Thursday, October 31, 2013

Colcannon Supper, Witches' Revels and Turnip Scooping: Halloween Traditions in Newfoundland and Labrador


Once again has come the night of tricks and treats and eerie apparitions. This is the night when masked and costumed creatures roam the streets, their devilry appeased only with heaps of sugary goodies. Many of us have taken part in Halloween, but the traditions in Newfoundland and Labrador surrounding it have changed considerably over the years. Here's a look at where it all started and how Halloween has been celebrated in this province.

Halloween customs originate from a Celtic harvest festival called Samhain (pronounced Sow-in), meaning summer’s end. For the Celtic people, October 31 marked the end of the harvest and beginning of winter. On this night the veil separating the worlds of the dead and living was said to become so thin that spirits could cross and harass the living. To hide their identity from these ghosts, the Celts disguised themselves in animal skins. To appease the ghosts, they left food outside their homes.

"Cauld Cannon will be Served"
The Evening Telegram, October 24, 1895. 

"The Blue Puttee Celebrate Halloween"
October 1922 
An excerpt about Halloween pranks.
The Twillingate Sun, November 12, 1940. 












There are several Halloween customs in Newfoundland and Labrador and this annual celebration has gone by many names, such as Snap-apple Night, Colcannon Night, or the Eve of All Saints' Day. The days just before Halloween (and sometimes after) are called Mischief Week and in some areas the antics were resigned to one evening called Mischief Night. Children traditionally believed that there were certain kinds of mischief allowed at that time, such as removing and switching gates and soaping windows. Most of this was harmless fun and tolerated by adults, except when your gate went missing and ran the risk of becoming bonfire fuel! (see above)

The Evening Telegram, November 02, 1900.

Halloween was also once known as Snap-apple Night in Newfoundland. This name simply referred to the tradition of bobbing for apples as part of the festivities. Due to the nature of the game, where a number of individuals each place their entire head into a bowl of water, it is thought to be a somewhat unsanitary and has fallen out of favour over the years.


"Fancy Costumes"
The Evening Telegram, November 02, 1922

Another tradition in Newfoundland and Labrador associated with Halloween is the serving of colcannon, which means "white-headed cabbage". At one time, Colcannon Night was synonymous with Halloween in many parts of the province. An old Irish Halloween tradition, colcannon is a dish consisting of mashed potatoes with cabbage and/or kale. The Newfoundland colcannon tastes quite different from the Irish version and is often a mixture or hash of boiled vegetables such as potatoes, turnip and cabbage with butter to taste.
"Hallowe'en Sociable"
The Evening Telegram, October 28, 1922

















Four objects were traditionally hidden in the large dish of colcannon served on Halloween: a ring, a coin, a thimble and a button. As the tradition goes, whoever finds the ring will marry soon and whoever finds the coin will become rich. Sadly, the person who finds the button and thimble will remain single forever. In some variations finding the button signifies marriage for a girl, instead of a life of spinsterhood.

"Turnip Scooping Competition"
The Evening Telegram, October 29, 1 908
"Halloween Themed Political Cartoon"
The Evening Telegram, October 31, 1919























Interestingly, it was once tradition in Newfoundland to carve turnips for Halloween rather than pumpkins, a carry over from Celtic tradition. Pumpkins carved as jack-o-lanterns would not have been part of traditional Halloween festivals in Celtic Europe, since pumpkins are New World plants. Large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows to ward off evil spirits. 

"Fairies, Cowboys, Clowns and Witches"
The Twillingate Sun, November 01, 1952 
"Exorcism in Bristol, England and Halloween Curses"
The Twillingate Sun, March 24, 1950


















" A Halloween Centerpiece"
The St. John's Daily Star, December 04, 1920




















Happy Halloween from the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office!

-Nicole 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Tuesday's Folklore Photo - Fancy Water Feet


For the past couple of weeks Dale has been overseas attending workshops, telling stories, teaching, and eating some delicious looking foods, but still has managed to spot folklore treasures for me on the other side of the pond. Dale spotted this repurposed horse watering trough on the harbour in Stromness, Orkney, which now serves as a lamppost/ plant holder with fabulous feet! A close up of the hooves:


Watering troughs made specifically for horses are something you can find in Canada as well as overseas - in fact, there's one in Bowring Park that used to be on Water Street, which was featured as a folklore photo back in July. Having accessible public water was important for people and animals alike, especially considering horses would have been working hard downtown as transportation for both people and goods. Having a (separate, of course) place for workhorses to grab a drink was an important element to the downtown scene. This one, however, is especially great looking; tailor made with hooves to handsomely hydrate horses. I'm in love with this!

