Gander and Marystown Folklore and Oral History Workshops

In the first week of March, the ICH program will be offering two more workshops in its ongoing project planning workshop series.

Entitled “How to Plan an Oral History or Folklore Project,” the workshop will take participants through the process of planning a project, from establishing goals, doing preliminary research, addressing issues around ethics and consent, choosing personnel, documentation methods, processing collected materials, equipment, and budgets.

This workshop will be beneficial to people who are contemplating folklore and oral history projects of all sorts, ranging from short-term projects involving a single researcher to complex, long-term projects involving many researchers.


Instructor for the workshop is folklorist Dr. Anna Kearney Guigné. Guigné holds a Ph.D in folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland where she is currently an adjunct professor for the M.A. and Ph.D. Programs in Ethnomusicology, at Memorial’s School of Music. From 2006 to 2008 she was the initiator and Artistic Director for the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention (NAFCO), which crossed over to St. John's, August 2008.

Guigné currently works as an independent folklorist and conducts research in the areas of community history, biography, contemporary legend, ship building, heritage gardens, traditional folksong and family genealogy.

Through her community work with such organizations as the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (1980-81), the Grace General Hospital (1982-1988), and the Seniors Resource Centre Association (1989-1991), she has considerable hands-on experience in such areas as fund-raising, project planning, and volunteer organization. Since 2000, she has owned and operated Kearney’s Watch Repair, a small family business located in the Avalon Mall, St. Johns.

Tuition for each workshop is $25.

Gander Workshop
Date: Monday, March 1st, 1pm – 4pm.

Location: Salon "A", Hotel Gander, Gander.

Marystown Workshop
Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 1pm – 4pm.

Location: Salon "C", Marystown Hotel, Marystown.

To register, call Dale Jarvis at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2, or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca
For a full list of folklore and oral history workshops, visit our webpage at: http://www.mun.ca/ich/classes/

What is in your pancake? Explore the history and folklore behind Pancake Day

What is Pancake Day? Where does it come from? What do you put in a pancake for Shrove Tuesday?

Listen in to find out!





As part of his Archival Moments series, Larry Dohey, then with the Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s, wrote:

Mardi Gras literally means "Fat Tuesday" in French. The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (from "to shrive," or hear confessions) or Pancake Tuesday. The custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins.

GIVE HIM “SHORT SHRIFT”

On Shrove Tuesday, Catholics were encouraged to confess their sins so that they were forgiven before the season of Lent began. To shrive someone, in old-fashioned English (he shrives, he shrove, he has shriven or he shrives), is to hear his acknowledgement of his sins, to assure him of God's forgiveness, and to give him appropriate spiritual advice. The term survives today in ordinary usage in the expression "short shrift". To give someone short shrift is to pay very little attention to his excuses or problems. The longer expression is, "to give him short shrift and a long rope," which formerly meant to hang a criminal with a minimum of delay. 

WHAT IS IN THAT PANCAKE? 

Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.
Pancakes were a simple way to use these foods, and one that could entertain the family. Objects with symbolic value are cooked in the pancakes, and those who eat them, especially children, take part discovering what their future will be as part of the meal.
The person who receives each item interprets the gift according to the tradition: a coin means the person finding it will be rich; the thimble finder will be a seamstress or tailor, a pencil stub means he/she will be a teacher; a holy medal means they will join a religious order; a nail that they will be (or marry) a carpenter, and so on.

image:  The pancake woman, Rembrandt, 1635.

Oral History Planning Workshops in Port Union, Gander, Marystown

How to Plan an Oral History or Folklore Project
The workshop will take participants through the process of planning a project, from establishing goals, doing preliminary research, addressing issues around ethics and consent, choosing personnel, documentation methods, processing collected materials, equipment, and budgets. This workshop will be beneficial to people who are contemplating folklore and oral history projects of all sorts, ranging from short-term projects involving a single researcher to complex, long-term projects involving many researchers.

PORT UNION WORKSHOP
Instructor: Dale Jarvis, ICH Development Officer
Tuition: $25
Date: Thursday, February 18th, 1pm – 4pm.
Location: The Factory/Advocate Building, Coaker Foundation, Port Union.

GANDER WORKSHOP
Instructor: Dr. Anna Guigne, Folklorist
Tuition: $25
Date: Monday, March 1st, 1pm – 4pm.
Location: Salon "A", Hotel Gander, Gander.

