Tuesday, July 1, 2014

U R Canadian? Xpress it!




The above video mainly depicts scenes of what looks like Alberta and/or British Columbia. Here is another version (by Peoplestandup) which shows more of Canada and is both in English and French: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3feae1bdb4/this-land-is-your-land-this-my-land-canada

Did you know that the word 'Canada' comes from 'kanata' which is Iroquoian for 'village'? (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada for details.)

When you think of 'Canada' what comes to mind? Do you think hockey (possibly first and foremost), beer, burgers, hotdogs and the like? Do you think of Native Americans and salmon? Or do you think of the vast landscape (as shown in the videos) and rich culture we have with diverse nationalities? (I am one of those!)

I consider myself Dutch-Canadian as I am a native to The Netherlands aka Holland where I was born and became (a) Canadian (officially with a Canadian citizenship). Moving to Canada as a young girl, I am curious what life might have been like if I lived in Europe; however, I am grateful to live here. Thus, I consider myself Dutch-Canadian as I am proud of my Dutch heritage and grateful to be Canadian.

Perhaps I'm Canadianesse (rhymes with finesse), a word I just invented - I love doing that - to mean perhaps a mixture or blend of Canadian and another culture (whatever you wish it to mean) or possibly even becoming Canadianized (and apparently that is a word!). I digress.

My sister(s) and I used to sing a song about Canada when we were quite young that seems a part of this process. Well, we actually sang the first verse only as that is all we knew at the time. We harmonized in soprano and alto:

This land is your land,
This land is my land,
From Bonavista
To Vancouver Island,
From the Arctic Circle,
To the Great Lake waters,
This land was made for you and me.
As I was walking,
That ribbon of highway,
I saw above me
That endless skyway,
I saw below me
That golden valley.
This land was made for you and me.


The rest of the lyrics are as follows (with a nice tree background): http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socstud/foundation_gr5/blms/5-2-3g.pdf

Are you Canadian? If so, how did you express it? Did you attend any parades or watch fireworks or any other patriotic-like acts waving a Canadian flag? Or at least wear red and white today like I did to show your patronage or wear a Canadian pin?

Not that you "have to" to do any of these of course, just asking. But it is fun, at times, to unify, at least in Spirit when doing so, don't you think eh?

P.S. For any of you Americans celebrating the 4th of July, I wrote a piece for you three days later. If you are another nationality, read this posting with questions about your country and your country's national or popular song.

2 comments:

  1. There was a recent news article a few days ago on how Canada is thinking of doing away with the term "visible minority," This segment of the population is increasing in size as our nation becomes more a diverse mix of ethnic cultures. Interesting how far we've come as a nation.

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