September 25, 2022 Crockstock
You may or may not know that Medicine Hat is famous, not only for natural gas production, but also pottery and glass blowing. Medalta Pottery and Altaglass are highly prized collectible antiques. I got to see glassblowers on school field trips, while Altaglass was still operational (and we toured the kitchen of Burger King, where we were generously given a single onion ring each!?! You can't make this stuff up!)
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| I told you they take coffee seriously |
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| Just in case you couldn't see Leif and Saga |
A number of years ago, Medalta Potteries was restored and turned into a museum. They still had the original molds and are producing pottery for their gift shop. They also showcase local artists. Fun fact we learned today while going through the display of dinnerware. To get certain shades, like a deep, rich orange, the glaze contained uranium and the dinnerware is radioactive. The curator is hoping to get a Geiger counter someday!
In recent years they have started a festival called Crockstock. I can't claim credit for the title of this post, it was the slogan on the backs of the volunteer t-shirts. It includes a marketplace for local artisans (did some Christmas shopping), tourism, historical and cultural information. There were pottery related activities for children as well. Oodles of food trucks were on site; we patronized Fryer Tuck's!
A program of Indigenous storytelling and dancing was followed by a whole afternoon and evening of local bands and dance lessons. We saw the Woman's Jiggle Dress dance, the story of a grandmother who prayed for her deathly ill granddaughter. She was told in a vision to make the jingle dress for the girl and the women helped her up and to dance so she would become well. This was followed by the Warrior Dance, a Grass Dance and the Prairie Chicken Dance. This was a celebration of procreation and new life. It imitated the mating ritual of prairie chickens and is an important part of an annual celebration. (I think the Sun Ceremony, but it was a lot of information in a short time!) The elder on stage explained the stories beautifully and played the drum and sang the story for the dancers. Many of whom were his children and grandchildren.
I have never tried adding a video before. Let's hope this works!
The stories the Elder told led me to research something I never heard of, in all my time living here. Neither has my Mom and she also loves history and unique natural features. I will now add a stop to my trip on Wednesday. The Badlands Guardian. Stay tuned!
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