The Barnable Bassinet: A woven Newfoundland crib

One of the traditions that we are working to document is basket making. After I did an interview with CBC's Weekend Arts Magazine on basket making (listen here to that interview), I got a call from Frances Barnable about a woven bassinet that she had bought in 1959.

The crib was made as part of a craft training program run by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and was purchased at the CNIB shop which was located in the building which now houses Coffee Matters, across from the Newfoundland Hotel.  If you have any information on that training program, or on other Newfoundland or Labrador baskets, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

Material culture nerds: Compare this to the reproduction of a 15th century crib at the archeological site of Walraversijde, near Oostende, Belgium.

Call for papers: Ethnology at the Crossroads

Ethnology at the Crossroads
CALL FOR PAPERS, Workshops or Roundtables
May 26-28, Waterloo, Ontario

The FSAC/ACEF 2012 conference will be held with the Congress of the Humanities and Social Science, in Waterloo, Ontario and co-hosted by Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo. The theme for this year's Congress is Crossroads: Scholarship for an Uncertain World.

Building on the Congress 2012 theme, the theme for our meeting will be Ethnology at the Crossroads. Ethnologists and Folklorists are committed to engaging with topics that fall at the crossroads and margins of our societies. As our discipline has developed, we have often found ourselves as lone members in diverse departments, and therefore have brought our unique methodologies and theories to interdisciplinary research groups. We have often studied the practices that occur when cultures cohabitate and influence each other (or purposefully remain uninfluenced by each other). We work with populations who are confronted with their own crossroads; facing changes in the economy, family composition, social constructs, and technology.

Suggested paper topics include:
* The future of Ethnology and/or Folklore in Canada
* Canadian responses to the UNESCO 2003 convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage
* Cultural "crossroads"; both past and present
* Disciplinary intersections; experiences and best practices

Proposals dealing with other topics will also be considered as space permits. Applications for Panels and Workshops are strongly encouraged.

PLEASE NOTE, IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED:
1) All applicants are required to fill out the attached form-fillable PDF form ONLY and email it to Jodi McDavid. Please adhere to the space provided for your abstract. Please indicate any AV needs in the space provided on your form.
Be sure to include your strict maximum 100-word abstract for your formal presentation (in English and French if possible, or simply in your first language) along with your name, department, institutional affiliation, and contact information by February 15, 2012.

2) Hard copy/surface mail submissions of abstracts will not be accepted.

3) Only current members may participate in this event or have their submission considered (see membership form). Your abstract will not considered until the Secretary-Treasurer has received your membership fee, preferably via Paypal, although cheques are also accepted.

NEW THIS YEAR:
The Association no longer charges a translation fee, to avoid varying quality in supplied translations, and unnecessary pressure on our administration.

We are attempting to move into a fully-electronic system of membership payment, abstract submission, and communication. Please join us in this endeavour!

FSAC CONFERENCE FEES will be collected by Congress, and is $30 for all delegates, however, when meeting with Congress, you also must pay Congress fees. 2012 fees have not yet been set, for comparison, in 2011 early registration fees were $55 Congress fees + $30

FSAC fees (unwaged, student, underemployed, etc.), regular member $150 Congress + $30 FSAC fees.

Accommodation & Travel
How to get to Waterloo: http://congress2012.ca/attend/how-to-get-to-waterloo/
On campus accommodation: http://congress2012.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/On-Campus-Accommodation-Options_FINAL.pdf
Where to stay in Waterloo: http://congress2012.ca/attend/where-to-stay-in-waterloo/
Some funds are available for member reimbursement. See the Travel Funding Policy to see if you qualify: http://www.acef.ulaval.ca/voyageaf.htm

The Hobby Horse Revival in Newfoundland and Labrador

The poster above was one designed by Target Marketing for the 2011 Mummers Festival. It bears the caption "Terrifying and delighting children for over 400 years" and the image of a handsome mummer (yours truly) peeking out from inside a great grey horse's head.  This is a hobby horse - and not the child's riding toy hobby horse most North Americans are familiar with. The hobby horse of Newfoundland's mummering tradition is much more fearsome beastie, with big eyes, and a wooden jaw with nails for teeth, which snock together as it nips and bites at the people it meets along its route. It is an archetypal figure associated with chaos, unpredictability, fertility, and, as the poster suggests, even a little terror.

When we started planning the very first mummers festival in 2009, we went looking for hobby horses. Chris Brookes, who started the Mummers Troupe in 1972, had a couple, one of which, "Old Ball" is shown to the right. Local actor Andy Jones had one. One was found tucked away in the MUN Folklore and Language Archive. The Kelly family in Cape Broyle had another, made of styrofoam to replace an older, wooden head.

But other than those few models, very few existed outside of reminiscences.  Andrea O’Brien contributed memories of hobby horses from the Southern Shore, and a man from Bonavista Bay remembered a hobby horse made out of an old cardboard beer carton.

