Celebration 2010
Well last night wrapped up Celebration 2010. My Mom LOVED Celebration and singing, drumming and dancing and learning/teaching our language and traditions. Some of the best times of her life were doing those things. So this year was a bit emotional for me. Katy is in a dance group so she got to perform. Kristin made a beautiful button blanket robe for Katy and she wore that as well as a couple items of Mom's regalia -- her dress and a clasp-patch thing, both bearing our Killerwhale clan icons. Katy doesn't have her own clan since her Mother is European-American (clan is determined matrilineally) so the crest on her robe was a butterfly (Tsimshian clan for those with no clan), designed by Mom. She had made one for Katy when she was very young and so it was way too small now so we got some materials from the dance group leader and I used my digital camera to take a pic of the old robe and displayed the image on a wall using a projector with my laptop. We tacked the felt material on the wall and Kristin used a sharpie to trace the pattern and she cut it out and sewed it all on, as well as the buttons. And she did it in short order. Amazing.
Katy had a wonderful time. She's been singing the songs all day and night, she wishes she had more performances and she is demanding that we learn more Shm'algyack (Tsimshian language). She played Mom's drum in the Grand Exit last night and she really did not want to quit. Come to think of it, she was reminding me an awful lot of Mom. Heh. Awesome.
And today was another busy day! I helped some friends & family with their dancing gear. My Mom's friend Theo and her daughter Marcella, grand-daughter Lydia and son-in-law Charlie came for Celebration from Anchorage and they needed me and my truck to help haul their stuff to the airport. Charlie was adopted by my Mom into the Killerwhale clan and so he's pretty much family. He has taken his duties so very seriously and it's amazing to see cause usually people don't take it to heart the way he does.
Anyway, Charlie and Marcella were really there for me when Mom was sick and when she passed away and I absolutely would do anything for them.
I posted a bunch of pictures on my facebook page but for you non-facebookers, I also put up the same photos on my website. The website pics don't have any descriptions cause I did them in kind of a hurry and there are a LOT of them but if you feel like checking them out, have a look at http://www.flickr.com/photos/alfie_price/sets/72157630708111680/
Katy had a wonderful time. She's been singing the songs all day and night, she wishes she had more performances and she is demanding that we learn more Shm'algyack (Tsimshian language). She played Mom's drum in the Grand Exit last night and she really did not want to quit. Come to think of it, she was reminding me an awful lot of Mom. Heh. Awesome.
And today was another busy day! I helped some friends & family with their dancing gear. My Mom's friend Theo and her daughter Marcella, grand-daughter Lydia and son-in-law Charlie came for Celebration from Anchorage and they needed me and my truck to help haul their stuff to the airport. Charlie was adopted by my Mom into the Killerwhale clan and so he's pretty much family. He has taken his duties so very seriously and it's amazing to see cause usually people don't take it to heart the way he does.
Anyway, Charlie and Marcella were really there for me when Mom was sick and when she passed away and I absolutely would do anything for them.
I posted a bunch of pictures on my facebook page but for you non-facebookers, I also put up the same photos on my website. The website pics don't have any descriptions cause I did them in kind of a hurry and there are a LOT of them but if you feel like checking them out, have a look at http://www.flickr.com/photos/alfie_price/sets/72157630708111680/