€ An Island Publishers Newsmagazine

FESTIVAL TO CELEBRATE ©
_ PRIDE OF FIRST PEOPLE

“Te rained for many days. So

the supernatural killer whale
went to our people and told
them ‘if you enter me, I'll save
you from drowning.’ The

people were frightened by so
_much rain and crawled into a

large hole in the whale’s dorsal
fin. Several days later, they

_ released the raven through the

whale’s blow hole and he flew
off to see whether it would be
safe for the others to leave the
whale’s inside. He returned
with a cedar branch to indicate
the water was going down, so

the whale opened his mouth

and the people came out,
thanking him for his protec-
tion.”

hat story, says Ed
Tatoosh, is similar to
Biblical stories about
Noah and about
Jonah, who spent a great deal
of time living in a whale’s belly.
But the story is not Biblical. It
does not have European roots.

_ It is a part of native history, a

legend passed from indian
grandparent to grandchild.
“For a long time, everyone
thought they had nothing in
common with us. They
thought we were savages. But,
finally, white people are realiz-

ing that our people are civi-
lized in our own way, Says
Tatoosh, an elder of Port
Alberni’s Opetchesett band.
For thousands of years, na-
tive people have lived on Van-
couver island. They travelled
its lands, fished its waters,
and raised families in its area.
When European explorers and
fur traders sailed into Island
coastal harbors, they came to
a place with a strongly-struc-
tured social hierarchy and a
well-established and efficient
economic system.
Determined to take ad-
vantage of new trade oppor-
tunities, Indians quickly
adapted themselves to people
and practices they d never
before encountered — one
anthropologist wrote that the
people of the northwest Indian
societies “ . . . rushed out to
meet the sea otter trade, to use
it, and to shape it to the
society’s own needs.” Captain
dames Cook once said that the

shrewdest bargainers he’d
met in all his travels. He and
other Europeans, however,
also noted that the Indians
were a hospitable people who
offered gifts, food, speech and
song to all who visited their
homes. Continued on Page 3

“deity and @ottom) another group of dancers tries
oe fone ane easy cannibal bird.

B.C. coastal Indians were the

FANTASTIC FANTASIES are rare, but
literary reviewer Mike Steele is
pleased that one has finally come
along: See page 9.

i GOLDENROD: Today’s kids prac-
tice the split-second timing need-
ed fo win video games but lvy
Kent remembers that timing was
also everything fo kids in the “30s.
Knowing when fo act meant win-
ning a huge ice cream cone.
/ Page 2.

H DR. TOMORROW: “Where's the
beef?’ was an “80s phrase but,
soon, nobody will bother looking
for cow meat. Instead, barbeque
“chefs will charcoal blue antelope,
an easily-produced and raised an-
imal that gives low-calorie venison.
/ Page 6.
@ LIFE’S LIKE THAT: Sugar and spice
and everything nice may not be
foremost in the recollections of a
bride’s mother. Joan Myles knows
why mothers cry when daughiers
wed, and the tears have nothing
to do with happy memories. /
Page 12.

HB VISITOR’S CALENDAR: Victoria
was eighth on Conde Naste’s
world list of favorite destinations:
maybe the number of fun activi-
ties seamed the city’s high-ranking.
There’s never a dull moment here:
check the listed events. / Page 16.

ARACHNOPHOBIC Dr. Ross
Jennings (Jeff Daniels) hates
spiders but movie reviewer Dave
Ryland likes ERECHNOT, See

page 15.