As you start to read this blog post, your first impression may be that I have lost track of the title above, but I promise you that I will maneuver my way back around to the indigenous people of British Columbia, Canada. I promise. 🙂
Indigenous, aboriginal, first nation … so many people displaced by northern Europeans (and others) in the last 500 years (and longer).
But let me tell you the back-story of why this means so much to me.
A few years ago I was camping out on the Pacific Coast of Washington. Indeed, Towhee the Trailer was parked right next to the ocean beach. I met two women who were staying in a yurt in the same campground … staying in a yurt is a nice way to go camping! We became friends immediately and spent a number of evenings sitting out on the beach, on the sand, right next to the water of the Pacific Ocean, telling our stories, talking about our lives, our hopes, listening to the ocean. One of those women enjoyed building campfires. (What a treat, to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean to the west as we gathered around a small campfire to warm ourselves and our friendship.)
As very young children, these two women friends met in school in Germany … one woman was/is German. The other woman was/is the daughter of USA citizens who were employees of a private USA company doing business in Germany; they were not in the USA military, so that daughter attended a local private school rather than a military school. These two women met as very young girls in that school. They became best of friends, and have remained close friends throughout life. The German woman visits the USA one or two times a year (without her German husband or their German kids) … and the USA woman visits Germany one or two times a year (without her USA wife or their USA kids). Once every few years, the spouses and kids do travel back and forth, but the friendship between these two women means the world to them.
Even just THAT story warms my heart.
One evening while the three of us were sitting around the campfire out on that beach right next to the Pacific Ocean, the three of us had become so comfortable that there were silences and thoughtful times and even times when one or another of us might sing a song or two. The German woman asked me about indigenous people here in the USA, in North America, and asked what I knew and thought and felt about all of that. That started a very long and heartfelt conversation among the three of us. As the conversation died down, I turned the question around and asked the German woman about indigenous people in Europe. That startled her, and she paused for a few moments, then said, “No one has ever asked me that. But that would be me, and my family, and everyone I know there. We are the indigenous people there. We are still there, we were never driven out, we and our families have been there forever.”
All three of us were a bit stunned, since we’d never thought about that in such detail or in relation to our own lives. Nor truly seriously thought of how we would feel if we were driven from our homes, had our children taken from us (or had us removed from our parents), had our spiritual practices made illegal, had our crops destroyed, our food and clothing changed, our language and our history destroyed, etc.
Part of my ancestry and DNA is Scottish … and in particular I’m a descendant of the ancient Picts in Scotland (so named by the invading Romans because the Picts drew ink images, ink pictures on their skin). The Romans, and the French, and the Danes, and the Norwegians, etc, all/each invaded Scotland and fairly quickly destroyed that “Pict” culture. So, as I sat there out on that Pacific Ocean beach in the USA with my two friends, I realized that I was indigenous to Scotland. My immediate ancestors, my parents and grandparents hadn’t lived there, but at least two of my great grandparents had lived in Scotland, were born there, and their ancestors too had lived there for thousands of years. They came from the central area of Scotland (around Meigle and Coupar Angus) where a large group of the Picts had lived. I have the DNA and genetic memories of the Picts in Scotland who lived there for thousands of years, before any other humans lived there, a culture and a people who no longer exist. Except I do. I exist. And there are a good number of other people who have that same ancient DNA too, and have those same ancestors too.
That gave me an entirely new view of what it means to be indigenous … and what it means to have your people and your culture, your world, destroyed, or nearly so.
And so, that brings me to the title of this blog post … Indigenous People of British Columbia, Canada. I was meandering around on the internet the other day and came across five extraordinary videos. I’ll share them with you here. Keep in mind that the word “Illahee” means “water”, and water is life.
Turn your sound on. And click on the little box in the lower right hand corner of each video to enlarge the videos. You’ll see why I loved boating here so much. And you’ll see why I love the people here so much.
Whales.
Bears.
Mountains.
Rainforest.
Water.
