This Fire Burns Forever – Keeping Haida Language and Stories Alive
Diane Brown • GwaaGanad
Haida | Haida Gwaii | British Columbia
GwaaGanad recalls a rich life of tradition in her beautiful homeland. She shares the many names she has been gifted and the many elders whose lives touched hers. As a very young girl, GwaaGanad’s mother took her to the forest, showed her four medicines, and taught her what they were traditionally used for. Several years later, her father became ill with an ulcer, in which her mother sent her to collect one of the medicine plants she had shown her before. GwaaGanad looked around the forest, intent on getting the correct plant. “I stood there and I prayed and I asked for help.” The plant started shimmering and GwaaGanad said, “that was the beginning of my relationship with the Earth.”
