PORT HARDY—Aboriginal learning passed down for countless generations reached the latest generation last week, as students at Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw School performed their spring Yayuma before an appreciative audience of classmates and community members.
The Yayuma was organized by Mike Willie, the school’s Cultural Preservation Coordinator.
Yayuma, he said, is a term meaning to learn traditional dances.
Several key characters in both Gwa’sala and ‘Nakwaxda’xw mythology and history were portrayed by masked dancers.
Other students donned brightly coloured regalia for group dances.
Willie honoured the graduating Grade 7 class with its own dance, and close out by inviting the youngest kindergartners to the dance floor as the audience joined in.