MARYSTOWN WORKSHOP
Instructor: Dr. Anna Guigne, Folklorist
Tuition: $25
Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 1pm – 4pm.
Location: Salon "C", Marystown Hotel, Marystown.

For a full list of workshops, visit our webpage at:
http://www.mun.ca/ich/classes/

To register, call Dale Jarvis a 1-888-739-1892 ext2 or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Intro to Interviewing Techniques Workshop

On February 12th, the Intangible Cultural Heritage program of the Heritage Foundation of NL will be offering a beginner’s workshop for researchers doing folklore and oral history interviews. The session will cover selecting informants, doing a pre-interview, applying the best interviewing techniques, tips for recorded interviews, and suggestions on processing the interview data for preservation and dissemination.

The workshop will be run by Dr. Philip Hiscock of Memorial’s Folklore Dept. Hiscock specializes in the folklore of Newfoundland and Labrador with active interests generally in language, folksong, the relationship between folklore and popular culture, and the evolution of custom.

Hiscock was editor of Foaftale News, the newsletter of the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research. For two decades he was Archivist of the MUN Folklore and Language Archive and retains an active interest in field research, archival organization, and conservation. In 2006-07 he was President-Elect of the Folklore Studies Association of Canada (L'Association canadienne e'ethnologie et de folklore).

Dr. Jillian Gould teaches in the Department of Folklore, and argues that interviewing is the heart of any folklore or oral history project. “It is how we learn first-hand about people’s experiences, thoughts, and beliefs,” says Gould. “While we all have had in-depth conversations with friends, family, and community members, interviewing requires different skills – since you will be documenting with purpose.”

“These skills not only will pave the way for smooth and substantial interviews, which will become important community documents, but also, should make the interview experience an enjoyable one for both the interviewer and the interviewee,” she says.

Dr. Hiscock’s workshop will take place Friday, February 12th, 2010, from 1pm - 4:30 pm. It will be held at The Lantern, on Barnes Road in St. John's. Participants are asked to bring notebook and writing tools. Call Dale Jarvis at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2 to register, or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca. Tuition is $25.

For a full list of workshops see:
http://www.mun.ca/ich/classes

A Look at Classical Native Music through Indigenous Eyes

MMaP, the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media and Place is pleased to announce that Dawn Avery of Montgomery College will be spending the month of February in residence at the MUN School of Music.

About her visit to MUN, Ms Avery said: “I’m delighted to be at MUN with such enthusiastic students, talented faculty, and the brilliant mind and generous spirit of Bev Diamond. I look forward to exploring ideas of tradition and modernity in the sounds and sentiments this place evokes as I work with the World Music Ensemble on a new classical Native composition and collaborate with Bev on a scholarly paper on Indigenous composition.”

While she is here, Ms Avery will be actively participating in the teaching, performance and research life at the MUN School of Music, as well as pursuing her own research. Her activities while at MUN include:

· Participating in a workshop and concert at the Newfound Music festival

· Teaching a module in the World Music Ensemble where students will learn several of her own compositions that draws in Native American musical elements

· Giving a lecture in MMaP’s Music, Media and Culture lecture series on February 16: Tekeni – two worlds: a look at Classical Native Music through Indigenous Eyes

· Collaborating with Dr. Beverley Diamond on a research project on Indigenous composition

· Editing a manuscript for Mohawk Elder Janice Longboat on a project sponsored by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation using culture as a means for healing aboriginal women from the legacy of residential school abuse.

· Writing a string quartet

Ms Avery specializes in the performance of contemporary Native American music. Her recent recording Tulpe was nominated for a Grammy award in the classical crossover and chamber music categories. She has also produced an annual World Arts Festival for the past seven years. She also has two CDs that feature a unique combination of classical music and Native American music.

A composer, cellist, vocalist and educator, Ms Avery is equally comfortable performing at Lincoln Centre as she is in a sweat lodge. She specializes in the performance of contemporary Native American music with her own ensemble, as a soloist for the North American Indian Cello Project and in her native classical trio, Three Sides Taagi.

Working with musical luminaries from Luciano Pavarotti to Sting, Ms Avery has spent years honing her musical talents, collaborating and performing with the likes of John Cale, John Cage, David Darling, Reza Derakshani, Sussan Deyhim, Ustad Sultan Kahn, Karsh Kale, Mischa Maisky, R. Carlos Nakai, Baba Olatunji, Joanne Shenandoah and Glen Velez.

