Petroglyph Returned To First Nation After More Than 30 Years

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              Petroglyph

              Courtesy Snuneymuxw First Nation










                                              Petroglyph returned to first nation


                           Carving on boulder had been in museum for more than 30 years






Derek Spalding,
Nanaimo Daily News
Thursday,
October 30, 2008

NANAIMO -- The Snuneymuxw people officially celebrated the return of their salmon petroglyph this week, more than three decades after it was removed by the City of Nanaimo and hauled to a museum.

Snuneymuxw First Nation archeologist Lorraine Littlefield said the petroglyph, carved into a boulder, sat at Jack Point near the mouth of the Nanaimo River, marking a ritual that guaranteed the annual run of chum salmon.

Unlike most petroglyphs, the Jack Point petroglyph has a strong oral history attached to it.


A shaman would perform the ritual, singing a ceremonial song and marking male and female salmon with paint and down feathers, according to Homer Barnett, who wrote down the oral history. The Snuneymuxw could not smoke fish for winter until after completing the ritual, his account said.

City councillors and the Snuneymuxw gathered at the long house kitchen hall Monday to honour the petroglyph's return. Nanaimo Mayor Gary Korpan held open a red cape as elder Ellen White slipped inside. She buttoned up and slid on a braided cedar headband, traditional gear she wears to honour the creator.

"I'm happy that you are all here. This is an important day for us," White said before the feast, which took three people all day to prepare. "We need to protect the salmon and all our wildlife. There will soon be nothing left."

Korpan said the two communities have made significant progress in recent years, learning to work together "even if that means ganging up on upper levels of government."




© The Vancouver Sun 2008

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                                                         Petroglyph






The Snuneymuxw First Nation has many stories associated with Jack Point (100 Kb) and the petroglyph that once stood there.

In one of the oral histories, the animals depicted on the Jack Point petroglyph are named. They are: Flounder, Spring Salmon (has a long hooked nose), Humpback Salmon (Pink), Coho Salmon, and Dog Salmon (Chum). A design of a bird that may be Great Blue Heron can also be discerned amongst the fish. The same story explains the petroglyph designs and how the petroglyph was used by the Snuneymuxw people.

"One day a man, who was a priest or spiritual person, caught a strange looking fish on the Nanaimo River. Later in the presence of the priest's daughter, the fish turned into a young man who asked the daughter to marry him. The man who was really a Dog Salmon took her away to his home. When the priest went looking for his daughter the next spring, he found her with the Dog Salmon. She would not return with him, but promised to return to Nanaimo with her husband and his family each year in the fall."

At the time of their return, the priest's family would be able to eat as many Dog Salmon as they liked. The day the daughter returned with her husband marked the first time the Dog Salmon entered the Nanaimo River for spawning. Another version of this story tells of the daughter and her husband leaping out of the water side by side, making themselves known to the Snuneymuxw people. In a ritual each year, to welcome the return of the daughter and Dog Salmon, the priest would paint the petroglyph at Jack Point in ochre, a type of red earth, and make offerings into a fire. The people were not to eat the first Dog Salmon that came back to the river, as they were believed to be the daughter and son-in-law.

In the 1930s, Albert Wesley from the Snuneymuxw First Nation, told ethnographer Diamond Jenness the following creation story about the Jack Point petroglyph:

"Afterwards Haals(Xe.ls) [The Creator] came. Who he was, whence he came, and whither he went, no one knows. He changed people in many different places to rocks, why no one knows. Two persons accompanied him in his travels. Raven (spal) and Mink (tetceq.an). Around Snuneymuxw he performed these wonders. Off Snuneymuxw he made a long point 'Jack Point', at Spal's (Raven) bidding, so that women would have a long way to walk around and could say all they wanted to say during the journey."

That this creation story includes Jack Point confirms the significance of the Nanaimo estuary and River to the Snuneymuxw people. Raven, the Elders say, is always trying to spy on women and listen in on their secrets. That is why he made Jack Point such a long piece of land - would have longer to hear women talk as they walked the length of the Point. For this reason, Jack Point is linked to Snuneymuxw women.



http://www.snuneymuxwvoices.ca/english/petroglyph_elders.asp

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              Petroglyph in original location at Jack Point

              Courtesy Loraine Littlefield








Nanaimo River estuary



The Nanaimo River Estuary (100 Kb) is the largest estuary on Vancouver Island. Estuaries are incredibly rich and diverse habitats where fresh water from rivers meets salt water from the ocean. The Nanaimo estuary, like other estuaries, provides important habitat for migratory birds, fish and wildlife. Understandably, the Nanaimo River estuary has been a significant place for Snuneymuxw First Nation for generations. Unfortunately, like so many estuaries, the pressures of urban development, industrialization, transportation and recreation have seriously damaged the health of this special place.

Of the four salmon species depicted on the Jack Point Petroglyph, only two, the Coho and Dog Salmon (or chum), run with any regularity or vitality. There are Chinook in the river, but they are very rare now and fishing for them is restricted. Unfortunately, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans opens the season for sport fishing but not for food. Some Snuneymuxw Elders believe that the river is dying because the petroglyph has been removed. They believe the estuary will not be restored to what it once was and will not be able to fully support salmon populations until the petroglyph has been put back in its original place at Jack Point.



http://www.snuneymuxwvoices.ca/english/petroglyph_elders.asp

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