Nisga'a ring in their new year with Hobiyee celebration in B.C.

The PNE Forum in Vancouver resonated with singing and drumming as First Nations peoples celebrated Hobiyee, the start of the Nisga'a new year.

More than 700 singers and dancers fromGitlaxt'aamiks, Gitsegukla, Gitwangak, Gitanyow, Tsimshain Tlingit and Lil'wat participated in the two-day event.

• First Nations ring in lunar new year with Hobiyee celebration

"We're going to turn back the clock. We're going to go back in time to when our people lived through song and dance," said Nisga'a patriarch and elder statesman JoeGosnell, whose traditional nameis Sim'oogitHleek, after the event's grand entry on Feb. 3.

Hobiyeecelebrates the Nisga'a Nation's new year. The event centres around the moon during the latter part of winter. A crescent moon with its tip pointed skyward symbolizes aspoonand a bountiful harvest to come.

The Nisga'a Nation is located in theNassValley in northernB.C. There are more than 7,000 Nisga'a citizens. More than 1,400 Nisga'a live in Vancouver, the Nisga'a Ts'amiks Vancouver Society says.

Hobiyeein the Nisga'a homeland is being celebrated on Feb. 17 in the village ofGitwinksihlkw.