Often located near
awesome natural scenes of beauty, rock art forms were created to reflect a deep
respect for the mystery of nature which was viewed as charged with spiritual
energy.
These [log kettle]
containers were very popular for boiling moose butter. One animal could yield five to six pounds (2
1/2 kilograms) of the valued form of nutrition.
When a Mi'kmaq boy
reached manhood, he began to search for a well-matched wife. When he identified a suitable potential mate,
his father would arrange to ask for the girl's hand. If approved, the boy would then serve a year
in bridal service, attempting to prove himself a good provider and generous
husband.
The Huron wore their
hair in a kind of bristly manner, not unlike what in recent times came to be
called a brush-cut.
When the meat from a
successful buffalo jump event was cooked, dried, or consumed, the bones were
boiled to provide grease.
Warriors and hunters
used a variety of woods in making arrows such as gooseberry, juneberry,
chokecherry, ash, birch, cane, dogwood, currant, willow, and wild cherry.
Once caught, salmon
were dried for trade, pounded for meat, and packed into cattail bags lined with
salmon skin.
The mortuary pole,
erected in honour of someone who died; sometimes the individual might have been
buried directly beneath the pole or in a box at the back of the pole. This was a Haida and Tlingit custom.
90 percent of all
Canadians live within 160 kilometres (100 miles) of the American border.
