Aboriginal Canada

I received this nice card via a Postcrossing tag...it celebrates National Aboriginal Day in Canada on June 21st with a poster competition. It features many symbols of native understandings from the sacred white Buffalo of the prairies, NW Coast killer whale, an arctic shaman's mask and the 4 colors of a medicine wheel. This lovely card was mailed using many great stamps that also recall 1st Nations people!

 

Celebrating the Corn Beads (1999)

Christine Sioui Wawanoloath

Miwok, California

Inez, a Postcrosser in California sent this great card of a well known Miwok performer. The Miwok traditionally lived in small hunter/gather groups in Northern California. It is estimated that their population declined from 11,000 to less than 500 as settlers and gold miners flooded into California, leading to violence, disease and land loss.

Chris Brown performed under the name Chief Lemee for tourists at Yosemite for almost 30 years. An interesting explanation of dance regalia can be found here:
 http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/miwok_material_culture/dance_ornaments.html

Blackfeet on the move

a late 1800s photo showing a well dressed family and horses including a very nicely beaded bag hanging on the woman's saddle. The Blackfeet resided along the US/Canadian border and this card comes from a Postcrosser in Canada

Maya of Belize

its not clear if the woman in this card is Mayan or of mixed heritage, but she wears a nicely embroidered cotton huipil. She may be a market woman, perhaps selling textiles to tourists!

Pow Wow

a friend in Montreal sent a card showing young dancers at a pow wow....the original Algonquian word pau wau, translated to mean a healing activity in which holy men danced in sacred ceremonies. Today its a social activity but participants still dance to honor the ancestors and to thank elders.

Happy New Year Ben and merci for the nice card!

Yokut

California has a rich native history but sadly most communities were impacted by the arrival of Europeans with unknown diseases and the forced labor of the Spanish mission system. Later native people were affected by the arrival of American gold miners, driven from their lands and once again decimated by disease and violence. Those who survived continued some of their traditional activities such as gathering wild foods & plants; many of California's native communities were skilled basket makers and used them to store foods as well as sell or trade for manufactured items. Native artists also sold baskets to collectors and museums; today these art objects can be found in some very expensive art galleries.
This basket was made in 1905 by Mrs Dick Francisco, using sedge root, redbud, bracken fern root and deer grass. The artist was a member of the Yokut community who lived near San Francisco and Bakersfield. When this basket was made there were perhaps only 600 tribal members remaining.
My collection is very pleased to have such a lovely card!

Canada, Fall 2013

I haven't been as active lately with my postcard exchanges but recently traded with folks in Canada. Here are cards celebrating historic Northwest Coast Village life and modern pow wow dancing:

This photo of a Kwagiulth village was taken by CF Newcombe (1900) and features  an impressive painted clan house known as the Sea Monster House which belonged to John Scow . It would have been seen by anyone traveling along the coastline. This photo also shows the transition between native made wood plank building and European style construction.

Less information is available on this card but it was printed in Edmonton, Alberta and the young man is likely from that area.