Naresh – Bhutan

“The dress that I am wearing is a typical Bhutanese-Nepali costume for men. The pant is called Suruwal and the top part is called Daura in my language. The black hat that I am wearing is called Topi that has a cross-knife symbolizing bravery of Gorkhas, while in the first and second world wars. Our parents back home usually wore this hat and dress every day.”

Buddhi Maya – Bhutan

“The dress that I am wearing is a dress for women in Tamang tribe in Bhutan. This costume is a continual inheritance of our ancestors. The red hat, upper garment, yellow bead string, and earrings are part of this costume that all go together.”

Oma Maya – Bhutan

“Preserving our artistic expressions in Canadian society as an invisible and minor group is incredibly difficult. We have challenges, yet we have equal responsibilities too.”

Naresh – Bhutan

“Preserving our artistic expression and culture in Edmonton, Canada would be challenging. The Bhutanese community is very small and I doubt we can preserve our stuffs of cultural importance. It is very challenging that we have limited resources that prohibit us from making them accessible to all.”

Santa Bir – Bhutan

“This dress is the popular costume among men in Tamang ethnicity in Bhutan. Anyone wearing this costume identifies that this guy belong to Tamang tribe.”

Oma Maya – Bhutan

“This dress that I am wearing is a dress for women in Tamang ethnicity in Bhutan. The yellow beads string is called Potey in my language and is only worn by married women. I am also wearing a golden necklace, which is being inherited from our grandparents. The earrings that I am wearing are meant to beautify additionally.”

Lasang – Bhutan

“The dress that I am currently wearing is called Bakkhu in Dzongkha, which is the national language of Bhutan. It is only worn by males. This is the national dress of Bhutan, for men and women have their own dress too. This dress was mandatory while visiting any offices, schools and government personnel. Wearing this dress gives me a great feeling of being a Bhutanese by birth.”

Lasang – Bhutan

“To protect our language, arts and culture in Canadian society is not an easy job. Our costumes and ornaments are not weather friendly and not suited for Canadian weather. So we have to refrain from wearing them. This will cause our younger generation not to have interest in our artistic expressions. Although we feel it is our responsibility to make sure our kids carry over our arts, culture and traditions, yet we have no control of their interests as they grow.”

Anonymous – Eritrea

“In Canada they accept any kind of thing, any kind of culture. The problem is when I go to work in my cultural clothes, it’s not comfortable to work. You don’t feel comfortable. But if you want, there is nothing wrong to be in your clothes. Like, for instance, it’s too cold in winter. Mostly it is used in tropical weather.”

Tigist – Eritrea

“This is an Eritrean wedding dress, it can be worn to Church (the Groom or Bride, wear the same outfit on sides). The scarf has many ways of wearing, whether you’re Ethiopian or Eritrean. Older women wear it around their shoulders showing the middle pattern, young women around waste to dance. Catholics and Orthodox cover their hair at church. Their hair is tied and a scarf is tied to the back of the neck. At funerals, Ethiopians wear black around head, a hijab. We have hand-woven outfits. On any special occasions, the entire family wears matching fabric! Older women always cover their head and upper body part. The border of the scarf, Muslims have a different pattern than Christians. Christians all have crosses on patterns. Eritreans, like the Middle East, wear particular gold on the neck. It is heavy gold, the husband would buy one full bag of jewellery and clothes for the woman. All of the jewellery and clothes are counted, it shows the measure of wealth (the security for the women). Eritreans have a lot of Gold! Traditional jewellery is silver. Sometimes women would wear necklace carrying money in boxed pendants (influenced by Egyptian child). The orthodox Christians have 7 different crosses, jewellery of village comes in silver.  People also wear jewellery for their hair to match their dress. When at weddings often the hair is braided in 7 rows to symbolize 7 crosses. Elephant ivory was also worn in Ethiopia. It was a gift given when people leave the country.”

Anonymous – Eritrea

“You can’t wear your clothes everywhere you go. You stand out, it’s different, the main thing that makes it different is the big scarf. In Canada we only wear small scarves around the neck, every time you wear that, people will stare at you. You stand out. We like to blend in… I don’t like to stand out in anyway. Though on wedding days and holidays we do dress up, we try our culture as much as we can.”

Naglaa – Iraq

“This is a gold necklace. My mother gave it to me, for all my sisters and me, from Iraq. I wear this everyday. Most women wear gold, pure gold mostly. Sometimes we wear special stones such as emerald and ruby, silver and pearls. This kind of necklace I could only purchase in Iraq.”

Naglaa – Iraq

“I have been here for 18-19 years. There are a lot of Iraqi people here so we can practice our traditions. It’s easy because often people are willing to go back home and bring these things we like.”

Dunya – Iraq

“This is a tea set, with a tray. When we meet together with the family, often in the afternoon, we would serve tea in these cups called “istikaan” (Turkish word for cup and saucer). This tray, cups and saucers are from Iraq, from my mother, as a gift to me to serve others. She said to me, “these are gifts to remember us as we used to meet together.”

“Asriyya” is afternoon tea with cookies, we’d do this everyday. I use these things when guest come, special guests like my English teacher when she came to my house I used these.”

Anonymous – Iraq

“These are prayer beads, known as a “masbaha.” It was given to me by my mother. Daily, I use this in my life. It has 99 beads, the 100th is the biggest bead. It’s made of silver. I recite “Glory be to God” “Praise be to God” and prayers like that.”

Naglaa – Iraq

“This keychain is special because it has the Iraq map and flag. My brother sent it to me from Iraq, I always keep this in my key chain.”

