Canada - Alberta's Aboriginal Legacy

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Canada - Alberta's Aboriginal Legacy
By Travel Alberta
Jun 14, 2003, 10:55am

The sheer sandstone cliffs that hug the meandering Milk River in southern Alberta behold a thousand mystical secrets waiting to be told. Here, along the stark, wind-carved hoodoos, cactus and prairie grasslands, ancestors of today's Blackfoot Indians have left their mark. Their mysterious legacy is a testament to Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park's great heritage - and offers a fleeting glimpse of a way of life long gone but not forgotten.

Scattered over 50 sites atop the river valley, these ancient pictures and carvings act much like a sandstone photo album, depicting the passage of time for the people who lived, hunted and prayed among these hallowed hills. A victorious bison hunt. The spiritual journey of a young brave who embarks upon a vision quest. The life-altering arrival of the horse.

Courtesy of Travel Alberta

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park is just one of many attractions that pay tribute to the rich culture of Alberta's first nations - a culture which fascinates people around the world. Here are some other story ideas about the province's aboriginal fabric:

Down on the reserve: Take part in traditional dancing and drumming, beadwork, hand games, a sweatlodge ceremony, teepee-raising and other experiences in this unique camp along the banks of the Oldman River in southern Alberta. You'll be welcomed to the Eagle's Nest Indian Village with a pipe ceremony conducted by a Peigan elder, and then be invited to participate in a variety of cultural and outdoor programs depending on the length of your stay.

Courtesy of Travel Alberta

Chasing the great buffalo: As legend has it, curiosity had fatal consequences for a young Indian brave 2,000 years ago. The lad lost his life under the steep cliffs where herds of buffalo were herded to their deaths in a skilled hunting technique perfected here by the Plains Indians. The unfortunate youth was found crushed underneath the weight of one of the giant beasts, leading to the name Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Centre. UNESCO designated the jump a World Heritage Site for its historical significance; it is also the site of a hugely popular annual weekend pow-wow and teepee village west of Fort Macleod.

Hit the pow-wow trail: The native music and dance that make up the pow-wow are awe-inspiring to locals and international visitors alike. Feather bustles and headdresses. Brilliantly-beaded buckskin and the thunder of drums. The popularity and significance of pow-wows among our first nations are rivalled only by the rodeos that are a big part of life in the West. Just about every town, city or reserve has a pow-wow or Indian Days celebration in the summer, including the famed teepee village at the Calgary Exhibition & Stampede. The stories are rich and plentiful; story possibilities endless.

Preserving the past: In Calgary, the Glenbow Museum has earned high praise for its work with native cultures and is the largest museum in Western Canada. In Edmonton, the Provincial Museum of Alberta features the new Syncrude Gallery of Aboriginal Culture, which will take you back 11,000 years and 500 generations. Historic Fort Macleod is home to the Fort Museum, site of the first North West Mounted Police (later RCMP) outpost in 1874. In the town of Banff, the Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum of the Plains Indian is dedicated to native heritage and culture.

Trading on dreams: The lore of Alberta's early fur trade still echoes across Alberta, where early adventurers and natives trapped, hunted and traded on the western frontier. Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site offers a hands-on exploration of the fur-trade era from 1799 to 1875. Trails, interpretive displays, audio-visual theatre and even the buffalo grazing in the front paddock are a true-to-life journey back to a unique era in the Canadian west. In the southern city of Lethbridge lies Fort Whoop-Up, once home of the most notorious whiskey trading post in the west. Costumed guides re-enact its wooly past in daily skits and hands-on demos through-out the summer. Various weekends host mock battles, tug-of-wars against horses, log pole races and so on.

Courtesy of Travel Alberta

Think big: If you're looking for the Saamis Teepee, you won't have to stop and ask for directions. At 20 storeys high, this towering landmark isn't hard to find in the city of Medicine Hat. Built for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics to commemorate the role of native people in the history of southern Alberta, the world's largest teepee stands watch over the recently-discovered Saamis Site Archaeological Dig.