Wawatay

Wawatay means The Northern Lights. It was said that when the Northern Lights were showing you had to be careful not to whistle because the spirits that are within the Northern Lights would mistake you for a soul that was ready to depart from the earth and claim you as their own.



In this piece a woman is standing looking out, basically saying goodbye to her loved one who had just passed on. It was during the time of the harvest season and there is a harvest moon in the background. It is not in BC, I imagine it is in a place possibly in the interior, or it could be in Ontario. I had just learned about this at the time and I was trying to create an image that captured a feeling and emotio. I really did not think about where it would be, but I know that there are a lot of trees that change to the red colour in the interior, so I did this image not thinking of any particular band just the whole romantic notion of the Northern Lights.



The image shown is by permission of the artist Darlene Gait, Coast Salish artist from Esquimalt Nations. To see more of her art please visit her website and be sure to join her FB Fan Club

Darlene Gait Fan Club
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19755564986

Website:
http://www.onemoon.ca