The hobby horse was a Newfoundland Christmas tradition which, not particularly widespread in the twentieth century, had seemed to have faded from both the cultural landscape and popular memory in the twenty-first.  It was a shame, for hobby horses have a long and complicated history. 

Hobby horses (along with their colourful cousins hobby cows, hobby goats, hobby sheep, and hobby bulls) have been here on the island of Newfoundland for a long time. In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert wrote in his "Voyages and Enterprises":  

Besides for solace of our people, and allurement of the Savages, we were provided of Musike in good variety: not omitting the least toyes, as Morris dancers, Hobby horsse, and Maylike conceits to delight the Savage people.

"Hobby horse" and "Horsy-hops" both get their own entries in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English, and folklorist Dr. Joy Fraser has included references to  hobby horses in her stellar research on mummering and violence in nineteenth century Newfoundland. Fraser includes one account, where a complainant in a legal case describes how “I heard some person running and turned round I was struck on the head with something like a horses head and knocked down I rose on my knees to get hold of the man who struck me and he kicked me on the breast”.

A 1913 Christmas engraving by John Hayward includes, in the background, what can only be a hobby horse (detail below).

Folklore research in the 1960s and 1970s uncovered many stories and references to hobby horses and bulls, but by the time the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador instigated its first Folklife Festival in 2009, very few hobby horses existed, no one had made any for years, and most people had never heard of the tradition.

Mummers Festival coordinator Ryan Davis, working with long-time Lantern Festival organizer Kathleen Parewick, designed a cardboard template to make a hobby horse head, and the hobby horse workshops which were first offered in 2009 have since become a firm part of the annual festival.





The hobby horse workshops have been taught outside of the festival, as part of ICH workshops, community centre outreach programs, and workshops for high school teachers.

Ron Delaney of Bay Roberts has made his own hobby horse from wood, based on his own memories.  In December of 2011, Delaney wrote,

“As a child , growing up in the 70’s and early 80’s I was mortified of Jannies, I use to hear my relatives talk about good and bad Jannies , as a result , in my mind they were all bad, especially the hobby horse. The hobby horse usually was the last Jannie to enter the house; I could remember scooting in the room as fast as I could when I heard the SLAP of its mouth.”

One of the participants in a hobby horse building workshop I taught in Bay Roberts, Delaney brought along Meggie and Kaegan, who now represent a new generation of hobby horse owners. Another horse foaled that day made its way back to Ontario, to take place of honour as Bottom's Head in a Grade 8 student production of Midsummer's Night Dream.

One of the participants in a 2011 Arts Work Conference hobby horse making workshop I taught in St. John's was teacher Amanda Gibson, who teaches at Amos Comenius Memorial School in Hopedale. She made her hobby horse, then went off to Labrador armed with her new skills. Horses not being common along the northern Labrador coast, Gibson adapted the template, adding hobby polar bears to the list of hobby animals now made in the province.

"The kids had a fun time making them and loved choosing the colors for their 'bears'" she wrote me. "It took a few hour-period classes, but it was a great way to end the unit in Grade 8 NL history on 19th Century Lifestyles for students that are hands-on learners."

This year, 2011, there were hobby horses galore at the Mummers Parade. Everywhere you turned, a gaudily-decorated horse's head was poking up above the sea of mummers and janneys, including one devilishly fine, black and red steed, crepe paper fire billowing from its nostrils.

For me, it was a particularly moving sight, and proof that tradition is sometimes more resilient than we give it credit for. For whatever reason, hobby horse making has struck a chord with a new generation of janneys, and I look forward to new additions to the herd in 2012.

And next year, I think the parade needs at least one hobby goat...

Merry Christmas, mummers!

Mummers on YouTube - 2011 Mummers Festival Parade

Here are some of the YouTube videos that have been put up from the Mummers Parade this past Saturday. If you know of more, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Mummers Parade looking for a few good men (or women, it's hard to tell under the padding)

A request from Mummer-In-Charge Ryan Davis:

We are still looking for a few more volunteers to help us on Parade Day, Saturday, December 17th.
We need:

• People to carry a parade banner (must be at Bishop Feild by 1:00) 
• Helpers to set up the school gym and hang signs (start time: 12:00 pm)
• "Parade marshalls" who will be scattered throughout the parade and will keep an eye on traffic flow. (briefing at 12:00 pm).

If you can help out with any of this, please let me know! Tell me what you're able to do to help and then just show up at the correct time. I will not be emailing you back unless there are questions you need answered.

Bishop Feild is located at 46 Bond Street.

Ryan Davis - volunteer@mummersfestival.ca

More info about the parade can be found here: www.mummersfestival.ca

Mummers in the Schools - a Legacy Activity

Earlier this year, the Provincial Historic Commemorations Board designated the Christmas tradition of mummering and janneying as as a Distinctive Cultural Tradition or Practice of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

As part of that commemoration, the province set aside funds for some type of Legacy Activity project which would promote the tradition.

