"Six Nations Bread and Cheese event celebrates Nationhood"

In what has become a sort of tourist phenomenon, the 118th annual Bread and Cheese Day event held at the Gaylord Powless arena on Monday brought out droves of visitors from near and far.

Judging from Sunday's crowds, there were plenty of non-natives in attendance at an event that was historically meant to be celebrated by Six Nations people marking their nationhood and status as Allies of the British Crown.

Elected Chief Ava Hill welcomed the crowd numbering well over 5,000 people to the "tourist" event.

"It's an exciting day," she shouted "Let's eat some Bread and Cheese!"

Brant Liberal MP Dave Levac, beads of sweat dripping from his face in the sweltering arena, welcomed the hungry crowd with an inspiring speech about peace and friendship.

"Thank you for inviting me to be on the territory and bring greetings," said Levac, who is also Speaker of the House at Queen's Park in Toronto. "Queen Victoria had it right, she just wanted to say thank you, for being a friend, for being an ally. We have to treat each other with respect and be a good friend. I will continue to do that as long as I'm your representative at Queen's Park."

The event was kicked off with a parade that threaded its way down Fourth Line Road into the arena parking lot, led by the Six Nations Veterans' Association and accompanied by a pipe band.

Volunteers at the bread and cheese tables moved like a well-oiled machine, serving thousands one large hunk of bread and cheese each, the moment they started pouring through the doors of the arena at 12 p.m. sharp.

By 12:45 p.m., there was no more cheese left so a number of volunteers just handed out big bags of left over bread to the last few stragglers coming into the arena.

In the parking lot, a fun midway with lots of rides and booths serving up tasty carnival fare accompanied the annual Bread and Cheese celebration, as a hot mid-day sun left many seeking shelter under the shade to enjoy their tasty treats.

Six Nations has been celebrating Bread and Cheese on Victoria Day since the early 1860s when the Confederacy Chiefs first organized the event marked by gifts of blankets from Queen Victoria to her allies on her birthday. It later changed to bread and cheese when the Canada imposed the band council systems across the country in 1924 the band continued the tradition using Six Nations trust funds to pay for the annual event. The day is marked with speeches, games and a gift of bread and cheese to community members.

It is meant to remember the Haudenosaunee peoples' prominent role in the War of 1812, celebrating them as Crown allies.

In 1898, the Haudenosaunee Chiefs' Council spent $30 for 600 loaves of bread and $50 for 800 pounds of cheese.

This year, Six Nations Elected Council spent $25,000 for 2,000 loaves of bread and 2,000 kg of cheese.

The event was paid for by Queen Victoria, who marked the Crown's relationship with its Haudenosaunee allies, until her death in 1901.

The HCCC began paying for the event until 1924, when Canada installed an elected band council system who took on paying for the celebration out of a special coffer called the "Ottawa Trust" fund.

There is roughly $2 million in that fund.