YARROW, BC
A new study out of the University of the Fraser Valley indicates that early Mennonite settlers may have been under the mistaken impression that ‘BC’ stood for ‘Before Christ’ when they decided to settle in the region.
“We’ve recently uncovered Plautdietsch documents that discuss the initial relocation of Mennonites from the Canadian prairies to BC,” explained professor Patricia Loewen. “They seemed to be under the impression everything in British Colombia was like something from the Stone Age. And that’s precisely what attracted them to the region.”
The attraction of moving to some place where everyone lived like it was thousands of years ago was found to be a significant draw to conservative Mennonites of the 1930s, who, to this day, still emulate their caveman ancestors.
“They were done with AD and everything that came with it,” said Loewen. “To them, Manitoba of the 1930s was just far too modern and worldly. BC was a much better option.”
In the years since, many Fraser Valley Mennonites have retained their original BC ways such as living in caves, eating raw meat, picking berries, and fishing for salmon.
“Mr. Friesen just came up with this new thing he called ‘the wheel,'” said local Mennonite Pete Wiebe. “But, oba nay, that doesn’t seem right to me. I thought we were living in BC here. If he wants to use a wheel he can move to Steinbach or something.”
(photo credit: by Vincent Lit/CC)
