Today, being a moving day, we were moving on down the road when we saw a sign about a Mi'kmaq Heritage Centre at Millbrook, Nova Scotia. Not too much further along we saw a huge statue of a First Nations man towering over the highway. Hesitating for maybe a second and a half we slowed down and took the exit. There was a huge parking lot across the street so we pulled in, parked the Airstream, and entered the Centre.
What a great place! There was a short video with Glooscap, a mythological person, introducing the Mi'kmaq people, culture and history, bringing their history up to the current time. Glooscap doesn't speak English, so when he spoke in Mi'kmaq there were sub-titles. He frequently introduced anthropologists and elders who spoke in English (with Mi'kmaq sub-titles). Unfortunately, the current history of the Mi'kmaq, from the time of European contact until now, is not that much different than the history of the Native Tribes in the U.S.
The Mi'kmaq lived in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, the Gaspee Peninsula of Quebec and northern Maine. There are currently about 40,000 Mi'kmaq living in these provinces, the same number that were here when the Europeans first arrived. However, within a few years, about 75% of the Mi'kmaq died of European diseases. This Heritage Centre showed mostly the culture of the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq. There are currently 13 communities of Mi'kmaq living in Nova Scotia; 25,000 people.
The first significant European contact was with the Acadians who settle along the Bay of Fundy and reclaimed land that was not significant to the Mi'kmaq. The Acadians did not disturb the traditional hunting and fishing grounds of the Mi'kmaq and the two groups live peacefully together. But in 1713 France ceded Nova Scotia to the British who established their capital in Halifax. After the Acadian deportation, the Mi'kmaq were left to deal with the British on their own and after a few skirmishes, unbeaten but outnumbered by the British, the Mi'kmaq entered into a series of treaties.
The British, however, brought more and more colonists who settled on the Mi'kmaq hunting grounds and who fished in the Mi'kmaq coastal areas and gradually the Mi'kmaq were marginalized on the land and became very poor and the British Government declared that they would not honor any of the previous treaties. In 1841, one of the Chiefs wrote directly to Queen Victoria asking for aid but received no response. Shortly thereafter, with the establishment of the Canadian Confederation, the Canadian government took over control of the First Nation affairs and while there was more financial aid, it came with strings. As in the U.S., residential schools, which the children were forced to attend and were forbidden to speak the Mi'kmaq language, were established and there was an attempt to eliminate the Mi'kmaq culture.
In 1969, a Canadian Supreme Court decision ruled that a man named Donald Marshall had been convicted of murder and served time in prison, not because he was guilty, but because he was a First Nation person and that racism was rampant leading to unequal treatment of First Nation peoples. There were some reforms and, in 1999, the Supreme Court issued the Marshall Decision that upheld past First Nation treaties, particularly regarding fishing and hunting. There are still a lot of unsettled issues and the story continues.
The Heritage Centre, on the right, from the parking lot. The small roofed shelter on the left is where we ate our lunch at a picnic table.
This is TJ, who doesn't use his Mi'kmaq family name, which is Gloade, but an Anglicized name, Wilson. This frequently happens because with a Mi'kmaq name they are subject to discrimination. He knew a lot about the Mi'kmaq culture and he showed us through the exhibits. He also spent about an hour talking to us about the current conditions for First Nation people.
This large boulder, about three feet in diameter, has petroglyphs on it - see below.
This is the design carved into the stone above.
The petroglyphs on the display rock were not very old, but because it was found after the rock was blasted for a road cut it could be moved to the Heritage Centre. Other petroglyphs cannot be moved from their current location. Since petroglyphs are some of the most visible remains from the ancient Mi'kmaq, examples of the carvings decorate the walls of the Heritage Centre. Below are some examples.
Something I learned - three inventions of the Mi'kmaq used today: the canoe, snowshoes and toboggans.
Mi'kmaq believed that animals gifted people more than with just meat and fat - fur and hides were used for clothing and sinew for sewing. These lent the animal's power to the wearer and in this way clothing protected in more ways than one.
Both men and women wore leggings, loin cloth and belt, moccasins, mitts and robes. The men wore a type of chest-covering which was made in two pieces. The women wore painted-hide dresses. In winter, beaver fur was favored for robes, and walrus hide made good thick moccasins. Children wore smaller versions of adult clothing.
A boy was considered a man when he killed his first moose. If a man was interested in marrying, he lived with the girls family and showed his skills in hunting and tool making. The girl would demonstrate her more domestic skills of cooking and making clothing. If the couple seemed compatible and the families agreed, there was a wedding feast which would last for days.
Language is the heart of a people's heritage. If you lose your language, you lose the most vital part of your culture. Mi'kmaq is part of the Algonquin family of languages. Mi'kmaq is fundamentally different from English. In English, the language centers on the noun, or object talked about. In Mi'kmaq, the language centers on the verb, where everything happens. Additionally, in Mi'kmaq, things can be animate or inanimate. This focus on verbs and animate and inanimate is entirely appropriate for a people whose very survival depended upon a deep understanding of the actions of animals around them and the environment in which they lived. For instance - February was called snow blinder; May was Frog croaking time; and October was Animal fattening time.
For Bill Simmons:
This is Glooscap (with Frederick - for scale). Silas Tertius Rand, an accomplished linguist and Baptist missionary clergyman, compiled the first comprehensive Mi'kmaq dictionary. He also recorded about 60 of the Mi'kmaq stories, their oral heritage. Glooscap was prominent in many of these stories.
You can read more about Glooscap here -
Frederick suggests: search for "mi'kmaq youtube"
select - "A tribe Called Mi'kmaq - Glooscap Heritage Centre -..."
You will see a drum ceremony. At the side you will see other youtube selections having to do with the Mi'kmaq.
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