This week, share a photo that channels a living tradition, whether it’s your own or someone else’s.
It’s not often that a place you pass through almost daily becomes the site of a new, major monument.
First, there was a tent: a long, white structure, the type that universities often set up ahead of commencement ceremonies and reunions. Then came the machinery (I’m bad with identifying these; it looked like a larger-than-usual forklift, minus the fork), and a constant movement within the tent.
I finally peeked in one day, and realized what this was all about: inside, lying heavily on wooden support beams a couple of feet above the ground, was a 55-foot totem pole. It was being finished ahead of its raising ceremony — mere steps from the banality of my regular commute.
The Reconciliation Pole on the University of British Columbia campus is a masterpiece — and a heartbreaking one, at that. It commemorates a dark episode in Canadian history, decades during which the government removed First Nations children from their families and placed them in “residential schools,” where they faced abuse and neglect.
* The Haida name 7idansuu is pronounced ee-dan-soo.
The pole — designed and executed by Haida master carver and Hereditary Chief 7idansuu*, James Hart — channels pain, resilience, sadness, and a whole range of nuanced emotions between these. But it’s also a defiant celebration of heritage: of a culture and an artform that survive despite constant challenges.
This week, share a photo of something that says “heritage” to you. It can be from your own family or culture — a library, a work of public art, a place of worship, an object passed down to you from previous generations. Or, like me, you can choose to focus on a tradition to which you don’t belong, but to which you’ve been exposed whether through travel, moving, or the people in your life.
I look forward to seeing your take on this theme!
I like that art and totem poles. Interesting challenge this week and enjoyed the photo.
janet
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So much behind this structure! I love how things represent where we came from. Interesting topic!
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Had to dig deep this time, but I found a shot in my shoe-box 🙂
http://wp.me/p3gqMf-zl
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When it’s gone, they put it in a museum – like in Singapore:
https://insellos.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/weekly-photo-challenge-heritage/
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Nice challenge! 😉
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Heritage often called sabhyata in my mother tongue.Liked ur post alot.But its quiet a heavy word.Heritage in one way the culture we belong to tradition it reflects…Heritage is Jaipur Hawa mahal nn many more for me.The things that give me a feeling of rich culture..
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Interesting challenge – love the colours in the totem pole. Here’s mine: https://castelsarrasin.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/heritage-weekly-photo-challenge/
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Midwest U.S. dining – http://wp.me/p3CFsE-3Er
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Some days the most mundane thing will grab your attention, and next thing you know, you’re appreciating it as an amazing artifact that stands for accomplishments that formed history.
I remember my feeling of awe when standing at The Iron pillar and Qutub Minar- purportedly along the gateway to eight (or more) cities of Delhi. That this stone monument and preserved iron, had stood for over a thousand years of markets, wars, peace times, weddings, and mostly active engaged humanity, boggled my mind as an American with little appreciation of the world in context.
Had a similar ‘Aleph moment’ in St. Catherine’s of Sienna (as I remember it then, not today), feeling the hope that thousands of parishioners had felt when entering the sanctuary. And I’m not even Catholic!
Sorry, those pictures are still analogue (and buried), even if my recall fresh.
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Interesting challenge! https://rygalo.com/2017/05/17/weekly-photo-challenge-heritage/
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Interesting challenge this week – https://awanderingmemory.com/2017/05/17/heritage/
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Aho! Miigwetche (thank you) for sharing this. It was a very dark and dangerous time both in Canada and in the United States where children were yanked from their culture and stripped of all that made them special and blessed of the Earth.
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Wonderful topic rich way for us to learn about each other another reason to love WordPress Here’s mine https://piecesofstarlight.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/wpc-heritage-tamale-making-tradition/
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hi ben interesting theme for this week challenge here is my contribution for this week, http://wp.me/p2AvI7-2ma.
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Great post. I’m so interested in heritage. Last year I completed the AncestryDNA kit and it was such an amazing experience.
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https://mostlymonochrome.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/tourist-attraction/
is a piece of heritage.
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what happens on an island…
https://lespetitspasdejuls.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/weekly-photo-challenge-heritage/
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Happy Wednesday! 🙂 Here is my entry: http://stenoodie.com/2017/05/17/weekly-photo-challenge-heritage/
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Very interesting challenge – the choices we make!http://wp.me/p1hCI2-8eI
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Morning everyone!
Here’s my contribution for this week.
Have a good one.
https://stupidityhole.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/views-in-the-royal-national-park/
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Thanks for your challenge Ben, and your description and photo of The Reconciliation Pole. “Heartbreaking masterpiece” says it all. http://wp.me/p3gSod-4OG
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https://juliepowell2014.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/weekly-photo-challenge-heritage
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Heritage at:
https://marichulambino.com/2007/12/16/first/
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Good work
New post-
https://1clikportal.wordpress.com/
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Bagan… http://wp.me/s3KwWg-heritage
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A heritage location in New Zealand, and also a Lord of the Rings film site.
https://lignumdraco.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/dragon-tales-of-middle-earth-skippers-canyon/
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Hi Ben I did a similar post to yours on the ‘Survival’ prompt but have referred to our First Nation people in this newer one
https://arousedblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/cultural-heritage
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Hi! I have taken a different look at the word heritage. Please have a look and let me know what you think about this post.
https://jaipurthrumylens.com/2017/05/18/photo-walk-in-jaipur-street-photography-faceless-frames-hands/
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Here is my contribution…The temple festivals…decorated elephants, the drummers…part of our heritage
https://kochiphotography.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/weekly-photo-challenge-heritage/
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We have a lot to learn from pre-Columbian North American cultures. Our heritage of resource use is what we will pass on to future generations. Will we have the wisdom to evaluate our impact and make appropriate adjustments? A big question! https://scillagrace.com/2017/05/18/weekly-photo-challenge-heritage/
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