Ancient China's community traditions have a place in modern Cariboo culture, although it is set in the heart of the region's gold rush history.
Barkerville has as much connection with 19th century China as it does cowboys and miners. The living museum site is home to an annual mid-autumn moon festival and this year it will feature Shaolin martial arts along with the other spectacles and features that go into the fall festivities.
"According to ancient Chinese astrology, the moon is at its roundest in the middle of the autumn season," said James Douglas, Barkerville's manager of Visitor Experiences. "Since the round shape of full moon symbolizes family reunion and togetherness in Chinese culture, one of the preeminent festivals in the Chinese calendar is the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. During the festival, family members gather to eat moon cakes and appreciate the bright full moon - an auspicious token of abundance, harmony and luck."
On Aug. 20, the Barkerville festival takes place. This is a bit earlier than most celebrations of this kind, but it allows for the historic town to provide this experience to its seasonal visitors. It is the 19th time Barkerville has held the event.
"Many people associate the arrival of the Chinese in Canada with the building of the railway, but Chinese immigrants came to our country much earlier than that, making significant contributions to the economy of British Columbia before it was a part of Canada," said Dr. Ying Ying Chen, a spokesperson for the Cariboo Chinese Heritage Centre. "Barkerville's Mid-Autumn Moon Festival celebrates these early gold rush pioneers."
"The day features lion dances, lantern-making workshops, a tea ceremony, Chinese chess tournament, games for all ages, moon cake tasting, two special celebration banquets, and a spectacular parade of illuminated paper lanterns that will fill the event with equal parts revelry and reverence for one of B.C.'s oldest and largest ethnic communities," said Douglas.
Much of the organizing of the festival, and many of the activities, are centred at the Chee Kung Tong building inside the preserved anachronistic town.
The Chee Kung Tong building is the oldest ethnic Chinese structure in Canada. It was erected in the town's gold rush heyday by the Chinese Freemasons in Barkerville to help Chinese miners adjust to the realities of living so far from home, and to act as a hospice of sorts for those community members in need.
The Chee Kung Tong building was itself declared a National Historic Site in 2009.
New this year is a demonstration of Shaolin martial arts. This happens at 1 p.m. on the day of the festival, at the Theatre Royal.
"The performing group is comprised of 18 elite martial arts practitioners from the Shaolin Epo Martial Arts School of Dengfeng City, Henan Province, People's Republic of China," Douglas said. "During the performance, these high calibre performers will demonstrate various Shaolin Wushu martial arts techniques including pictographic animal boxing, knife and whip group boxing, variations of hard qigong (involving pikes and steel nails) and use of the 18 weapons developed by Shaolin monks over many decades."
Tickets to this special feature are $15 each, available at the Theatre Royal box office, Barkerville's Visitors' Reception Centre, or in advance by calling 1-888-994-3332.