Have a water folklore photo to share? Please email me at Sarah@heritagefoundation.ca - I would love to see it!

Sarah

A Ghost Ship Called the Blue Jacket



In preparation for Halloween, I've been listening to some spooky tales that I've recently had the pleasure of recording in and around the Bay Roberts area. Here is a clip of 92 year old Greta Hussey of Port de Grave talking about when her father saw an infamous ghost ship called the Blue Jacket. Greta is a fantastic story-teller and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to spend time with her.
-Lisa

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Bonfire Night in Paradise

If you are in St. John's and are looking to celebrate Guy Fawke's Night this year, here's an option close to the city:

Bonfire Night celebrations will be held in Paradise on November 5th, 2013.  
Wed, November 6th will be the alternate date in case of inclement weather.
 
Location: Octagon Pond Parking lot, Paradise
Time: 6:30-8:30 pm

Note: Due to construction at the Community Centre the small roasting fires that are usually set up for families will be moved to the pond, and there won't be a large bonfire. There will still be free wieners, marshmallows and beverages given out.   
If you would like more information please call the Recreation & Leisure Services Department at 782-6290 or email psilver@townofparadise.ca
For more information on Bonfire Night in general, please check out this previous post. 

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Hammock Days


As we settle into the fall season, I'd like to share a nostalgic summer photograph from the Bay Roberts area. This image was shown to me by 84 year old Wilbur Sparkes during a recent oral history interview. During our talk, Mr. Sparkes reminisced about how his mother used to string up a hammock between two large trees to help take advantage of the summer weather. His grandmother is shown relaxing in a rocking chair next to her. This was just one of many wonderful memories he shared about growing up in the community he still calls home.
-Lisa

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: St. Anthony Hospital Staff with Skeleton

Keeping with my spooky theme for the month of October, here's a photo of the St. Anthony medical staff posed with a skeleton!
[VA 129-5.2] St. Anthony Hospital Staff with Skeleton, 1911:
St. Anthony Hospital Lab end, 1911. Miss Clarke, Miss Ruth Keyes [sic] Miss Eperingon [sic], Dr. Katherine [sic], skeleton, John M. Little. Names should read: Ruth Keese (teacher), Miss Etherington (nurse), Robert Catheron (physician), John Mason Little (physician). Ruth Keese later married John M. Little.

The International Grenfell Association (IGA) was incorporated in Canada on January 10, 1914, under the Companies Act of 1899. Sir Wilfred Grenfell, the founder of IGA, came to Newfoundland to attend to the needs of fishermen in northern Newfoundland and on the coast of Labrador. In its earliest years, the IGA had four functions in serving the needs of these people. They were health care, education, religious services; and rehabilitation and other social activities

To learn more about the International Grenfell Association, visit their website.

The Beeb and the Big Flag, this Wednesday in Cupids


A British Broadcasting Corporation television crew out of Bristol, England will be visiting Cupids where they will be filming "Coast" a program somewhat like "Land and Sea" in this province.

The Union Jack being raised on Wednesday, October 16th, measures 46 feet by 23 feet and is only flown on special occasions in Cupids. It is a a replacement flag for the original flag (billed as the largest Union Jack in the world) first flown from this same site in 1910 on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the establishment of Cupids as the first English settlement in Canada in 1610. As one can see the flag raising event is a real hands on experience and a great opportunity to take some truly for unique photos - you even get a chance to join fellow flag raisers in singing the anthem during the hoisting of the flag.

Residents of Cupids and the general public are invited to participate in the filming of a communal raising of the large Union Jack. The flag raising will occur at about 9:00am on Wednesday morning.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

The Protest Songs of Quidi Vidi

Confronting change can be a major challenge for the long-time residents of any community. Across the province, for residents of rural and urban communities alike, it's a struggle that many have experienced. For the residents of Quidi Vidi Village, for example, this kind of challenge has been persisting over several years. In terms of change around land use and development, it seems that the village is beyond the point of no return. During a recent series of oral history interviews I conducted "in the gut," many present and former residents reflected fondly on the village's past, but also stressed the negative impact of such drastic change, on both a personal level and on the welfare of the greater community.

Something that everyone can recall is how the community banded together to resist a development plan that was poised to alter the social and physical landscape that they had always known and loved. Here are a few protest songs written and performed by community members when a controversial waterfront housing project was underway. When these songs were being written, they didn't know yet what we know now: this development was going to happen, whether or not the community members were singing their songs... but as one former resident pointed out, "You can't say we didn't try!" To me, these are beautiful songs. They show creativity and integrity in the face of adversity, and represent the powerful ties that people tend to feel to where they are from.


