The Indigenous Talking Sticks that the mayor of Terrace was en route to return have now officially reached their home.
The mayor and his family were welcomed to the the Dzawada'enux'w (pronounced "Dza-wa-day-noowh") First Nation in Kingcome inlet this week, where they participated in a ceremony in which the sticks were welcomed back and danced in, followed by speeches and a feast. Mayor Bujtas said of the experience;
"After the sacred ceremony, we feasted, then there were speeches from me and from the chiefs, elders, and Marianne talking about the history of the talking sticks and what their return means to the Dzawada̱ʼenux̱w. These are the first artifacts returned to the people out of hundreds that were taken. Several speakers stated that they hope that this is the beginning of many to return home.
About forty people attended the ceremony and feast, which represents over half of the community of seventy people. Marianne formally gifted my family and I a framed archival image of one of the talking sticks, books of historic images, commemorative plates, t-shirts, and indigenous puppets for my children."
Pictured in the image are Knowledge Keeper Marianne Nicolson and Mayor Sean Bujtas.
The sticks are the first of what Nicolson told CFTK news in September are many artefacts the nation is working on repartiating.
"I would say thousands of cultural or cultural items, information and material left this community over the last hundred years. And that's what I've been doing with a group. We've been going around to the different institutions and basically doing an inventory and, and where we repatriate the intellectual material, like with all the interviews and oral histories sort of thing. And then now we're starting to engage in conversation with institutions about material, the material culture return. But, but it's incredible, like this little small little village, that much material came out of this village. But currently in our current state, like this will be the first return."
Mayor Bujtas wrote to CFTK News to say the sticks were home now, and well accepted.
"It was a very big honour to participate in the return home of the talking sticks. They seemed to take on more presence in the big house, surrounded by other carved pieces and by their people. You could really feel the sticks were back where they belonged, home."