Category: Reflections On the Past (page 6 of 6)

How do my travels relate to history?

1. I met family I didn’t even know existed and learned an excessive amount of family history through stories and photos. I had never met a family member from my Dad’s side and when I was in Scotland I met a bunch of family from his side!
2. I walked on and through historical landsites. I saw views that many people will never see (West Highland Way), but also endured the blood, sweat, and tears that our ancestors would have experienced travelling these paths; due to the lack of transportation. This relation made me appreciate the strength and endurance of people who lived without roads and cars– it made me realize how truly lucky we are today to have the technologies we have.
3. I participated in many Scottish weddings which gave me a better understanding of their culture, and experienced a traditional Roman-Catholic wedding in Germany. It was incredible to be able to compare the two experiences, and be able to conclude that Scotland is much rowdier than Germany.
4. I lived in countries where I didn’t speak the language and experienced what it is like to be a minority. This was probably what it was probably like for people who came to Canada from Europe when the country was colonizing. I had learn to communicate without words and navigate around unknown towns relying on hard copy maps because we were unable to use our cellphones (tragic). This can all be compared to the past– navigation by map  and learning to live in a country that it is not yours. I’m sure people took advantage of the language barriers and made us pay more for things, and this is probably the case in the past as well. I was told a story from one of my family members in Germany of my Oma; when she came over from Germany during WWII she took the CPR across Canada and didn’t realize that her train ticket was also her meal ticket– she went three days without food because she couldn’t communicate with the staff and ask where the food was. She spoke no English and this caused much trouble for her. Even when she met my Opa in Calgary they struggled to settle comfortably because neither of them spoke English, and during this time German’s were not looked at with sparkling eyes, thus impacting their comfort more.
5. I overcame my misconception of historical monuments– they are not insignificant and boring; I now understand how sentimental historical monuments are and why people travel miles to see them. Being part of the culture and seeing how these people act made me understand monuments significance in more depth; the eiffel tower is more than a huge piece of architecture it is a piece of history that reminds French people of their history, culture, and what they are capable of doing. Monuments were not made in order to be tourist attractions; they are there to remind certain cultures of their past and remind them of their successes and sometimes mistakes.

   “Somewhere on Parliament Hill in Ottawa…there should be erected a monument to this American ogre who has so often performed the function of saving us from drift and indecision.”

   -Historian Frank Underhill

6. I saw a lot of people who had almost nothing give Tori and I more  than we could have ever given, not necessarily in money, but by their time, guidance, and genuine interest in our travels. It made me realize what I take for granted and how today Canada might be known as the ‘nicest country’ but I don’t truly think we are the nicest. I think we are very diverse and accepting, which certainly influences our stereotype, and as a nation we have a lot of freedom. We might be the nice guys who smile and constantly apologize, but this is minimal in terms of being nice. We do not have a history of accepting all people, we have done many unethical things towards groups such as Indigenous peoples, Chinese people, and Japanese– and today we mildly still outcast these cultures; for example, ‘Hong-couver,’ and judgement towards Indigenous cultures to be cheap and violent. These are still relevant today– so I ask two questions, why are we the nicest country? and is our apology and money given to these groups changing our perceptions at all towards them?

1. This trip made me appreciate what European countries fought through and made me feel like I was living in it. Their narrow, rubble roads and old brick buildings made each town seem very old– a sight I was not used to seeing.
2. This trip helped me understand how young Canada actually is. We are certainly very modern and free, and this was shown just by the difference in appearance of Europe and Canada as well as the culture. I also got a pretty good understanding of how huge Canada is, I never realized our size until I became accustomed to driving less than ten minutes to next city and realizing that I literally walked across in seven days; you can barely drive across Canada on seven days!
3. I witnessed cultures that helped me to understand why people would want to come to Canada. Even in the 21st century I could find things that would make sense for peoples desire to leave. This trip was eye opening, answered many of my unknowns, and expanded my knowledge more than I thought possible!

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Post Devil’s Staircase on the West Highland Way

History is what you make it.

It can be memorizing dates, events, and people– or it can be used to understand the ‘how’ and ‘why’ to these dates, events, and people. History is made for questioning and understanding; for digging deeper and finding more. It is made to be impactful.