We're Standing Up to Save the Gut, provided by Ed and Joan Soper.

Destruction Zone, composed by Kim and Judy, provided by Ed and Joan Soper.



Have members of your community written any protest songs? What are the issues and changes that you have confronted where you live? Feel free to contact me with your songs and stories. I'd love to know more. Contact lisa@heritagefoundation.ca.

-Lisa

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Digitizing Intangible Cultural Heritage : A How-To Guide


A while back, Lisa Wilson, one of our staff folklorists, worked for the the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador to prepare a guide to assist museums, archives and independent researchers, for the Canadian Heritage Information Network.

This manual assists museums, archives and independent researchers in digitizing their existing collections of intangible heritage-related material. Aside from providing step-by-step digital transferring instructions, it also offers definitions for heritage-related terminologies, as well as a significant number of technological terminologies. While this digitization guide aims to be user-friendly, familiarity with basic audio/visual equipment and media software is a prerequisite. Digitization instructions are provided for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

The guide is now out, and available online!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Tuesday's Folklore Photo - An Old School Root Cellar



Last week I had the opportunity to go back out into the field and get my hands dirty with some serious archaeology. My graduate supervisor Barry Gaulton has been going out to a site in Sunnyside, Newfoundland, for the past several years with Steve Mills, and each time he goes out into the field he brings eager graduate students with him: this year it was my turn! The site is a 17th century winter house in the woods near the water, and based upon some of the artifacts we found it probably dates to the 1660's, and was probably used for only a year or two.

One great discovery this season was the location of what was most likely a root cellar to the west of where the house was. It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but this root cellar is built from mounded earth, and we uncovered a section of staining in the earth that was likely a 4 foot span of wooden flooring in the center. Although there isn't any remains left, the top of the root cellar would have been built of a combination of earth, rock and wood, drawn from the local resources at hand.

Root cellars would have been just as important 350 years ago as they were 50 years ago, or even today, especially during a cold winter with limited access to supplies other than what you could hunt or gather for yourself. I decided to share the photo I had of the root cellar this week for the folklore photo as a teaser for a blog post later on this week about my trip out to Sunnyside, and because root cellars are cool, and full of folklore-y goodness! And you can't go wrong with one from the 17th century.


Monday, October 7, 2013

Bristol's Hope and the Salmon of Knowledge


There is an old Irish story about the Salmon of Knowledge. According to the legend, an ordinary salmon ate nine hazelnuts that fell into the Well of Wisdom from the nine hazel trees that surrounded the well. Because of this, the salmon gained all the world's knowledge, and it was said that the first person to eat its flesh would, in turn, gain this knowledge.

A young Finn McCool, destined to become a great leader and warrior, was sent to study under the wise man Finnegas, who had spent years trying to catch the salmon. Not long after Finn came to him, Finnegas caught the salmon, and ordered Finn to cook it, but not to eat any of it. As Finn cooked it, it burned his fingers, so he put his thumb into his mouth to ease the pain. In this way, Finn acquired all the wisdom of the world, and not old Finnegas.  In a story from Wales, the famed poet Taliesin received his wisdom in a similar way.

I drove home tonight from Bristol's Hope, thinking about those old tales, of Finn McCool, of Taliesin, and of Ida Skinner.

I was in Bristol's Hope to help out with the start of an oral history project. The local heritage committee is working on a few projects which I've mentioned here before. Tonight, I met with Richard Johnson and Don Skinner, to get them started on their interviewing techniques.

Don's mother, Mrs. Ida Skinner, was our "test subject" tonight, and I showed the men how to do a folklore interview by having a fabulous chat with Ida, which ranged from her early memories of growing up at the Point in Bristol's Hope, her family's fishing business, the raising of sheep, of carding and spinning, schooldays and recess games at the old one-room schoolhouse, and of holidays and charming away warts.

At the end of our conversation, Richard asked Mrs. Skinner to pick one thing she would bring back from her early years in the community if she could.

"We used to be as one," she said, without pausing to think. It was something she had mentioned at a few points throughout our conversation, noting that in her youth, the entire community, Protestants and Roman Catholics alike, had worked together for clearing snow along the road in winter, to provide education for the children of the community, and in making sure everyone had food to eat.

"We used to be as one," she said. And then she told a story.

Mrs. Skinner's father and her two older brothers had been successful fishermen, who had invested their earnings in a larger boat, and who sold their catch for export to the Moores family in Carbonear. 