For more information, or to get in touch with Dawn Avery, please contact: Kristin Harris Walsh, Project Coordinator at MMaP, kharriswalsh@mun.ca, 737-2051.

Festivals & Folklife Workshop RESCHEDULED

RESCHEDULED TO SATURDAY, FEB 13TH
This workshop is designed for groups planning cultural festivals, or for organizers of existing festivals who wish to incorporate some aspect of intangible cultural heritage into their events. It will addresses key issues in how to plan for a successful festival, how to engage tradition bearers, and how to showcase local culture, heritage and traditional knowledge.
Instructors: Dale Jarvis, ICH Development Officer; and Ryan Davis, 2009 Mummers Festival
Tuition: $20 (includes lunch and materials)
Date: Saturday, February 13th, 2010, 9:00am – 3:00 pm
Location: Prince of Wales Loyal Orange Lodge, Cupids
To register, call Dale Jarvis at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2 or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Newfoundland culture now on Kindle

For all you fans of both technology and intangible cultural heritage, the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador's monthly ICH Update newsletter is now available free for Kindle e-books, through archive.org.

Kindle is a thin, lightweight, electronic reading device created by the net's largest bookseller, Amazon.com. You can already download literally hundreds of thousands of Kindle-friendly books, as well as many top newspapers, magazines, and even blogs. The Kindle screen simulates paper, allowing it to be read in bright sunlight.

Kindle uses files with the .mobi extension, and the reader also features a built-in PDF reader. Luckily for you, dear reader, all back issues of the ICH Update are now available in both formats. You are welcome!

You can download all our newsletters not only in .pdf and .mobi, but also in .epub format. The .mobi and .epub translations are in Beta format, so if you get some bugs in the text or layout, don't be surprised.

You can find back issues of all our ICH Update newsletters at:

001 December 2008

http://www.archive.org/details/IchUpdate001-December2008

002 January 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IchUpdate002January2009

003 February 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IchUpdate003February2009

004 March 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IchUpdate004March2009

005 April 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IchUpdate005April2009

006 May 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IntangibleCulturalHeritageUpdateMay2009-DanceHeritageEdition

007 July 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IntangibleCulturalHeritageUpdateJune2009

008 July August 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IchUpdateSummer2009

009 September 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IntangibleCulturalHeritageUpdateSeptember2009

010 October 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IntangibleCulturalHeritageUpdateOctober2009

011November 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IntangibleCulturalHeritageUpdateNovember2009

012 December 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/IntangibleCulturalHeritageUpdateDecember2009

013 January 2010

http://www.archive.org/details/IntangibleCulturalHeritageUpdateJanFeb2010

Happy E-reading!

Oral History, Coffee, Love, Questions and More!

In this issue of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update newsletter for January and February 2010, we announce an introduction to interviewing techniques workshop with Dr. Philip Hiscock; a review of websites with sample oral history questions; The Rooms brews up coffee, culture and stories of love with visiting storyteller Mary Gavan; and, Dr. Anna Kearney Guigné hits the road with workshops for community organizations planning folklore and oral history research projects.

Download the newsletter as a PDF document at:
http://tinyurl.com/yd29skx

"If Candlemas Day be clear and fine..." - Happy Candlemas Day, Newfoundland!

"If Candlemas Day be clear and fine, the rest of winter is left behind;
If Candlemas Day be rough and grum, there's more of winter left to come"

While the rest of North America worries about Groundhog Day, we here in Newfoundland and Labrador celebrate February 2nd as Candlemas Day, or "La fête de la chandeleur".

Candlemas Day is an old calendar custom in the province, a name which according to folklorist Philip Hiscock "derives from the tradition of blessing the annual supply of church candles on that day, the official end of the liturgical Christmas season."

For more on the Candlemas Day, you can read Philip's page on NL customs:
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/custom.html

Larry Dohey also has a good overview of the day on his page at:
http://archivalmoments.ca/2017/02/if-candlemas-day-be-sunny-and-bright-2/

And of course, what Newfoundland holiday would be complete without its own ghost story?

http://www.nlunexplained.ca/2017/02/the-candlemas-day-token-of-cobbs-arm.html