Story of Dragon Mother & Sínulhḵay̓
The Return of 龍母 [Dragon Mother]
Once upon a time, in the year 2020, the wise 龍母 [Dragon Mother] with her protective power, witnessing human strife and the struggles of the planet, sent 19 guardians to protect our communities, teaching us ways to renew a life-affirming and balanced path.
She approached through the waters of False Creek and through her benevolent mouth she presented 19 guardians to the land that once were mudflats along the False Creek waters and where Chinatown has been blessed through many generations.
The wise 龍母 [Dragon Mother] saw how our waters are rising due to the warming of our planet, and in her beneficent ways teaches us resilience and the good in returning to look after nature, encouraging diverse lives to thrive among our sisters and brothers, pohpohs and gunggungs — of ancestors living among us and found among our planet’s many animals, plants and smallest near-invisible critters.
With this relationship that we build with our 19 guardians, we find a solemn promise (一言九鼎), in the solemnity of our hard survival (九死一生), and the promise of this journey with 龍母 [Dragon Mother], to return to our origins in balanced and fluid relationship (九九歸一).
Visiting us with the wise 龍母 [Dragon Mother] are these 19 guardians of Chinatown:
•Great Blue Heron •Olympia Oyster •Pickleweed - glasswort, saltwort •Western Sandpiper •Lyngbye’s Sedge •Dungeness Crab •River Otter •Biofilm - diatoms •Lewis’s Moon Snail •Moonglow Anemone •Nootka Rose •Oceanspray •Starry Flounder •Pacific Littleneck •Wood Duck Tule •Pacific Herring •Harbour Seal •Sunflower Sea Star
龍母歸來
從前，在二零二零年，龍母目睹地球的苦難，人類的紛爭。大智大勇並對生靈關懷備至的龍母，委派一十九名護衛，來守護我們的社區，指引我們走向煥然一新的生命之路。越過福溪的潺潺流水，通過龍母恩慈的嘴，一十九名護衛來到福溪沿岸。這方水土曾名爲泥灘。我們的先人也曾在此，世代守護著唐人街。
睿智的龍母已預見地球氣候暖化造成水位上升。於是，她以仁慈的方法教我們學會柔韌，明白愛護自然的益處。龍母鼓舞著萬物生長，欣欣向榮。萬物，是我們所有的姐妹兄弟、耆老先輩、世間生命的所有祖先、地球上的萬千動物、萬千植物以及一切微如秋毫的生靈。
我們與一十九名護衛立下莊嚴約定，一言九鼎。莊嚴，是因我們經歷磨難，九死一生。約定，是為隨著龍母踏上旅程，九九歸一，回到平衡流轉的關係，回歸我們的本源，
睿智的龍母給唐人街帶來了一十九名護衛，它們是：
•大藍鷺 •奧林匹亞蠔 •鹽角草 •西濱鷸 •北美薹草 •珍寶蟹 •北美水瀨 •生物膜 •路易斯玉螺 •月光海葵 •努特卡玫瑰 •全盤花 •星斑川鰈 •太平洋小簾蛤 •林鴛鴦 •藨草 •太平洋鲱鱼 •港海豹 •向日葵海星
“na7 tkwi ḵw'ḵwín, ta temíx̱w kwis na kw'áchnexwat ti sti7s, ta x̱i7t-aswit tkwi sínulhḵay̓”
Long ago, the land we see today, was transformed by the Sínulhḵay̓.
⁃ Senáḵw, senaqwila wyss
Sínulhḵay̓
as told by T’uy’t’tanat- Cease Wyss
Skwx̱wú7mesh storyteller and ethnobotanist
Sínulhḵay̓, the two headed sea serpent is a legendary sea monster that the Skwx̱wú7mesh peoples have shared so many stories with each other and visitors of our lands and waters for centuries. There are many stories of this massive sea serpent traveling above and below the waters and lands.
Skwachays is the original name that was given to what was originally a massive salt water marshland. This area has become transformed into land by settlers intervening and killing off this invaluable wetland site in the past 100+ years in the current time known as Vancouver. This site extends between the area known as False Creek up to what is currently known as Clark Drive, and between the areas of what is currently known as Strathcona Park and North China Creek Park and recently named by developers as the “South Flatz”.
This massive area with all of these uninvited names is what the Skwx̱wú7mesh people still consider to be known as Skwachays. This site was named as such for the tunnels that were made by the Sínulhḵay̓, the two headed sea serpent. That is what Skwachays actually means, “underground tunnels made by the Sínulhḵay̓”.
Our people know that this has always been an active site of the Sínulhḵay̓. This creature has the ability to live underground and create tunnels in order to get from one point to another, with lightning speed.
The two heads each represent the dark and light sides of life, and how they can be seen as teaching us to honour these two sides that each and every one of us is capable of using in our everyday lives.
This is a small teaching of this important legendary beast of my people’s culture and our creations stories are deeply and meaningfully linked to Sínulhḵay̓.
Sínulhḵay̓
講述者 T’uy’t’tanat- Cease Wyss
Skwx̱wú7mesh原住民 説書人及民族植物學家
Sínulhḵay̓，雙頭海蛇，傳奇海怪。世世代代，有許多關於Sínulhḵay̓的故事在Skwx̱wú7mesh民間流傳。在迎接每一位來到這方水土的訪客時，Skwx̱wú7mesh原住民都會講述Sínulhḵay̓的故事。這碩大無朋的海蛇，上天入地，穿雲入水，當中的故事多不勝數。
這裏原本是一大片鹹水濕地，名爲Skwachays。在過去百餘年，殖民者干預生態平衡並毀壞了這片濕地，將其改造爲地產，成爲所謂溫哥華的一部分。這片水土與福溪接壤直至克拉克大道，北接士達孔拿公園，南接中國北溪公園，亦包括最近發展商稱爲“平南”的區域。
儘管有如此多不請自來的名字，這一大片水土，於Skwx̱wú7mesh人民而言 ，依然是Skwachays。這個名字的來由，是雙頭海蛇Sínulhḵay̓在這裏打通地道。Skwachays，意思是 “Sínulhḵay̓創造的地底通道”。
我們的族人知道，自古以來，這裏就是Sínulhḵay̓活動之地。這個生靈能夠在地下生活，在地底打洞，風馳電掣地穿梭通行。
雙頭代表著生命的暗明兩面，教育我們如何學會敬重生命中的幽暗和光明。在日常生活中，每個人都有能力去駕馭暗與明，
在我們民族的文化中，這是傳奇巨獸Sínulhḵay̓教育我們的其中一小課。我們民族的原生故事，與Sínulhḵay̓脈脈相通，息息相關。