Cable Avenue Heritage Meeting, Bay Roberts

Earlier tonight, I finished up a meeting with the heritage committee of the Town of Bay Roberts. We went over the commemorative text for the bronze plaque that will mark Cable Avenue as a Registered Heritage District. Last year, the Heritage Foundation of NL designated the avenue, and helped to celebrate its 100th anniversary; this year, we'll install a large bronze plaque to mark the avenue's historic and architectural significance.

We've tentatively set the first weekend of August for a formal plaque unveiling. Stay tuned for your invite!

Photo: Surveying site of superintendent's house, August, 1913. From The Cable Building Story.

Finding Folklore in Foxtrap

Today the ICH office visited Queen Elizabeth Regional High School in Foxtrap to talk about local folklore and supernatural belief. Dale and I visited with Lori-Ann Ash and Darrell Sneyd's grade ten English classes to discuss local superstitions, charms, ghost stories, fairy stories and urban legends. We also explored oral tradition, the transmission of folk belief and offered advice about collecting oral histories. To help the students out, we developed a one-page questionnaire for them to take home and use while interviewing parents, family members, friends, or neighbours.

During our visit the students told us some great stories of the supernatural. The following is an urban legend recalled by a female student:

In grade three or four the older girls at school would tease the younger girls about a monster in the toilet. The legend is that one stall, identified with a mark of red spray paint, has a creature living in the toilet and if you flush it, a green slimy hand reaches up, grabs you and pull you down. When I got to grade six, I realized this was made up but by that time we used it to scare the younger girls too, and kept it going. My younger sister goes to that school and that urban legend is still told today.

Another young woman, whose mother is from Denmark, told a Danish folktale about a man who was plaqued and tormented by the nisse, which are elves. The story the student told is as follows:

An old man was out in his garden, smoking his pipe and tending to his horses, when the nisse began to torment him. The nisse stole his pipe and used it to fill his home with smoke. The old man,thinking his house was on fire, called for help. Firemen arrived to put out the fire but they couldn't find any flames. When the old man suggested it was the nisse and that 'the fire was in his mind', the firemen promptly dowsed the man's head with a bucket of water.

We were also very excited to receive a little narrative regarding fairy belief in the area. According to one student, "in the elementary schoolyard there is a fence and we were told that if we went near the fence while wearing green, the fairies would take you away."

We are heading back to Queen Elizabeth Regional High School tomorrow afternoon to see what the students collected and to help them write up their folklore findings.

Here are the questions the students are using:

1. Is there a place in your community that people say is haunted? ....a haunted cemetery, a haunted walkway, a haunted cliff or rock, a house, or other building? What are the ghostly stories connected to these places?
2. When you were growing up, were there any places you were told not to go because the fairies would get you? Where was this and what are the stories you were told?
3. What are the local stories about shipwrecks? ...buried treasures? What about ghost or weather lights seen on the water?
4. Are there any people who are believed to be witches in the community? Why do people think this? What kind of powers does this person have? 
5. Have you ever had a visit from the Old Hag while you were sleeping? What happened and do you believe that this experience was real or just a dream?
6. Do you know of any special charms, superstitions, cures or remedies that are used in your community?

Teachers, librarians or museums: you can download a pdf of these questions right here.

A Successful Forum with the Baccalieu Trail

This past Monday the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation, with some help from us here at the Heritage Foundation, held a forum for representatives from the 70 communities around the Baccalieu Trail. The aim of the forum, subtitled "Preserving the Past and Looking to the Future", was focused on discussing matters related to community heritage, future plans and how best to realize them, and opportunities for communication and collaboration within the region.

We had 50 participants for the forum, which consisted of a morning of presentations and an afternoon of open discussion. Speakers in the morning included Charlie Adams and William Gilbert from the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation, Jerry Dick from Tourism, Culture and Recreation, Dale Jarvis from the ICH office at the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, Beverly King from the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Jim Prowse from Canadian Heritage.

The afternoon was formatted as a conversation cafe-styled cafe, where the participants table hopped while answering questions related to the heritage in their area, what struggles they have, and how the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation can help. The afternoon concluded with everyone returning to their original tables, and sharing the most interesting things they heard or learned that day. Each table narrowed that down to a top three, which was shared with the full forum during the final wrap up.

In the near future a report will be compiled of all of the information that was gathered during the forum; a preview of the results will be available in the March issue of the ICH newsletter!

-Sarah

Folklore Photo - Heritage Lighthouse in Heart's Content

I wrote the other day about how we took a group of public folklore grad students out to Heart's Content.  Today is folklore photo day, so here is that group of students, in front of the Heart's Content Lighthouse. The lighthouse was constructed in 1901, and is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building.

You can read more about the lighthouse here and on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

- photos by Dale Jarvis

Tradition in Motion: A day with the Mizzen Heritage Square Dancers

Our intangible cultural heritage office sometimes uses what we term a “project-based training” model. You can read all about that in this occasional paper.  Yesterday, we took that model on the road, with a group of Memorial University students, to Heart's Content.