During salmon season, her family, and other men in Bristol's Hope would set their traps and catch whatever salmon they could. As the salmon season progressed, the number of salmon turning up in the traps would decrease. It was then that her father and the other men did something that stuck in her memory. They would take that year's last catch of salmon, and distribute it to every household in the community that didn't have a salmon trap. Everyone got salmon, not just the men who had worked for it and who would profit from the selling of it, but every single family in Bristol's Hope. 

And it is that sense of fairness, compassion and community that Mrs. Skinner would pick to bring forward into today's world. It seems like a wise idea to me.

(Illustration by Wenceslas Hollar, courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

The Isaac Mercer Murder Gate, Bay Roberts


The ICH office is currently working with the Bay Roberts Cultural Foundation on a project to record local stories. While the focus is on stories and memories concerning folk belief, traditional cures and charms, and superstitions, we are also recording some general oral histories with locals.

Last Friday, I sat down with local historian and author Mike Flynn to talk about the Bay Roberts of yesteryear. Mike had lots of stories, including some great bits of local folklore, including legends about the Devil and buried treasure.

We also had a chat about janneying (mummering) in the region, and in particular, about the murder of Isaac Mercer by mummers in December 1860. You can read a bit more about that case here.

After we talked, Mike took me to see an old wrought-iron gate, the location where the murder took place a century and a half ago. It is near a spot once known as Wilcox's Lane, a now mostly-forgotten laneway that today is on private property. It is a spot I've driven past hundreds of times, but which I'd never explored. It is a good example of the history that is right under our noses, and often overlooked. So here it is, in the photo above, the gate to the former Wilcox's Lane, with Mike Flynn standing guard.

The interview with Mike will eventually be up on Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative, as part of our ICH inventory, in the Bay Roberts collection. Stay tuned!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Postmortem Photographs: a long standing misconception

For the month of October I've decided to share examples of the terrifying, creepy or downright strange. Today I'll be sharing some information about postmortem photographs, also known as memento mori.

"Sleeping Beauty"
Courtesy of The Thanatos Archive
Postmortem photography was very common in the nineteenth century when death occurred in the home and was quite an ordinary part of life. In Newfoundland the tradition is said to have lasted into the mid-twentieth century. Today, the tradition of taking postmortem photographs has largely ceased, which most likely indicates a cultural shift, reflecting a general discomfort with death. Today these images are often viewed as vulgar or sensational. However, when placed in historical context, these photographs are a loving memorization of dead family members. Many of these photos, especially those of infants and children, were the only images ever taken of the departed, and therefore cherished deeply by grieving family members. 

"The Bride"
Courtesy of The Thanatos Archive
There is, however, one misconception about postmortem images that I would like to clear up, especially after this list of memento mori photographs was posted today on the popular entertainment website, Buzzfeed. This list includes many images of the presumably dead, some of which are standing upright.

Upon seeing many of these "standing copses" I became skeptical and started to do some digging. I got in touch with Jack Mord, owner of the Thanatos Archive near Seattle, Washington, and he happily cleared this up for me. The Thanatos Archive has an extensive collection of original nineteenth and early twentieth century postmortem and memorial photographs, dating as far back at the 1840s.  

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18khyokifify2jpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

Many people argue that the stand pictured above was used to prop up the dead for photographs. According to Mord, "You will never see a dead person simply standing, all by themselves, in the middle of a room supported by a stand. If there is a visible stand base in the photo, it’s guaranteed that they were alive." 

And why is this? Mord goes on to explain that, "those stands, like the one in the diagram, were simply posing stands. They were not made to support people’s weight in any way, and certainly not to hold up dead bodies."

Mord affirms that these stands had lightweight, adjustable arms and prongs on them that lightly touched the person’s body. The purpose of the stand was just to help a living person stay on mark and as still as possible for their portrait. 

There are cases where dead people have been posed standing up, but they are never stood up using common posing stands. As Mord explains, "if rigor mortis had set in, they would sometimes be photographed upright with other people supporting them, sometimes covered by, or behind blankets, or rarely, leaning back against a wall."

So how to do you know a faked "upright postmortem" image of a living person from the real and rare upright images of a corpse with rigor mortis? As Mord  describes, "when you do see these rare upright postmortem photos of people with rigor mortis, there is no doubt whatsoever they are dead – they look like stiff, dead corpses, usually with their eyes closed, not casually posed, healthy people."

"Mr. Colton"
Courtesy of The Thanatos Archive
Thank you to Jack Mord for helping with this post. If you are in the California area and are interested in postmortem photography, over 200 pieces from Mord's collection will be on exhibit at UC Fullerton from November 2 through December 12. 

