Montreal’s premier summer music festival is banning First Nations headdresses, as Osheaga has explicitly prohibited the headwear in a post published on the festival's Facebook page. “Please note that First Nations Headdresses are not permitted at the festival,” the Facebook post read, asking asking attendees to “respect and honour (First Nations) people” and not use “this symbol as a fashion accessory.”This move is definitely appropriate considering that “O she ha ga” is a actually a Mohawk phrase for white people meaning “people of shaking hands.” According to Mohawk oral history, French explorers offered the island’s indigenous people good old-fashioned European handshakes when they arrived but because of a misunderstanding, Jacques Cartier and his squad began referring to the area as “Osheaga.”Continued below…Just like the word “Osheaga”, this cultural emblem has also been appropriated by white people who’ve been wearing it at music festivals in recent years as a grotesque alternative to the flower crown. Unlike a weekend pass for Osheaga, a First Nations headdress has to be earned. Also known as war bonnet, it’s one of the most coveted symbols for First Nations communities across North America and is reserved for chiefs and warriors. It’s not a fedora. It’s a deeply meaningful cultural emblem that has no place on the head of MDMA-addled white girls who think that a Mohawk is a haircut. And luckily, Osheaga is doing something about it.They have acknowledged that First Nations Headdresses “have a spiritual and cultural meaning in the native communities” but it’s not the first festival to ban the war bonnet. Other festivals, like Bass Coast in Victoria, British Columbia have also implemented a policy of banning headdresses out of respect for local aboriginal bands while Ottawa-based Tribe Called Red has compared the practice to wearing blackface “to show support for the African American heritage.”Nick Rose is a writer based in Montreal - @nicolachocolat
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