Book Sharing Monday - Secret of the Dance

Secret of the Dance by Andrea Spalding and Alfred Scow is a fictional story based on the true story of a first nations boy named Alfred who was born in Alert Bay in 1927. He grew up during the time in Canadian history when the federal government banned first nations tribes from practicing their traditional celebrations and dances. 

His family took a long, secret journey to a private location so that the elders could perform a sacred dance called a Potlach.

The children were told to stay in bed and not to leave the house that night. Alfred left the house to see what the adults were doing once the other children were fast asleep. If the government officials would have caught them the adults involved would have two choices; go to prison or have their masks and ceremonial regalia confiscated. Most aboriginal people caught in Canada chose prison to be able to keep their masks. If children were caught involved in the ceremony they would be removed from their families.

I love learning about the good aspects and also the sad aspects of our Canadian history. There are so many things that I never learned in school. I'm always amazed at how awful the first nations were treated.
A whole generation of children didn't get to experience the joys of their own heritage through ceremony and dance. How did that affect them? How would we deal with someone telling us that we can't celebrate Christmas or Halloween? I can only hope that life is better for the first nations today.

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