Some of us know a specific place on this planet where we came from, where our long-ago ancestors lived, maybe some of us still live there and are doing everything we can to protect that place and honor it and our ancestors. But in the bigger picture … the bigger picture of our entire planet … every one of us is indigenous to this planet “earth”. This land, this water, this air, all over the earth … this is our home.
I’m so very impressed with the people who made these five videos in British Columbia, Canada. I hope I learn from them. I hope we all do.
Thank you! For so many reasons. Extraordinary.
You are welcome, M&M. It’s a wonderful world and so important to share that.
You’re a Pict. That’s so cool. I’ve done my DNA and altho I’m Scot, I am also Irish and French and Italian and Danish … not a Pict DNA in me. Besides the fact that I love this blog post about indigenous people everywhere, I also like that “our” Ann is indigenous to Scotland and is a descendant of the very truly really truly ancient Picts. I’ve been looking online and can’t find what those people called themselves. Do you know Ann?
Well, maybe a future DNA test will be able to pick up the Pict in you. I hope so, Babe. 🙂
From all the research I’ve done, no one knows what those people called themselves. And maybe they didn’t call themselves anything since, for thousands of years, there were no other people on earth that they knew about, so it’s likely they didn’t have a word for “us”, other than “us”. Also, they had no written language. There are a few lists of the names of chiefs/kings but nothing else, just the hundreds of carved stones that are being found in many places in Scotland. I wish the Scots would find a name for the Picts other than “Picts”, a word that isn’t Scottish in any sense and came from the Romans.
What is friendship but between any human beings. Any human beings, no matter anything about them. We rely on each other for truth and for health and for peace. Gorgeous videos from BC!
Jim
Well said, Jim, thank you!
Spectacular!
Yes, spectacular indeed! Thanks Cindy.
What a lovely read! I’m super excited as Terry and I are planning a trip to Scotland later in the year. But everyone has told me avoid the mosquitoes as they are terrible! So will wait a bit longer me thinks! X
Oh excellent, you’re going to Scotland! Or planning it anyway. Oh I hope you go. Last time I was there it was for three weeks in September. We had no rain and no mosquitoes, and all the locals said that was normal for the mosquitoes but unheard of for no rain. So what do you do? Just go I think. With your luck, Lisa, you and Terry can go any time you want and the mosquitoes will leave you alone. They will be terrified of Daisy, that cat! 🙂
Absolutely brilliant. Beautiful.
Thank you, Henry. 🙂 I love your comments.
Thank you for your story about the friendships and for these videos. You gave me a beautiful morning as I watched each of them. They are extraordinary. Now I know I want to visit BC someday.
Oh, BC is so beautiful, and so huge. It has huge mountain ranges, and prairies, and thousands of islands along the western coast. I used to think the State of Washington was large until I looked at a map of BC … it’s huge! So yes, come west woman! 🙂 If you do, let me know when you come and we’ll meet up somewhere, Dawn, and/or I’m happy to help with a trip plan. I’d love to visit Michigan … when I do, I’ll let you know. What fun. 🙂
Excellent. You are an amazing teacher. Thank you.
Oh gosh, thank you Mary. To me, I’m not teaching, but sharing … sharing experiences and learnings that are important to me. And, yet, if that teaches and/or helps other people, then that’s surely ok with me. Thank you. 🙂
You got it. You understand.
Really nice friendships you made there and the description of your time and connection as friends is heart-warming. The discussion and awareness of “indigenous” felt right-on to me and encouraging. There’s so much in the world that I don’t know or don’t understand .. it’s amazing to me that so many people seem to think they KNOW what’s right for other people. We all learn about ourselves and each other throughout life. I’m glad you’re on this earth, Ann.
Some day, in the spirit world, you will meet the people you knew in that Pict community.
The words you write/speak are true too, Sesapa. I like having your voice added to mine, all of our voices. We never know it all, do we? And, I would love to meet other Pict people, I hadn’t thought of that … thank you for that!
I have some local Yakama blood. Really interesting to see what the people are doing in BC. You have a good heart, keep focus on that. This was a great blog post.
Thanks, Paul, nice words. 🙂 I really enjoyed the Yakama Museum & Cultural Center when I was camping there a few years ago. Visited it three times that week in fact.