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History
Around 1860, the Haida ancestors suffered at the hand of outsiders, when small pox was brought from Victoria to the Queen Charlotte Islands. Ninety percent of the population was wiped out. In 1884 the Canadian Government outlawed the potlatch and along with it went the culture. Items associated with potlatches such as bowls, ladles, masks, headdresses and all dance regalia were no longer needed. Artists died without passing on their knowledge of the traditional style of carving on to the next generation. In 1951, the banning of the potlatch was repealed after a long struggle. The elders tried to remember what they could to help the next generation rebuild their histories.
After the 1960's appreciation for the Art and traditions from the past interested many Haida. Just when the people were regaining their identities, the missionaries moved in and convinced the people to give up their old beliefs and traditions. Totem poles were burned for firewood and the children were placed in boarding schools, without their families. They were not to speak their own language and disciplined if they disobeyed. Regardless of all of the upheaval, the Haida's have endured; they have persevered and learned to survive in the modern world.
Crests
To appreciate the Art, it is important to understand the structures of their social system. All Haida are born either "Ravens" or "Eagles". The determination of moiety is established by the mother's affiliation. Within the moiety are lineages; associations to these lineages are several crests, legends and Haida names. The legends associated with the Art may not be known, as it originates in the artist mind. It is of great importance to show the owner's status and lineage affiliation with designs. The main crests are utilized for display, personal identity and ceremonial purposes. The Art symbols are earned in one's lifetime, inherited or acquired by adoption. The ancestors had an impressive display of Art on their longhouses, totem poles, canoes, personal objects and household items. It was not unusual to find a design tattooed on a person's entire body. When you are depicting Northwest Coast Art, the best method is to consider the symbols that are represented as animals, humans or objects of nature. The details will tell you what the design is. They include: head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongues, hands, claws, feet or fins, depending upon what the Art object is. Within the body parts, most often faces are used to fill the spaces to make up the overall design. Details that are non-essential to the main body of the design are known as fillers. Broken designs are not quite so easy to depict and may be for the more experienced eye.
Symbols of Art
The Ravens and Eagles owns and have a right to display certain crests.
A sample of the crests affiliated with the Ravens are:
Raven, Killer whale, Grizzly bear, Black bear, Hawk, Moon, Sea Wolf, Shark and Wolf.
A sample of crests affiliated with the Eagles are:
Eagle, Beaver, Sea Wolf, Hawk, Killer whale, Raven, Frog and Dragonfly.
Brief descriptions of the most commonly utilized crests:
Birds such as the "Raven" have a straight long beak which is easily distinguished from the "Eagle", which have a short hooked beak. The "Bear" has round nostrils with an impressive display of pointed canines and usually is in a upright sitting position. The "Beaver" has two large front teeth and may have a stick in its mouth or claws and the tail is rounded with cross hatching detail. The "Wolf" is closely related to the Bear in appearance but the difference would be the body size and slender ears. The most distinguishing feature would be the curled tail with details at the tip. Killer Whales have a dorsal fin; a blowhole often located at the top of the animal and a dominant tail. This symbol is used more often than other symbols and is recognized by most people.
Fish take on their natural shape and can be easily identified. The "Dogfish" or "Shark" is depicted with many sharp teeth and two prominent nostrils, and has an overly large domed head. The legendary "Sea-grizzly", "Sea-monster" or "Sea-wolf" has fins and fluked tail to navigate the ocean. These supernatural sea creatures also had the ability to move about on the land.
Totem Poles
Totem poles represented family lineages and privileges; they told the story of the people that lived in the houses. Chiefs competed with other chiefs with having taller and more detailed totem poles. Carvers were in great demand to create these rich works of Art.
There are different types of totem poles, each with a different function:
Mortuary poles were used for high-ranking individuals or chiefs. These poles had large cavities cut out of the upper portion and carved with crests of the deceased. The deceased body is placed into a painted box and remained in a mortuary house for a period of one year. The remains were then moved to a smaller box and placed into the cavity of the pole. The front opening was covered with cedar boards and then painted or carved to complete the original design.
Memorial poles stood on their own with a crest depicting achievements of a deceased chief. The pole was raised one year after his death.
House posts were carved with symbols of family history and were positioned at the rear of the house.