We grow up learning that history is simply a past that is dead and done, but if you really think about there is a lot that has come from the past. We look to the past and see a lot of negativity: wars, death, arguments, etc. and unfortunately this skews a lot of peoples thinking towards history. History is so much more than dates and people it is the foundation to our society today; it might be a lot of negative outcomes: faults and errors, but this is what we learn from. The world is one big trial and error experiment: we learn from the things that do work, but also learn from the things that do not work. If you put history into that perspective and think about certain topics such as:

World War II. It is no longer simply Hilter and concentration camps; it is why we have freedom from torture, degrading treatment, and slavery– it is why we have freedom to religion and the right to equality.

Government. In grade four when you learn about the government and elections it is not simply liberal, conservative, and knowing all the prime minister’s; it is comparing history to today and realizing how much has changed, what we have learned from it, and trying to figure out why we re-elected a Harper? And why Trump was even in the running…

It is realizing that Women’s History  is more than the sum of its outstanding players: Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Sacagawea, Helen Keller, Amelia Earhart, etc. These women enjoy a firm place in society’s collective consciousness, but also made a change that we still are striving to accomplish. It’s looking into what they did and realizing where we went wrong after they were gone because women still haven’t achieved equality. It’s looking into Marilyn Monroe’s goal to be comfortable with your body no matter what the size, and figuring out what sparked the ideal to be ‘tall, thin, and toned.’

History is not boring. History gives explanations to the ‘how’ and ‘why’ we function the way we do today.

I was born in Merritt, B.C. June 10, 1996. I was one of the last kids to be born in that hospital. My family moved to Prince George, B.C. in August 1997 and I lived there until I was 17.

I have an Opa- Otto, Dad-Finlay, Mom- Michele, brother- Gabriel(32), brother-Jeremy(30), sister-Emily(18), and two sister in-laws.

Gabriel and his wife Nika(missing from photo)  live in Ottawa, ON and the rest of us are living in Kamloops.

I grew up a competitive dancer. I did all forms of dance: ballet, jazz, contemporary, highland, tap, and hip hop. I danced about thirty hours per week and went to many competitions a year. When I was fourteen I decided to stick mainly to classical ballet.

I was a provincial representative for six consecutive years and got scholarships to dance in Hollywood and the lower mainland. I graduated high school a year early and thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do– be a ballerina. When I was seventeen I went and auditioned for multiple ballet schools, but then realized that I did not want to dance. I struggled with some things and I did not think it was a healthy world for me, so I saved up my money for a year and I went travelling in Europe for six months with my best friend from dance Tori.

We went to Scotland and lived with my Aunt and Uncle in Glasgow, whom I had never met, for two months. This aunt was a fantastic woman; she was in Canada for my Dad’s mom’s funeral and while my dad and her were talking he told her I was a little lost in life. She told him to send me over to Scotland and he told me this jokingly on day, but I took it quite literally. I sent her a message the day after we started to make plans. She also connected us with an opportunity to bartend for a catering company that did weddings on Loch Lomond.

It was an amazing opportunity to be able to travel around Scotland as well as make friends and money at such an incredible location! Bartending for Scottish weddings was the rowdiest thing I have ever experienced… first of all trying to understand what they were saying with the accent (harder than you might think) and on top of that they were drunk… So much whiskey I can’t even begin to explain. I can only imagine what a Scottish feast or festival back in the day would have been like…

I have a lot of family history in Scotland, my dad’s parents were first generation Canadians on that side, and I knew very little about them so this seemed like perfect opportunity to learn. My Uncle in Sterling is the family history guru and I learned an incredible amount from him… my family history is a little complicated, but nevertheless very interesting!

My friend Tori and I took a week and hiked the West Highland Way, which was also FULL of history… you literally walk through the Highlands for 97 miles and just breathe in fresh air and life the whole time–maybe blood, sweat, and tears too, but those are minor details. The path uses many ancient roads, including drovers’ roads, military roads and old coaching roads as well as trails which Scottish warriors hiked through and fought on. I could feel the history as we trekked along.

After two months in Scotland, traveling through quite literally the whole country, we saw so many castles and I even learned the history my last name ‘Sinclair’. There is a chapel called the Roslyn Chapel; founded by a man named William Sinclair– who I am convinced I’m related to him somehow–. but this taught me the history of my last name and where the Sinclair’s(previously St. Claire) came from. We hiked up the Wallace Monument and toured around the Stirling Castle, we took a day trip to St. Andrews, where the Middleton’s went to school, and took in the absolute beauty of that town. We were also in Scotland for the big Scottish Independence Referendum Vote… almost relatable to the American election we just had on the scale of riots, violence, etc.

