Volume XIV Number 5 Mar. 31/92

CAPILANO COLLEGE'S INTERNAL NEWSLETTER

Celebrating 20 Years 1968 - 1988

Native Awareness Week Draws a Crowd

Haida Button Blanket on Display

An authentic Haida button blanket is now hanging in the anthropology display case on the second floor of the C Building.

The blanket was donated to the College in 1991 by Helga Borden, widow of noted Canadian anthropologist Charles Borden.

The blanket is considered an excellent example of the traditional Haida style. It is fashioned of navy blue wool with red borders, an applique of a mythical bird figure and 476 buttons. The blanket dates from the early 1950s, a significant time of re- surgence of the button blanket among the Haida.

Like totem poles, button blankets are considered powerful statements of status and identity. Worn as ceremonial garments, they succeeded an older style of garment made from fur or animal skin, and decorated with shells and amulets.

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The dance event during Native Awareness Week (March 9 - 12) drew appreciative crowds at the B building quadrangle, as dancers from "Arrows to Freedom" demonstrated the richness of Native choreography.

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