People outside of the villages, such as institutions or private collectors, commission modern poles. The traditional Art of these poles are appreciated by people in many cities and countries of origins other than First Nations.
A totem pole is to be read from the top down. The man on top is not necessarily high ranking and the largest figure would be the one that is featured in the story. The smaller figures are sometimes fillers and have some function in the story. The stories associated with the figures originate with the carvers and most of the documentation is lost with time.
The "Watchmen" can be identified as three men wearing tall hats sitting at the top of tall totem poles, attached to the chiefs house. The main function was to warn the chief and the villagers of danger. The middle watcher faced the ocean to search for incoming canoes from other villages, and the other two kept watches over the village.
Carver Bill Reid, Gary Edenshaw, and Robert Davidson
Argillite
A rare stone called Argillite known as black slate can be found in the Charlottes, and is only visited by the Haida for it's use. It is a known fact that this is a Haida resource and everyone respects that. This dull grey stone transforms into a beautiful black shiny Art form when it is carved. This brilliant material was and is still used to carve free forms and miniature totem poles. These Art pieces can be seen in museums around the world. People of the Islands, other than Haida ancestry respect the slate chuck or mountain as private property of the Haida and do not visit it except by invitation only.
Button Blankets
Button-blankets were made from heavy wool and shell buttons which made it difficult to perform ceremonial dance. Blankets trimmed with mother of pearle or shell buttons were for the rich or high-ranking individuals.
The manufacture and use of new material such as lightweight wool have made it easier to sew the blankets, and have given more freedom to dancers. The use of modern materials enables the artist to make fabric art pieces with cleaner lines as opposed to the thick wool melton cloth. Plastic buttons have replaced the traditional mother of pearle and shell buttons.
The background colour of the blanket is black or navy with red as the crest design and outside borders. The main crest is appliqued to the background material and finished with a blanket stitch. The final details are the buttons and the numbers can be as much as eight hundred and as little as four, depending upon the artist expression. The effect is more dramatic with greater numbers of buttons used and the "true expression of a blanket" can only be appreciated by watching a ceremonial dance.
Courtesy of Voice Pictures
Potlatches
Northwest Coast Tribes practice the potlatches and the purpose is to redistribute wealth. The potlatch represented an important event such as the raising of totem poles or the naming of chiefs or individuals. Names were usually given away in the presence of people. Several different names were given to one person, and some were related to reaching adulthood. When a person was adopted they were given a name and a blanket of the adoptee's tribe. The people of the villages gather together to feast, dance and give away gifts to the invited chiefs and guests. Potlatches can carry on for days at a time and were a great deal of work to feed a few hundred people. To reciprocate some guests had to hold their own potlatches and give away more than they had received at the previous one.
Chiefs and Shamans
In the days of the ancestors the Haida class systems were based on wealth and rank, which was finalized at potlatches. The chiefs position was his rank and the social structure determined the rank of others. Through the adoption of rich relatives, few people had no status at all. There were chiefs of Eagle or Raven lineages and villages, each inheriting his position from a brother or uncle. To maintain the position, he had to be generous in the gifts that were given away at potlatches.
Shamans were men or women that were different and lived apart from others, so little information is known about them. They were doctors with special powers and were summoned in matters of life and death. Chiefs depended upon the Shamans to give them insight into whether they would be successful with raids on other villages.
Reincarnation
The Haida believe in re-birth, which means the transfer of identity to a newborn baby. The same person could possibly be transformed many times in different people. It is usually carried on within families and occasionally in non-family members. The way that it is known whom the person is transformed into comes to people in dreams. For example, if a dream is about a person that has passed on and happens before a baby is born, that determines the new identity. If a dream is about a lady and the baby that is born is female, that identifies the baby. It is more than one person who predicts whom the reincarnate is. Sometimes the child will have personality traits of their new identity and have strong bonds with someone who was close to the person that has passed on.
Acknowledgements: Argillite by Douglas Wilson, Potlatch by Steltzer, Islands at the Edge by the Islands Protection Society, Ninstints: Haida World Heritage Site by George McDonald, Bill Reid, Beyond the Essential form by Karen Duffek, Totem Poles by Hilary Stewart, Haida: Their Art and Culture by Leslie Drew.
Haida Myths
This section will be updated with new legends, so come back periodically to read these interesting stories.......
