Klahowya Village

There is a new addition to Stanley Park in Vancouver named Klahowya Village. The village only opened 2 weeks ago and will be open all summer long as a free exhibit. It's an interactive look at the Native Americans in the B.C. area and their heritage. We were drawn in by the huge teepee which holds the cedar from the oldest tree in the Stanley Park which was blown over in a storm back in 2006. The piece of cedar was taken to Beijing as a part of the attempt to win the vote for the Olympic games to be held in Vancouver. It apparently symbolized the great diversity that Canada has to offer. I'm not too sure how that symbolizes diversity but one thing was for sure, it smelled amazing in that teepee from all that cedar. You walked along the path which took you through a variety of different crafts and skills that the Indians have and sharing some stories and games that they would play and share with their families. There is a spirit train that you can take into the woods of Stanley Park that takes you to the petting zoo to hang out with some of the animals. They had these beautifully engraved stones lining a pathway which showed the Haida artwork for different animals such as the beaver, killer whale, humming bird and more.

On the main stage they have a couple of live performances every day where native dancers will perform different dances and educate people a little bit about the stories behind the dances and where they originate from. We were fortunate enough to watch a couple of flashy dances by some young girls traditionally done when a loved one is lost in war as a grieving process and another done telling the success tale of stealing a horse from the enemy. After those dances one of the champion hoop dancers for over 3 years danced for us. While the dancing was going on there was a guy on the stage doing all the singing and drumming for the dances live and he was so great! The show was awesome.