Dr. Jillian Gould is an Assistant Professor within Memorial University’s Department of Folklore, whose research interests include public folklore, ethnography, and fieldwork. Since 2011, her class has been partnering with HFNL to deliver a type of project-based training as a component of the graduate public sector folklore course. Typically, graduate students organize some kind of public folklore event or workshop, a model which engages the public while teaching the students practical and varied skills in facilitation, group work, community outreach, and project planning. 

This semester, students are working on organizing a workshop on traditional Newfoundland set dancing, in cooperation with the Mizzen Heritage Square Dancers. Thos dancers will be coming into St. John's to run a workshop later in March, but I suggested that the students go out to Heart's Content, meet the dancers in advance, learn the dances, and be better able to facilitate the workshop when it happens.

So yesterday, two carloads of us drove out to Trinity Bay, and met up with the dancers of Heart's Content at the Society of United Fishermen Hall. The dancers demonstrated two dances, the old fashioned square dance, and the Lancers, and students were able to run through the square dance twice. Then everyone took part in the Virginia Reel, and finished up with a lunch prepared by the community. Students, where possible, did on-the-spot folklore interviews with many of the participants.

Some of the students had never been to Heart's Content, and the set dances were new to most of them. It was a great experience, and everyone was moved by the kindness and generosity of the folks from Heart's Content. At the end, the dancers made sure everyone left with a Heart's Content pin. It was tremendous fun, and a great way for students to see folklore in action, rather than just reading about it. 

Stay tuned for more information on the in-town workshop itself. 

Photos by Cyndi Egan.  

Tuesday Folklore Photo: Nan's Cookbook in the Digital Age

A recipe for light cake belonging to Bernice Miles,
 who attended the digitization workshop on February 22, 2014.

This past Friday, The Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives and The Intangible Cultural Heritage Office provided a digitization workshop in St. John's. This workshop focused on digitizing  family cookbooks and handwritten recipes and recipe cards.  Participants were encouraged to bring along their own family collections to share and scan.  Presenters Mary Ellen Wright (ANLA) and Nicole Penney (ICH-HFNL) led this hands on workshop, which taught participants how to create and preserve digital copies of their documents. We also discussed  how to best preserve the original copies of these important family and community heirlooms.

Mary Ellen Wright discusses preservation techniques
Photo Courtesy of: Sarah Ingram

Nicole Penney showing participants how to scan original documents
Photo Courtesy of: Sarah Ingram

We will be holding a similar event at the Cupids Legacy Centre on Friday March 21, 2014. Join us from 3-5 p.m. for some tea, buns and reminiscences about cookbooks and cooking. We’ll also talk about how best to preserve the original documents. Participants are encouraged to bring examples from their own homes or collections. The event is free to attend with coffee, tea and snacks provided.

Workshop participants Joan Mowbray and Amelia Reimer share their family cookbooks
Photo Courtesy of: Sarah Ingram

If you wish to attend the Cupids event, please RSVP to Sarah Ingram: sarah@heritagefoundation.ca or (709) 739-1892 ex. 5

The Games We Played - A Coffee and Culture Presentation

THE GAMES WE PLAYED   
Thursday, February 27, 2:30 pm., The Rooms Provincial Museum

Hoist Your Sails and Run, Spotlight and kite flying are just a few ways that children traditionally entertained themselves in outport Newfoundland. Join folkorist Lisa Wilson as she explores these and other types of childhood play that have an important place in our living memories.

This is a multi-media presentation, but there will be a chance at the end to share some of your own memories and experiences around childhood games and experiences. Hope to see you there!

Children of Cable Ave., Bay Roberts, courtesy of Linda Sesk.

Grey Socks, Pidley Stick, and Traditional Food

In this edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador: we introduce the Grey Sock Project, linking the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the First World War with traditional knitting skills; the Food Security Network on their "All Around The Table" seniors' oral history project; and researching tiddly, hoist your sails and run, and other children's games and pastimes.

Download the newsletter in PDF and other formats

Photo: The Williams children in front of their family home on Cable Avenue, Bay Roberts, undated photo.

Traditional Newfoundland Rug Hooking Workshop

Traditional Newfoundland Rug Hooking Workshop

with Vickie Walsh
Celebrate The Newfoundland Pony
Join us for a day of Rug Hooking

Make a mat of a NL Pony to hang on your wall using the original designs by Liz Chafe of Cappahayden

Learn the craft of hooking mats the traditional way!!! Learn about the Newfoundland Pony during lunch with an informal talk and slideshow by Liz Chafe A series of workshops will be held on the Southern Shore during the months of MARCH, APRIL AND MAY !!!!!

Call: 709 691 4459
sewfarout@hotmail.com

Price for full day workshop 10am to 5pm is $120.00.
Rug Hooking materials included plus an original NL Pony Art Rock OR print.
Location on the Southern Shore to be announced when dates are confirmed.
Call to SIGN UP NOW !!!!

SEW FAR OUT Sewing And Alterations

VICKIE WALSH 709 691- 4459
sewfarout@hotmail.com
Traditional Rug Hooking, Quilting & Craft Workshops