The prevalence of the Frog in the art and mythology of the Haida and Northwest Coast nations is due solely to a die-hard Mongolian tradition, which has known of no break in its transmission from the Old World. Aware of a puzzle there--finding no frog in nature, and possessing so many carved ones--the Haida have tried to furnish an explanation, in a story recorded by James Deans, in the 1870's:
Long ago there were many frogs in those islands. Now there are none; they have all left. And here is the story of their departure. Long ago, a frog was jumping about among the wild flowers in the woods. Eventually...he met a large bear coming along. Seeing this diminutive object, the bear looked at it and said, "You ugly little brute, what are you doing on my path?"...The frog was terribly frightened. It went home, telling every living thing he met what a terrible monster he encountered, how it had taken him in its mouth, as if to devour him. "Now", said the frog, "we must get him out of the way or we shall be killed". So they called together a council of all the frogs. At the council, it was decided that the best thing to do was for the frogs to leave the country, one and all of them. Nowadays frogs are neither seen nor heard on these islands.
The Weeping Totem of Tanu
by Charles Dudoward, Port Simpson BC
The Weeping Totem Pole stands on the Islands of Tanu in the Queen Charlotte group and is about a hundred years old. It shows a figure of a man shedding streams of tears. This is knows as the Weeping Totem Pole of Tanu. The legend of the Weeping Totem of Tanu was told long before the white man came.
When Chief Always-Laughs ruled the people of the Northern Isle of the Queen Charlotte group, Always-Laughs was a wise chief and knew that the Great Spirit dealt with kindly with the people as long as they dealt kindly with all creatures having life. The people could kill for food but not for pleasure. Chief Always-Laughs heard the deer were fat on the Island of Tanu. The people liked fat deer, so the chief led a hunting party including seven sons, two grandsons, and seven canoe-loads of people.
It was evening when they reached camp; men gathered driftwood; others started a fire by rubbing sticks and flint.
In the morning, the hunting party split into small groups and went to hunt the fat deer of Tanu, but they left the two boys in camp.
"Guard the fire, my grandsons", said the old chief, "as it is easier to keep a fire going than it is to start it.
"We will watch the fire faithfully for our grandfather", they replied.
When the hunters returned that evening they found the fire out.
"What happened to the fire?" asked the chief. "Why did you let it go out?"
"It was the toads", said the older boy.
"Yes", said the younger.
"When we gathered wood we found a large toad. When we threw it on the fire, it swelled very large and burst with a bang".
"We had lots of fun", said the older boy, "small toads, big toads, all burst with a big noise".
"But the last was the largest", said the younger, "when he burst, he put the fire out".
"Woe! Woe! My children", cried the wise chief. "Do you not know that those who harm one of the Great Spirit's creatures will suffer in a like way?"
"What a thing you have done", wailed the father of the boys, "we must leave this place. We cannot stay, not even for the fat deer of Tanu".
"To the canoes, quickly", shouted the old chief.
As all rushed to the seven canoes, the earth started to tremble and roar. Fire burst from the ground. The trees fell, and the ground where the men stood opened, and the hunting party disappeared. All perished. Only the old chief survived. And when he got home, from that day he was known as the chief who always weeps for his children.
The Totem Pole was carved out and erected in memory of the Chief by the remaining relations and tribe. This pole, carved from a large cedar tree and to be known as the Chief Weeping Totem Pole, shows a toad in the hands of a weeping man. Each stream of tears terminates on the head of a grandson. The base of the Totem Pole represents the face of a large toad.
Thus ends the legend of the Weeping Totem Pole of Tanu.
Yehl, The Raven with Fallen Bill
Long before Frog-Woman had crossed Bering Sea into America and Bear Mother had brought her supernatural offspring into the villages of the Northwest Coast, the world continued in chaos, without light and almost without life, except in the realm of spirits. The Innuit or Eskimo and other prehistoric men, it is true, made their appearance early on the flat face of the earth, but they were to be wiped out almost to the last by a universal cataclysm--the Flood.
According to a tradition recorded by the missionary Petitot (10) among the Eskimos of the Mackenzie River delta ".....In the spring of the year a storm once blew over the face of the earth. It flattened the lodges of the people along the Artic sea-coast. Taking flight, the Innuit crowded into their skin boats and, for greater safety, tied them together with sinew. Soon the water rose out of the sea, surged forth all over the earth, and covered its ruins everywhere from sunrise to sunset.
