Nisga'a ring in Lunar New Year with 2 days of celebration

The Nisga'a First Nation is celebrating the Lunar New Year with a two-day celebration at Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition featuring dancing, music and food.

Sheldon Martin from the Nisga'a Ts'amiks Society said the celebration — called Hobiyee — commemorates the waxing crescent moon.

"The new moon in early February, the crescent moon, tells us of our coming year's harvest. As it's the crescent moon, the two tips of the moon are facing up like a spoon. That means it's holding our harvest," he said.

The bright moon indicates the year's upcoming harvest will be plentiful with lots of salmon and berries, he said.

Although the Nisga'a First Nation's traditional territory is in northwestern B.C., around 1,400 Nisga'a live in Vancouver.

Martin said it was a blessing to have this opportunity to share Nisga'a culture with a larger audience.

"We understand that there's 50,000 urban Aborginal people here in Vancouver and we do our usual protocol with the host nations at the beginning of our event where we acknowledge who they are and we thank them for allowing us to live and work and celebrate who we are as Nisga'a people in their traditional territory," he said.

This year, there will be multiple dance performances, lots of fry bread, and an educational workshops on how to do traditional formline art and drum making.

Celebrations take place at the PNE Forum on Friday, Feb. 3 and on Saturday, Feb. 4 from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. PT. 

With files from The Early Edition

To listen to the interview, click on the link labelled Nisga'a First Nation celebrate Lunar New Year in Vancouver