Clothed in colourful, traditional costumes, indigenous dancers wowed hundreds at Bonnyville's annual Aboriginal Day celebrations.
“It's to bring awareness to everybody in the community so they can learn what aboriginal culture is about and see the pride that we take,” said Lauri Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Bonnyville Friendship Centre. “Bonnyville is multi-cultural. It's really nice to see that people are accepting and willing to learn about other people's culture.”
On June 21, around 800 people gathered at the Bonnyville Museum to celebrate and learn about aboriginal culture and traditions. Hosted by the Bonnyville Canadian Native Friendship Centre, the day started out with a traditional pipe ceremony in the morning.
Following a barbecue lunch, guests had the opportunity to witness men and women from a number of nations in the area, including Kehewin, Goodfish, and Saddle Lake, move to the beat of traditional aboriginal drums. Dancers of all ages showcased traditional, jingle dress, fancy, hoop, and fast and fancy feather dancing.
“The mens fast and fancy feather dance, it's a newer style of dancing that originated around the 1800s. It's a newer, faster, more contemporary style of dancing and it's an audience pleaser,” explained Jody John, a dancer from Kehewin.
The dancers finished off with a round dance, inviting the hundreds of students and teachers from the audience to join them.
“It was a very amazing round of applause and reception from the audience. It was good last year too, but I think this year was even better,” said John. “We had more participation from the kids and, overall, it just went well. It was a beautiful day.”
An annual tradition, Aboriginal Day has been held at the museum for the past five years. Each year the event has been continually growing, with last week's celebrations being the largest yet.
Dr. Brosseau School brought all of their 270 students in attendance that day out to witness the Aboriginal Day festivities.
“It's part of our culture. About 19 per cent of our students are aboriginal and I just think it's important for everyone to experience it,” said principal Vince Spila, adding that it was the school's first time attending the event.
“It's awesome. The (students) get excited about getting involved with the round dancing, they love that.”
With the event seeing more and more attendees every year, Fitzpatrick expressed they may have outgrown their current location at the museum. While they're not sure where they're going to host Aboriginal Day next year, it's definitely an event they will continue for years to come.
“It's events like this that bring awareness to the community,” said John. “It's events like this that we need for the students, the various nations, and the people of Canada so they know we're still here and our culture is alive and well.”
