The First Peoples House at the University of Victoria was packed with people March 26 for the Everyone Welcome year-end feast.
There, Tla-o-qui-aht artist Hjalmer Wenstob, who has just completed his second year towards a Bachelor’s of Arts degree at UVIC, showcased the Lightening Snake feast bowls he and many, many of his friends carved this spring.
“The bowls belong to everyone,” said Wenstob. “They belong to all the people here; people at home.”
The Lightening Snake feast bowls consist of five large segments, all on wheels, that can be divided with cedar planks to create additional bowls. The head of the Lightening Snake includes a long red tongue, which doubles as a very large serving spoon.
“I believe this is the first feast train that’s been carved in 100 years,” said Jessie Masso, Wenstob’s mom. “Charlie James made one in Alert Bay in the 1900s. It’s kind of funny, but Hjalmer didn’t know this till afterwards.”
Salmon, clams, fish soup, potatoes and bannock were served from the full set of feast bowls.
“I thought it was so cool how the food stayed hot,” said Masso. “Cedar is a great insulator for food. The soup stayed hot right till the last serving.”
Many of Wenstob’s family members traveled from the West Coast of Vancouver Island for the event. An auntie brought clams from Washington State for the feast.
“I think the biggest thing was all the kids helping make bannock,” said Masso. “We started around 12, but there was some confusion about the oven, so the first bannock took about three hours to cook,” she laughed. “It looked like a pancake but, in the end, we pulled it off.”
The feast train project was started at the end of January with a portion of a log donated from Tla-o-qui-aht’s Canoe Creek Hydro Project. Wenstob used another portion of the log to carve a totem pole for the Vancouver International Airport as part of a university scholarship project.
“He had so much fun with the totem pole, he wanted everyone to have the same feeling so everyone who wanted to, could help,” said Masso. “He set off to do something and he did it.”
More than 300 people were involved in carving the bowls, she said.
“Everyone came and carved. Hjalmer goes to high schools in Victoria and talks about First Nations’ culture, going to university and what students have to take to get to university. So when he did this he also invited them to come carve and then these schools would start showing up (at the carving tent at the First People’s House in the central part of the UVic campus.). One day when I was there, there were two schools there with 30 kids. One came all the way from Port Alberni. Then anyone from UVIC was welcome to come carve. So one day the anthropology class would come and another art class would come out. There were so many people involved. It was awesome. Someone like Hjalmer can pull it off because he’s so welcoming.”
Wayne Wenstob, Hjalmer’s grandfather, went to help with the head piece for the last three carving sessions because Hjalmer can’t use a chain saw due to a medical condition.
Hjalmer’s proud auntie and Tla-o-qui-aht council woman Anna Masso said, “When I went to that last event, the totem pole in Vancouver, I thought, ‘Wow, he’s out-done himself.’ He’s so amazing. It’s so hard to put into words, his enthusiasm, his love for his culture. He doesn’t outdo anyone else. He outdoes himself. At the event there were all ages there and there were a lot of students and his friends there. You could see all ages came out to enjoy.”
