This scene is what I experienced as I entered the Hobiyee celebration . . . Drummers and dancers from the great Nisga'a nation of the Nass Valley and from all along the shores of the Salish Sea and beyond to as far north as Alaska gathered in Vancouver to celebrate. The Nisga'a are an ancient nation of some 6000 souls from the rich coastal lands way north of us. Today some 1500 of them have migrated to the big city, just as have I and 2000000 of our brothers and sisters from all over God's green earth. Those urban Nisga'a, so far away from their homeland, hold their culture, their traditions, their strength, with great pride and joy. In that, they remind me of my people, the Jews, scattered across the world for 2000 years but never forgetting who we are, never losing our connection to our Source, our Self. I am deeply grateful to have been privileged to witness this Hobiyee celebration (and another one several years ago). זיל גמור -- Go and learn from the Nisga'a Ts'amiks website: The Simgigat -- Nisga'a Chieftains -- in past centuries studied the celestial heavens. They were knowledgeable in the behaviours of the stars in proximity to the moon which forecasted the weather patterns. They studied the astrology not from text books but by years of observing the heavens. The Halayt-Simgigat -- Spiritual Leader-Chief -- studied the "Buxw-laks" moon, the Moon of February. Over time, they observed that whenever the first crescent moon is in the shape of a "Hoobix" -- the bowl of ...