Dunya – Iraq

“The ‘gilabia’ represents colourful clothes worn in women-only gatherings. The ‘abaya,’ plain black, Iraqi women wear this in the streets, in public gatherings, or to the Mosque and other celebrations to cover and dress modestly.”

Anonymous – Iraq

“Sometimes I wear my “abaya” to Walmart and I was actually complimented! Sometimes I get attention from people but that’s okay. Iraq and Canada are my countries. Last time I told my friend that both my kids are in cadets, this is their country.”

Dunya – Iraq

“Our children don’t speak the language and they’re born here, everything around them is English. They don’t learn that much at home.”

Song “Mawtini” – Iraq

“There is a famous song about my home in Iraq, “Mawtini.”

It is sung both here and back home. Friends together sing it, people have it on their cell phone’s ring tones. I sing it together with women. Elders know and sing this too!”

Hawa – Sierra Leone

“Food here, the cultural food lets me feel like I’m a part of Canada, as I see it around me. Having people from my community allows me to laugh, I’m so proud to tell people where I’m from. I always want to practice my culture from Liberia in Canada.”

Hawa Sheriff – Sierra Leone

“It’s hard for us young people to braid our own hair here. People always stop us asking, is this real hair? How long does it take? I feel bullied. I try to hot iron my hair all the time, just to be like everyone else. Even at school, people always ask me if my hair is fake, why there is colour. I ask and think, “What’s the difference?” Back home, this is how we do it. But it’s hard here.”

Martha – Sierra Leone

“My clothing is made of “country cloth,” woven at home, with more English influence.

It is worn on any occasion (at times, different cloths are worn on different occasions).

A married woman’s dress is more modest, don’t expose body too much! When women get married, clothes are part of the dowry and when they have a baby, the women gets more clothes from the men(side).

Jewellery we wear is mostly gold and beads around the neck and waist. When a girl is born, she wears beads on her waist and wrist.

It can be a three piece, a skirt, shirt, head tie and sometimes around the waist too. Sometimes men and women wear the same fabric outfits.”

Malusu – Sierra Leone

“The way I wear my hijab, because of the media, people consider me a bad person. They don’t know me and just start assuming.”

Mabendu – Sierra Leone

“The weather makes it difficult here. Most people on the street don’t wear this dress.”

Mary – South Sudan

“We’re not really exposed to this thing we’re supposed to know. It’s like a ghost in our identity. Futas are still used to decorate houses. People sew them here, but many people don’t have time to make them, so they order from back home. In Edmonton, today they are given as a symbolic gift to a married couple, a white one, but it’s not checked the way it was back home. At Christmas time we use red ones, when a baby boy is born the futa is blue, for a baby girl it is pink. This is often done today.”

“A ‘futa’ is a colourful quilt placed on chairs. If you get married, you take it with you, as a woman you must make one for your house, you must know how to sew and cook. You sew for your mother-in-law and sister-in-law and for yourself. A futa is different colours, all 8 colours can be used. Different shapes are used. It is usually cotton, sometimes you make pictures with thread and sometimes with crochet, embroidery can be 8-10 colours. When you have full sets for seating areas, it means you’re ready to be married. Other tribes when they get married, use white to show virginity. To keep the blood in the house, you must consummate your marriage on it. Red or white futas are used for Christmas.”

Joseph – South Sudan

“Yes for now, our cultural/artistic expression is apart of our identity, but it is disappearing. For instance, the Futa cloth is used to cover food, but now kids take it away and just bring plain food, I can see these things are going to disappear. This is how we’re all different, but same in other aspects, but unique.

I have combined my clothing. My top is Sudanese, my pants are western.”

Kiki – South Sudan

“Many women don’t work back home. Today women work here, so they don’t have time. Back home all neighbours come together and talk, they share and do collectively. The young generation sit beside their moms and learn what they are doing. Our children here are very busy and don’t even understand our English.”

Joseph – South Sudan

“We don’t have the materials we really love, those items are hard to come by. There’s a growing gap between us, and our kids. Our kids are very Western. Eventually our culture will disappear.”

Kiki – South Sudan

“For me I see we’re supposed to keep our own, rather than take others’ cultures. We see this as civilization. But we have to keep our culture and educate others on how we look in our countries and this is the way we are. Being Canadian is being proud of where I come from.

I am happy for my kids, they went to the United States, but they call me and say they miss our food! I’m happy they know their traditional food. I am happy they have learned something. They know the difference now.

Sometimes some families don’t want to teach children their own culture because there’s a fear of them being behind, they want them to be Canadian. They want them to fit into society. Others change their children’s names. Our names have meaning and lineages. People back home know who you are. My kids will be named after my husband. Children are named based on their father’s side. Every child has a special song.”

Kiki – South Sudan

“It’s sad, too, for some of our people, they say this change is civilization. They don’t honour these clothes and ways of being. They feel the West is civilized, wearing these clothes means I just came from Africa.”

Joseph – South Sudan

“It’s a gift for freedom and comfort, but it is also sad because we grew up with these things and now we have to see them disappear. Not only is it difficult to find them, but the generation coming finds it sad. Even my clothes, if I give this to my sons, they’re not excited.”

Mary – South Sudan

“It’s sad because they’re teaching us, but we don’t really experience it. Sometimes I wish I could experience more of what they’re talking about, but it’s tough.”

Karam – Syria

“Because there are many Arabs here its hard to interact with Canadians. Preserving expression is not hard because there are many Arabs here and many events.”

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SYRIAN LOVE SONG

Love me without complexities
and lose yourself in the lines of my hand
love me for a week, for days, for hours
For I am not one who cares about eternity
Love me, love me, love me

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