Mi’kmaw Culture

Eskasoni Cultural Journeys

• Experience authentic Mi’kmaw culture by visiting Goat Island and sharing a traditional feast, hearing stories and music, or learning through participation in the traditional fishing practices of the Mi’kmaq.
• A Mi’kmaq cultural interpreter will guide you along a 2.4km cultural trail where you will visit several villages, each one offering a unique experience that allows you to learn and partake in this way of life.

Kejimkujik National Park & National Historic Site

• Connect with Mi’kmaw culture by paddling ancient, storied canoe routes to discover petroglyph carvings in stone
• Take part in a birch bark canoe making workshop with master Mi’kmaq craftsman, Todd Labrador, one of Canada’s only Mi’kmaw canoe builders
• Experience a cultural connection at a recreated encampment and look to the skies to experience Mi’kmaw dark sky lore with an interpreter

Membertou Heritage Park

• The Membertou Heritage Park celebrates the life, culture, and history of the Mi’kmaq people who continue to live and thrive in the Membertou area
• The five-acre Heritage Park features a large indoor exhibit and program area that provides a truly immersive journey into the ancient culture
• Outdoors the experience continues with powwows, traditional medicine gardens, demonstration areas, storytelling, and performances in the amphitheatre

Journey into the Night Sky

• Experience the night skies the same way the Mi’kmaq experienced them thousands of years ago, in spectacular, natural darkness at the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve.
• Discover the Dark Sky Preserve in the heart of Kejimkujik National Park’s protected forest – a rare place that is unaffected by light pollution.
• You’ll learn about astronomical science and the Mi’kmaq cultural perspectives of the star-filled night sky. Parks Canada Interpreters and Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Astronomers lead the programs.

Museum of Natural History

• A permanent exhibit at the Museum of Natural History highlights the origins of the Mi’kmaq people, their artistry, and their way of life.
• Many stunning artifacts are on display, including samples of woven baskets, quillwork and beadwork, as well as materials that were used, such as birch bark, wood, and stone.

Acadian Culture

The spirit of l’Acadie runs deep in Nova Scotia. Vivid reminders of the intrepid French settlers, who first arrived in Nova Scotia in the seventeenth century, can be found throughout the province.

African Nova Scotian

People of African descent have made Nova Scotia their home for more then 400 years. Their history includes the stories of many diverse groups – Loyalists, Maroons, Caribbeans, Refugees and others – sewn together through a common African ancestry.

Gaelic & Celtic Culture

By at least the early 1770s immigrants from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland came by the tens of thousands and made Nova Scotia their home. These settlers called themselves Gàidheil (Gaels), i.e. ones whose language and cultural expression is Gaelic.