"Brant's Ford Ceremony Opens Riverfest Weekend"
- Publication
- Brantford Expositor, 25 May 1991
- Full Text
- Brant's ford ceremony opens Riverfest weekendBy David Young, Expositor Staff
The Grand River of today is like backed-up plumbing because of dams, said Chief Richard Maracle of the Mohawk Nation during the opening ceremonies of Riverfest Friday night.
"If the good Lord wanted rivers to have dams he'd have created rivers with built-in dams," he told about 200 people gathered for the opening of Riverfest 91 at Lorne Park.
He asked the crowd to join in a "declaration of peace in the war against the Earth."
Chief Maracle's unscheduled speech drew the largest applause during the ceremony which was centered largely around the native history with the river.
The official opening of Riverfest began with a re-enactment of Joseph Brant's fording of the river.
Brant was portrayed by William Miller of the Dufferin Players.
He walked along the shore of the Grand and then back up on shore to be greeted by musket-bearing settlers.
Tree plantedThe festival organizers also planted a White Pine in Lorne Park to signify the tree of Great Peace which brought warring nations together in peace according to native legend.
A flag from the Six Nations was also raised.
- Creators
- Young, David, Author
- Smith, Christopher, Photographer
- Media Type
- Newspaper
- Item Types
- Articles
- Clippings
- Description
- "The Grand River of today is like backed-up plumbing because of dams, said Chief Richard Maracle of the Mohawk Nation during the opening ceremonies of Riverfest Friday night."
- Date of Publication
- 25 May 1991
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Maracle, Richard ; Brant, Joseph ; Miller, William.
- Corporate Name(s)
- Dufferin Players.
- Local identifier
- SNPL002966v00d
- Collection
- Scrapbook #3
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
-
-
Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.1334 Longitude: -80.26636
-
- Creative Commons licence
- [more details]
- Copyright Statement
- Public domain: Copyright has expired according to Canadian law. No restrictions on use.
- Copyright Date
- 1991
- Copyright Holder
- Brantford Expositor
- Contact
- Six Nations Public LibraryEmail:info@snpl.ca
Website:
Agency street/mail address:1679 Chiefswood Rd
PO Box 149
Ohsweken, ON N0A 1M0
519-445-2954