Hunter's Moon

At Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Langley campus, Hunter’s Moon is a sculpture posted to eight separate pillars in the university’s courtyard. It tells a story extended from the coat of arms of KPU that was also commissioned by Octopus Spirit Enterprises’ co-founder, Brandon Gabriel.

This story of the wolf is one that expresses how the land took her shape. The mineral and soil-borne resources from the ocean, rivers and the animals were spread by how the wolf would nourish itself and travel as far as the mountains and the droppings would feed the land. From trees to foliage, to animals and their environment, the wolves played a role in shaping all that came to be on the land.

The moon and her relationship with the wolf are a part of the repeating lunar cycle in the area. The wolf ascertained the first knowledge of the moon and her patterns and its impact on the land and waters. The knowledge was then shared with humans to learn and understand the land, waters and skies to be in better connection with the natural world.

This relationship and these stories of the moon and the wolf are told not only in Kwantlen and Coast Salish storytelling, but across cultures all over the world embedded into cosmologies and constellations since time immemorial internationally. The international nature of a university such as Kwantlen, which houses many students from around the world, the storytelling reflects a common ground for such a meeting place in the pursuit of knowledge.