Oh and if you were wondering about that list on Buzzfeed, according to Mord, numbers "3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 12, are not postmortem images, and have been floating around for ages."

If you're from Newfoundland and Labrador and have any memento mori you would like to share, please email nicole@heritagefoundation.ca. 

-Nicole  

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Finding Local Folklore at Ascension Collegiate, Bay Roberts

The ICH office, and the Bay Robert Cultural Foundation, are starting a project to document folk beliefs, superstitions, charms, and cures in the Bay Roberts area. We'll be doing a series of recorded interviews with locals, and we've also started a project with Level I students in Ms Welsh's English class at Ascension Collegiate.

We visited the school earlier this week, talking about local folklore and supernatural belief. We talked with the students about doing primary research, and going out and asking questions. To help them out, we developed a one-page questionnaire, for them to take home and use while interviewing parents, family members, friends, or neighbours.

We are heading back to Ascension on Friday morning to see what the students collected, and to help them write up some of their folklore findings.

Here are the questions the students are using:
1). Is there a place in your community that people say is haunted? ....a haunted cemetery, a haunted walkway, a haunted cliff or rock, a house, or other building? What are the ghostly stories connected to these places? 
2). When you were growing up, were there any places you were told not to go because the fairies would get you? Where was this and what are the stories you were told? 
3). What are the local stories about shipwrecks? ...buried treasures? What about ghost or weather lights seen on the water?

4). Are there any people who are believed to be witches in the community? Why do people think this? What kind of powers does this person have? 
5). Have you ever had a visit from the Old Hag while you were sleeping? What happened and do you believe that this experience was real or just a dream?

6). Do you know of any special charms, superstitions, cures or remedies that are used in your community?
If you know of a story like this from the Bay Roberts area, you can email lisa@heritagefoundation.ca.

Teachers, librarians or museums: you can download a pdf of these questions right here.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Newfoundland Folklorists in the Prairies

September was a busy month for at least some Newfoundland folklorists. Not only was I fully immersed in the amazing (and intensive) Qudi Vidi Fieldschool for incoming folklore graduate students, but I also traveled to Edmonton to help represent some of the HFNL's work at their annual Alberta Museums Association conference. The theme of this year's conference was Intangible Cultural Heritage and so who better to invite as keynote speaker than Dale Jarvis, ICH Development Officer for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In his talk, Dale offered the audience a look at the kinds of ICH work that we're doing here in Newfoundland. We also had two other Newfoundland folklorists in attendance: MA students Claire McDougall and Kristin Catherwood. It was very nice for us to sit back and reflect on everything we have achieved over the past year. It was also great to chat with people from across to country to learn about what kinds of programing is starting up in other provinces.

For my part in the conference, I facilitated a talk on digital storytelling and the different ways that oral historical information can be presented. In this session, I was able to share with participants a series of audio clips that I've collected about particular places, objects, buildings, traditions, and people. To help demonstrate how to begin an oral history interview, I invited Kristin Catherwood to sit and answer some questions about where she is from and why she decided to become a folklorist. Please feel free to listen to an excerpt of this interview where she discusses her love for the prairies and how it connects to her current studies. Given her passion, it's no wonder that she's now studying the vernacular architecture of Saskatchewan's historic farms for her MA thesis.


Follow Kristin's blog The Barn Hunter to find out all about her pursuit of folklore and barns all around the prairie province she calls home. Thanks Kristin, for sharing your story with us.

-Lisa

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Pumpkins!

[799. Family] Boys Holding Pumpkin
circa 1920-1950
Courtesy of: United Church Archives - H.M. Dawe Photograph Collection

To celebrate the first day of October I focused on pumpkins for this Tuesday's folklore photo. At first I wanted to share an archival image of Newfoundlanders celebrating Halloween, but it seems these are few and far between. When I searched "pumpkins" on Memorial University's Digital Archive and came across these cute little guys, I couldn't resist sharing. These boys are absolutely beside themselves with excitement over this pumpkin!




Interestingly, it was once tradition in Newfoundland to carve turnips for Halloween rather than pumpkins. This is said to be a carry over from Celtic tradition. Pumpkins carved as jack-o-lanterns would not have been part of traditional Halloween festivals in Celtic Europe, since pumpkins are New World plants, but large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.


If you happen to be growing your own pumpkins, you may find this advice from Ross Traverse helpful. This was originally published in Decks Awash, 1987.

Courtesy of:  Decks Awash, Vol. 16, no.01 (Jan-Feb 1897)

If you have an archival images of Newfoundlander's celebrating Halloween, please email Nicole at nicole@heritagefoundation.ca. We'd love to share them on the blog at the end of the month! :)