Gods, Ghosts and Black Dogs by Stanley Coren

Author:Stanley Coren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Animal spectacles
Publisher: Veloce Publishing Ltd
Published: 2016-04-19T16:00:00+00:00

The Dog Father

I was attending a reception at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, which had recently undergone extensive renovation in order to allow more pieces in its huge collection to be displayed. Many of these newly-revealed items were art objects and ceremonial objects from the various northern and coastal native Indian tribes in Canada. Because of this, the guests at the reception included a number of dignitaries and representatives of the aboriginal tribes, as well as the usual collection of university faculty members, politicians, benefactors, and media representatives.

As I wandered around the showcases, my interest was caught by some of the Indian masks that were used in different ceremonies, dances, and plays. The ones I was looking at were from the Dene group of tribes, and my curiosity was stirred by one mask in particular, which was shaped like the head of a dog, but opened out to reveal a human face inside. The man standing beside me was clearly a native Indian. He had a weathered face, long, gray hair pulled back into a ponytail, and was wearing a colourful woven jacket with long fringes, and an intricate series of patterns which were composed of hundreds of shiny buttons.

“That’s an interesting mask,” I said, “I wish that the museum would give information about the stories behind something like that, instead of just telling us where and when it was collected.”

The man turned to me, and I could see lines curving upward from the outside edges of his shiny, dark eyes. They were the kind of lines that might have been etched in the process of expressing many smiles, or much laughter, over a period of many years.

“That’s a transformation mask,” he said. “The dancer comes in with a mask closed so that all you see is the head of the dog. Later on, the mask opens up to reveal that the dog has changed into a human being. That particular mask is from the Tlicho or Dogrib tribe, which is part of the Dene Nation, and it is used to tell the story of how our tribe not only came to be, but came to be great hunters.”

“Can you tell it to me?” I asked.

The man smiled, and, in the process, seemed to confirm my feeling that the lines around his eyes were evidence of many, many years of smiling.

“This story should be danced as well as spoken. It should be told after a meal, with lots of people, including the children, gathered around and relaxed at night. But I suppose I could give you an afternoon version of the story.

“It starts out in the long past time, after Raven had found the first men and put them together with the first women. These first people were human, but they were not like us. They were very ignorant, and had very few skills. They did not know how to hunt, so they could not get meat for themselves. They had to live on berries

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