 Graveyard within the remnants of St. Andrews Cathedral

St. Andrews

Stirling Castle

After Scotland we head off to France. We spent a week in Paris and then went to the Province of Brittany (North-West France). This was incredible, so much history in this area as well and I would have never known it existed if my sister was not on exchange there. It is not a common place.  Brittany became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as if it were a separate nation under the crown– which is somewhat similar to Canada, minus the duchy. We went to St. Malo which was stunning and now when I think about it, all I can think about is the Fille Du Rois and how they sailed through the seas I was looking over and maybe some of them even lived behind the walls of St. Malo. 

Paris: Eiffel Tower

 Paris: The Palace of Versailles

Paris: Canadian thanksgiving with the friend we stayed with. First Thanksgiving for her parents!

 St.Malo

We spent a month in Germany, we fell in left with the culture, people, and obviously food. I met more family I had never met before; two Uncles, two cousins, and a great Aunt. My mom’s parents are first generation in Canada from Germany, they came over during the second world war. My Oma actually took the CP Rail across Canada to Calgary where my Opa already was.

Tori and I spent most of our time in Berlin, which is history central and we saw many main attractions like the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Brandon’s Brigade, Berlin Wall, and the Fernsehturm de Berlín(TV Tower).

 TV Tower

Brandon Brigade

Berlin Wall: “My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love.” On October 5, East Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a ten-year agreement of mutual support under which East Germany would provide ships, machinery and chemical equipment to the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union would provide fuel and nuclear equipment to East Germany. (This was my favourite piece of art along the wall).

We even got to see one of my Uncle’s get married in Stuttgart which was an experience all in itself since the whole wedding was in German and most of the attendees were as well… But we made friends with an Irish couple who still continue to persuade us to visit them. Being in Germany was fantastic because I learned a lot about the history of my family and started to understand the crazy background stories of my family. I got to meet family that only my Mom had ever met and also see many friends who I hadn’t seen since they were in Canada in high school. We spent a lot of time in Köln with my other Uncle and Auntie and got to see many attractions such as the Cologne cathedral, Schloss Drachenburg, and walk along the Rhein River. It was so cool to be completely surrounded by this culture and truly feel part of the community and history.

 Wedding. Notice; not a white dress and literally everyone in the town attended the wedding.

 Cologne Cathedral

 Ludwigsburg Baroque Palace hosting the world’s largest pumpkin festival, an event held with considerable pomp and grandeur on the grounds of an actual 18th-century palace.

We did a weekend trip to Prague and my goodness that place was beautiful! Now that I look back at it I remember just wondering what the history of it was because I had never learned about it. Today it is a huge tourist attraction and I will remember the beauty of the city and kindness of the people.

 Prague: It’s crazy because we mock the people standing here and try to get them to move, but when I think of it now I just wonder wow… somebody used to actually have to do this each day…

Prague

After Prague we went to Greece… You don’t hear much about Greece other than grade 7 Social Studies and you learn about Ancient History, which scream Athens. We visited there and I have to say, I went into it with low expectations but the culture there was something I have never experienced. The people were so nice, and the monuments were much more interesting than I thought they would be; to mention a few: Acropolis, Parthenon, National Archaeological Museum, and Panathenaic Museum. Maybe I had a bad experience with grade 7 social studies because I hated learning about Ancient Greek history, but being in Greece was like reliving those lectures and I actually got to experience and first handedly see the history which still lives on there. It as incredible and made me respect their country more.

Athens: Mount Lycabettus

Athens: Mount Lycabettus

 Athens: AcropolisAthens: Acropolis

Athens: Panatheniac Stadium

Perissa, Santorini

We went back to Scotland after two months in Europe. Although I may not have realized it because I was enthralled with the excitement of it all, I was full of history. When I look back now I realize how much this helped me to understand history and relate to it. It made me appreciate the past and proved to me that history is:

1. Super fun!!

2. Societies foundation–we still look to it for answers.

At the beginning of the semester I said that history is “a series of events from the past. It is what has formed the way of life, learning, and functioning in the modern world. We ‘do’ history by continuing to expand our knowledge and continuing the cycle of old and new.”

Now I would say that history is the foundation to how society functions. History teaches us how to think and question things that we cannot have direct answers to. It teaches us to how to properly research and find reliable sources; allowing us to grow from our findings. History is much more than WWII and Hitler; history is where we came from and why we live the way we do, it is why we value certain things and why we have the freedoms we have.

History is what you make it.

It can be memorizing dates, events, and people– or it can be used to understand the ‘how’ and ‘why’ to these dates, events, and people. History is made for questioning and understanding; for digging deeper and finding more. It is made to be impactful.