We started off with a series of questions. We all know what mummers look and sound like, but there’s much more to it than dressing up and dancing around. What do mummers do? What is a hobby horse? Where do mummers come from? What are the best ways to disguise yourself? And does the current generation of students, particularly urban students, know much about the tradition at all?

With those thoughts in mind, HFNL's ICH office sponsored a Mummers in the School program as part of the 2011 Mummers Festival (www.mummersfestival.ca). The program is designed for grades 4-6, and this year is lead by Ryan Davis, who is the coordinator of the annual festival.

All this week, Ryan has been touring schools in St. John's, Goulds, Paradise and Portugal Cove-St. Philip's with a slide show on mummering, his own hobby horse, and a tickle trunk of mummers costumes to get kids excited about this old Newfoundland tradition. Kids (and teachers) have been given a chance to dress up and give their classmates a chance to guess who is under that old lace tablecloth.

Feeling left out? No problem, the Mummers Parade is this Saturday, and we want YOU to be in it, in costume! See you there!

Some comments so far:

Hi Dale, I just wanted to send you an email to say Thank you for setting up the presentation for today. The kids and teachers absolutely loved it. It was very well done and interesting. Tell Ryan how much we enjoyed it!!! Thanks again.
Krista Molloy, Larkhall Academy

Thanks for an interesting and timely presentation for our students.Ron Parrott, Principal, Larkhall Academy

Thanks so very much!! Great sessions today! The kids are so very excited.
Several want to go home and make a hobby horse, including a few teachers!!
Thanks again!
Jill Moores, Paradise Elementary

The photos below are from Larkhall Academy in St. John's:

Tales of Town at Christmas. Wed, Dec 7th, 7pm

Working on History - Tales of Town at Christmas: 

Wednesday, December 7th, at 7:00 p.m.
The Rooms Theatre

Christmas in St. John’s is a very special time. Join folklorist Dale Jarvis as he sits down to chat with author Helen Porter about her memories of Christmas in Southside St. John’s, and with local businessman Bruce Templeton, who for the past three decades has been a very special assistant to Santa Claus himself!

This presentation is part of a series of programs connected with the Working on History exhibition at The Room. 

Tickets $5, free for members; a cash bar will follow the presentation.

SPOILER ALERT: may not be suitable for young children, or those not initiated into the mysteries of Santa Claus!

I need help getting Mummers Festival postcards out to local businesses

The 3rd annual Mummers Festival is already underway, with events taking place throughout December. Everything leads up to our fabulous Mummers Parade on Saturday, December 17th! 

I've got stacks of Mummers Festival postcards, with details on all the events, which I'd love to get out to local businesses around town. If you can take a stack and help distribute them, please call me at 739-1892 ext 2, or drop me an email at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Craft Enterprise Facilitator wanted

Craft Enterprise Facilitator

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:  December 19, 2011

The Anna Templeton Centre for Craft Art & Design is seeking a full-time Craft Enterprise Facilitator to manage a new craft studio incubator being established in Quidi Vidi.

Job Description:

Working under the guidance and direction of the ATC Board, the Craft Enterprise Facilitator will be responsible for developing a strategic plan for the long term management and operation of the craft incubator.  S/he will also research and define a training framework that will allow tenants within the craft incubator to grow and develop their enterprises.   

Activities will include, but may not be restricted to the following:

- Coordinate strategic planning activities to determine long term management structure, financing and operational methodology

- Build relationships with funding partners, creating applications, reports, and supporting documentation as required

- Liaise with community organizations and agencies with an interest in the development of craft enterprises including the Anna Templeton Centre, City of St. John’s, Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, College of the North Atlantic, Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development, Quidi Vidi Community Association, and others

- Develop and implement a promotional plan

- Develop and/or finalize policy documents defining the criteria for selection of tenants, leases, operating manuals, and other documents that may be required

- Coordinate application process for tenant selection

- Develop and implement programming for the benefit of the tenants

- Carry out any necessary administration tasks

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate for this position will have a dynamic combination of skills and abilities gained through educational and work experiences, and hold the following attributes: 

- Diploma and/or degree in craft, business and/or adult education or any combination of relevant education and experience

- Knowledge of craft, the Newfoundland and Labrador craft community, and the resources available

- Knowledge of business practices

- Training or experience in teaching and facilitating

- Experience in writing successful grant applications and seeking support from public funding organizations

- Experience using social media tools, writing & designing brochures & promotional materials

- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

- Ability to work independently and efficiently; and within the structure of a steering committee and board of directors

It is expected that the successful candidate in this position of Craft Enterprise Facilitator will contribute their available time, skill, knowledge and resources to the overall success of the craft business incubator.

Remuneration:  $37,500 annually

Please note this position is dependent on funding approval.

To apply, e-mail your resume and a letter of application to bevbarbour@hotmail.com

Applications may also be mailed or hand delivered to:

Anna Templeton Centre for Craft Art & Design

278 Duckworth Street

St. John’s, NL

A1C 1H3