"Dumb with terror, the Innuit drifted helplessly for a long time, as the earth sank farther and farther below the waters. A mighty gale swept the waves over the timbered hills, and the uprooted trees began to float around like dead giants. The people broke into lament after the sea had swallowed everything in sight, even the highest mountains.
"Night came over the waters, and with it bitter cold. Huddled close together in their skin boats, the people shivered and wept. Frost-bitten and famished, they slowly succumbed to death. Many of them fell into the dark sea.
"By daybreak the wind had fallen; the sea had calmed down. The heat had returned. Soon it grew so intense that the garments of the people dried up, and the waters fell to a lower level. As the heat of the sun increased, it fell like a sheet of flame upon the survivors exposed in their skin boats. Many were the people who perished on the steaming waters of the Flood.
"Now there was a sorcerer, whose name was Son-of-the-Owl. He whipped the sea with his bow and cried out: 'Enough, enough! We have suffered enough!" And casting his earnings into the deep, he repeated, 'Enough! We have suffered enough!' The waters simmered down under the blows of his whip. They ran off the mountains and the hillsides, into the rivers and down into the sea. And the sea was as we know it."
It was then that Yehl, the supernatural Raven of Siberian and North-western mythology, began to fly over the desolate wastes. He became a transformer rather than a creator, for in his primeval wanderings through chaos and darkness he chanced upon pre-existing things--animals and a few ghost-like people. His powers were not coupled with absolute wisdom and integrity. He at times lapsed into the role of a jester or a cheat, covering himself with shame and ridicule.
"In the beginning he was like a god," according to a Haida tale recorded at Masset. He called forth things out of nothing, and many of them came to be. Once upon a time he spied Rhausrhana, the old halibut fisherman of the sea-coast. Rhausrhana was sitting by himself in a dug-out canoe, dreamily tending his line in deep waters. The Raven, bent upon playing a trick, wondered what would happen if he dived into the sea and stripped the halibut hook of its devil-fish (octopus) bait at the end of the long kelp line. He draped his wings around his body, dived to the bottom, and pulled at the hook. The fisherman gave a jerk so sudden that it broke the Raven's bill and pulled it off, leaving the bird at the bottom, stunned and disfigured.
"What is this?" asked the fisherman in the canoe, feeling the hollow bill with his hands and making fun of it. Unable to tell, he had his daughter place it at the end of a stick on the roof of the lodge to be reclaimed by its owner.
Sitting in his canoe under a Mongolian-like conical hat of woven spruce roots, the fisherman is the subject of a unique dish carving by Charles Edenshaw, which goes back to about 1904 (in the Collison Collection at Prince Rupert, in 1939). The fisherman in one hand holds up a crutch paddle and, on the other, rests his chin pensively. The carver no doubt had in mind the first surprised motion of the halibut fisherman after the tricky Raven had pulled at the devil-fish bait to annoy him. His realistic illustration of the story, small as it is, is one of his finest pieces for its unusual composition and quality. Strangely enough, his absorbed Haida thinker reminds one somehow of Rodin's large bronze masterpiece, its contemporary, erected in front the Pantheon in Paris. The meaning of Edenshaw's figure is emphasized by the flat stylized engraving covering the dish: it represents the Raven spread out at the bottom of the bay under the canoe.
When the Raven, drenched to the skin, emerged from the muddy waters, he stealthily looked about in the lodge of the fisherman for his bill. Shame-faced, human-like, but with the wings and tail feathers of a bird, he raised his hand to his mouth and thrust his fingers inside. No sooner had he spied his bill at the end of the stick than he leaped for it and tried to put it back where it belonged; instead it dangled from his chin as he took to flight from the scene of his disgrace. Illustrated mostly in argillite poles, this episode also appears in small detached carvings, for instance in the decoration of tobacco pipes and in a high-relief pole. The Raven is shown stealing a halibut from a fisherman's hook in a "heraldic column" collected for the Jesup Expedition in 1897 and preserved at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. The Raven with his bill dangling under his chin is also shown on a small wooden pole, beautifully carved, in the Volkerskunde Museum in Berlin, Germany.
Acknowledgements: Haida Myths by Marius Barbeau
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