We grow up learning that history is simply a past that is dead and done, but if you really think about there is a lot that has come from the past. We look to the past and see a lot of negativity: wars, death, arguments, etc. and unfortunately this skews a lot of peoples thinking towards history. History is so much more than dates and people it is the foundation to our society today; it might be a lot of negative outcomes: faults and errors, but this is what we learn from. The world is one big trial and error experiment: we learn from the things that do work, but also learn from the things that do not work. If you put history into that perspective and think about certain topics such as:

World War II. It is no longer simply Hilter and concentration camps; it is why we have freedom from torture, degrading treatment, and slavery– it is why we have freedom to religion and the right to equality.

Government. In grade four when you learn about the government and elections it is not simply liberal, conservative, and knowing all the prime minister’s; it is comparing history to today and realizing how much has changed, what we have learned from it. As well as and trying to figure out why we re-elected a Harper? And why Trump was even in the running… Is there a new within the government? Is media maybe changing politics?

It is realizing that Women’s History  is more than the sum of its outstanding players: Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Sacagawea, Helen Keller, Amelia Earhart, etc. These women enjoy a firm place in society’s collective consciousness, but also made a change that we still are striving to accomplish. It’s looking into what they did and realizing where we went wrong after they were gone because women still haven’t achieved equality and fair treatment. It’s looking into Marilyn Monroe’s goal to be comfortable with your body no matter the size, and figuring out what sparked the ideal to be ‘tall, thin, and toned.’

History is not boring. History gives explanations to the ‘how’ and ‘why’ to our functioning today.

Reading Log Week 4: Much More Than a Nagging Wife

Adrienne Leduc, “A Fille Du Roi’s Passage,” Beaver, Vol. 81, Issue 1 (Feb/March 2001).

Jan Noel, “ ‘Nagging Wife’ Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France,”  French Colonial History, Vol.7 (2006), p. 45-60.

In the two readings “Nagging Wife”[1] and “Fille Du Rois Passage”[2] there is a recognizable tie between romance and privilege, as well as a contrasting assumption of the Canadian lifestyle.

In Jan Noel’s article she writes on the importance of female involvement in the fur trade and how they had a much larger role than what some; including William J. Eccles, had previously alluded; “(women were a) pull factor that put male habitants into the fur trade region.” [3] She recognizes the many roles females took on during the fur trade; but, distinguishes the women as elite and ‘small fry.’ Elite women were women of power, who coincidentally, were married to elite men, and ‘small fry’s’ were primarily Métis women.  Adrienne Ledur, on the other hand, writes that male privileges came from men having a romantic relationship with a Fille Du Rois (King’s daughter), contrasting the assumption that females needed men in order to have privileges. If men did not romantically attach themselves to a Fille Du Rois, they would be deprived of the activities that define a man: hunting, trading, and fishing rights.

In Ledur’s article, it is stated that the Fille Du Rois were coming to New France in order to escape the hardship and poverty of France. In contrast, he also points out that New France was called things such as “lieu d’horieu” (place of horrors) and “aux faubourg de l’enfer” (outskirts of hell) in the French colony. This contradiction makes the reasoning behind sending these young girls to Canada questionable. Noel also points out negative aspects to women’s work in Canada through Peter Kalm’s experiences: “Almost everywhere in the Atlantic world women’s work did eventually change, in the direction of less outdoor work, fewer home manufactures, less economic production and exchange, generally less visibility in public. In eighteenth-century Canada, it had not changed yet.”[4] So if this was the case, why were the King’s in France sending their beloved daughters to a place which suffered from the same economic and labor hardships as them? Were they giving them false assumptions of where they were going so they would be more willing to travel away? These are some of the questions that sparked me after reading these two articles.

From the two articles we can identify that each gender had power to privileges, and that women were not simply ‘naggers.’ Women stepped up because their colony demanded them to, “a poor colony, with even its noble families dependant on fur trading and Crown subsidies. Work was required of both sexes…” [5] Canada’s gender roles had not changed in the ways European’s had, and this concept was misconceived by the French and sparked the use of opposing genders for a favorable lifestyle.

[1] Jan Noel, “ ‘Nagging Wife’ Revisited: Women and the Fur Trade in New France,”  French Colonial History, Vol.7 (2006), p. 45-60.

[2] Adrienne Leduc, “A Fille Du Roi’s Passage,” Beaver, Vol. 81, Issue 1 (Feb/March 2001), p. 20.

[3] Noel, “Nagging Wife,” p. 45.

[4] Noel, “Nagging Wife,” p. 55.

[5] Noel, “Nagging Wife,” p.53.