The Royal BC Museum will again host the Aboriginal Cultural Festival from Friday, June 17 to Sunday, June 19 in celebration of Aboriginal culture, values, language and cuisine.
The festival begins with a ceremonial welcome canoe paddle through traditional lands to Victoria’s Inner Harbour. The Songhees Nation and Esquimalt Nation—the event hosts—will then lead the traditional protocol and opening ceremony before a parade of Nations officially launches the three-day celebration in anticipation of National Aboriginal Day on June 21, 2016.
The festival is sure to entertain audiences of all ages—its wide variety of attractions range from interpretive totem pole tours and fresh coastal cuisine to artisanal demonstrations and dynamic traditional dance. Returning to headline the festival’s performances is three-time world champion hoop dancer Alex Wells of the Lil’wat Nation. This year’s festival will see more than 100 performers grace the main stage, including the Le-La-La Dancers of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation and a youth performance by The Next Generation, a collaborative group comprised of multiple nations.
In addition to the exciting array of main stage performances, the Aboriginal Cultural Festival will feature an outdoor dining area where visitors can sample and purchase a wide variety of mouth-watering traditional and modern fare, including west coast clam chowder, fry-bread and BBQ sockeye salmon.
Interested in art? Learn about the aboriginal creative process and traditional carving and crafting with special artisan demonstrations at the Authentic Indigenous Arts Marketplace featuring carvings, prints, jewellery and more.
Last year more than 15,000 people attended the Aboriginal Cultural Festival according to The Aboriginal Tourism Association of British Columbia, a non-profit, membership-based organization committed to growing and promoting a sustainable, culturally-rich Aboriginal tourism industry. What better way to spend a weekend than celebrating the diverse traditional and modern cultures of Nations from across British Columbia.
Created in partnership with Aboriginal Tourism BC, Esquimalt Nation, Songhees Nation, Royal BC Museum, Tourism Victoria, Robert Bateman Centre, Greater Victoria Harbour Authority and The Butchart Gardens, the goal of the festival is to honour and showcase the rich Aboriginal culture and history throughout Victoria and British Columbia.
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