 4 Events. 1 Great time!
Shake out those long johns and borrow your Aunt’s size 42 bra. We’re calling all mummers to the Mummers Parade! Join us at Bishop Feild Elementary (46 Bond Street) in St. John’s at 2:00pm on Saturday, December 10th to march in the parade wearing your best mummer gear. 

The Parade will line up at 1:45pm and leave the school at 2:00 pm. 

If you don’t have a disguise, come to the Rig Up starting at 1:00pm at Bishop Feild Elementary to find a disguise on the spot. Find the perfect tea cozy hat, fashion the perfect lace veil, or turn your clothes inside out. 

Also happening at 1:00pm at Bishop Feild, the Pot ‘n’ Pan Kitchen Jam teaches mummers some simple rhythms to bang out during the Parade. Bring your pots, pans and ugly sticks. Learn some beats then hit the streets! 

A hard-stepping Mummers Scuff ‘n’ Scoff will follow the Parade from 3:00 to 4:00pm back at Bishop Feild with live musical performances by “Russells in the Corner” and traditional dance lessons from the Mistress of Misrule! We’ll also have a drop of Purity and some sweets on hand.

In case of bad weather, the Mummers Parade day events will be held at the same times on Sunday, December 11th. Notice of postponement will be made 9:00am on Saturday Dec. 10th. Go to mummersfestival.ca for more information.

Living Heritage Podcast Ep063 Rekindling Indigenous Strength

Amelia Reimer is a Cultural Support Worker for the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre. She is a proud Métis woman originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has made her home in St. John’s for the past 4 years. For the past 23 years, she has worked with and served a wide variety of Aboriginal communities across North America. With the Native Friendship Centre, she has taken on the national Faceless Dolls project – tracking and honouring Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Newfoundland and Labrador while increasing public awareness through media, speaking, and events. She volunteers her time with a variety of community organizations, including serving on the Board of Directors for the St. John’s Status of Women Council.

In this podcast, we discuss the services of the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre, the Faceless Dolls Project, In Her Name vigil, reconciliation, and Amelia’s work with the Centre and volunteering with the Status of Women Council.

Listen on the Digital Archive:
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/singleitem/collection/ich_oral/id/713/rec/1

Harbour Grace Railway Memories

Canadian National Train in Harbour Grace. Photo from the Town's website.

On Sunday evening the Heritage Foundation along with the Town of Harbour Grace hosted the Railway Memories and Story Swap. Although we didn't come across any photos of the railway station that evening we did hear some great stories and were told there are a couple of photos in the local museum's collection. If you or anyone you know has photos of the Harbour Grace Railway station or the Conception Bay North railway more generally please get in touch at terra@heritagefoundation.ca as we are still on the hunt for photographs!

We arranged a follow up interview with Pat Collins who had excellent stories about his time working on the railway.  He told us about a old railway station in Riverhead, Harbour Grace and suggested several people we get in touch with for more stories.

Pat also described his fear and embarrassment when he fell asleep during an overnight shift on the Main Line and awoke to the sound of a work train coming through. In his confusion he thought it was a passenger train which was not supposed to come through on the tracks at that time. He put the call over the radio to stop the train but was laughed off the radio instead. Pat was told to go back to sleep  and was informed it was a freight train coming through in the early morning and there was nothing to worry about!

~Terra Barrett

#Folklorephoto Do you recognize this St. Lawrence area woman?

I have had the pleasure to be given the task of digitizing slides from the St. Lawrence Historical Advisory Committee. The boxes contained 141 slides, likely taken around the late 1990s or early 2000s by a unidentified photographer. They show a variety of businesses, historic sites, and important natural landmarks in the St. Lawrence area. Along with the slides of natural and built St. Lawrence sites was one photograph of a person, a woman in a red sweater and holding a piece of rope, who looks to be sitting in the grass at the edge of a beach. Do you recognize this woman or the photograph? If so contact Kelly by email kelly@heritagefoundation.ca or by phone at 1-888-739-1892

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who has contacted us to identify this woman as Philomena Quirke!

- Kelly

In Memoriam: John F. Young - #CollectiveMemories Stephenville

Earlier this year, I had the good fortune to be the folklorist-in-residence for the Friendly Invasion 2016, a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the closing of Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville.

Over a few days, I conducted a pile of oral history interviews, most of which you can listen to here. I met a lot of people over those few short days, but one of the gentlemen who stood out was John F. Young, who was born in 1927. He was one of those many Americans who had come up to Newfoundland and lived and worked at Harmon AFB. 

John was one of our participants in the incredibly successful "Sharing the Memories – stories of Harmon AFB" event we held at the Can-Am Lodge. John told stories about coming to Harmon in those early years, and his humour was one of the highlights of the evening.  I've blogged about that event before, where you can listen to the full recording of the event.

I was able to sit down with John and do a longer one-on-one oral history interview with him. Over the course of an hour, we talked about his early life, coming to Stephenville, meeting his wife in Newfoundland, his work with the weather service, the Cuban missile crisis, and his love for hunting and fishing in Newfoundland. 

That entire interview has been placed online on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative, and if you have an hour, give it a listen or download the mp3 here.

Over the past few months, his daughter Tracy has been giving me updates on John's condition. He hadn't been well at the time of our interview, but his doctor had given him clearance to make one final trip to Newfoundland. Tracy wrote that she had been inspired by our oral history work to do some of her own, and had been getting John to tell her some of his stories. 

I got a text from Tracy Saturday night to tell me that John had passed away. I only met him a couple times over that week in Stephenville this summer, but he stands out in my memory of that celebration. I was honoured to have spent some time with him and to have been given the chance to record some of his stories.

A memorial and Military Honors ceremony will be held on December 10, 2016, at 2:00pm in Valdosta, Georgia.  You can read John's obituary here, or if you enjoyed listening to his tales, you can make a donation to the National Audubon Society or the Disabled American Veterans Association in his memory.

Thanks for the stories and the laughs, John.

- Dale Jarvis