A museum in Gatineau, Que. has come up with a brilliant way to celebrate Indigenous culture.
On Monday evening, the Canadian Museum of History illuminated seven teepees on its property to represent seven generations of Indigenous people and their seven sacred teachings: love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility, and truth.
The teepees will continue to be lit up every night from now until Dec. 31, where the final Canada 150 celebration of the year will take place. "Nimidiwin, A Celebration of our Dance from Coast to Coast to Coast" will be held on New Year's Eve at the Canadian Museum of History and will feature Indigenous throat singers, dancers, and drummers, the Ottawa Citizen reports.
The free event is one way Canada is raising awareness and understanding of Indigenous people and their culture, which is crucial.
The relationship between Canada and Indigenous people has been damaged for a long time due to many things such as residential schools, which forced Indigenous children to assimilate and subjected them to years of abuse. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former prime minister Stephen Harper have both publicly apologized on behalf of all Canadians, it hasn't been enough to repair past hurts.
But according to Chief Morley Googoo, who represents Nova Scotia and Newfoundland at the Assembly of First Nations, the Nimidiwin event and the teepee lightings "will help promote the good energy of reconciliation and of Canada 150."
"Reconciliation comes in many ways and I'm really honoured," Googoo said. "This event [Nimidiwin] is going to represent the storyline, the diversity of our culture, song and dance from all across the country."
Googoo added that he hopes the event will "educate people while we entertain them" and show them "how beautiful our culture is, that we're not just one First Nations people or Indigenous, we have tribes, 58 different languages in fact."
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