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Carved wooden mask
Traditional tools are still used for carving, but modern paints are used for color During our 2 week journey on the inside passage we visited and learned about 3 native cultures. These cultures have much in common but are also different. They all share a love of the ocean and a reverence for the land and the animals. The First Nation people in this area had the resources and time to develop a rich artistic tradition which is coming back again. New artisans are now carving wooden masks that are used in traditional dances. Poles are being carved again to memorialize a great person or tell the history of the people living in a long house. Poles are also used to tell cultural stories which are being passed on to a new generation. These poles have never been worshiped in a religious way by these cultures. They see them as a part of nature and who they are as a people. As the poles age and decay they are allowed to fall and go back to nature again. This is also true of the mortuary poles. These poles are carved and placed in what seems to be an upside down way. The broader bottom of the tree is needed at the top in this type
totem images
Each image tells a story of pole since that is where the remains of a chief are placed in a special bentwood box. Eventually this pole also succumbs to the natural decay of the temperate rainforest.
We visited a National Heritage Site called SGang Gwaay (formerly known as Anthony Island), where the Haidi people lived at one time. At this site the totem poles are in situ in a lovely protected bay. A Haidi guide talked about his people and how the many poles where once a show of wealth and power to anyone who came to the area. A visitor at that time could tell the history of the people by reading the poles.
We were invited to two Long Houses by two different groups the Haidi Gwaii and the Kwakwaka. Each time we were welcomed and after an explanation we watched dancers as they told their stories through their movements using carved wooden masks and traditional button blankets. We were all asked to join in the last dance of each demonstration, and many of our group did. Then we were offered a buffet of traditional foods that had been prepared for us. Eating crispy black seaweed was a first for us
Cultural Center
This is an example of house pole that tells the story of the people from this long house as was sea asparagus. We had salmon poached and also smoked, fried, canned, jerkied, and Ron’s favorite candied. There were berries that were whipped until they produced a frothy foam and served as a dessert. Our hosts were so happy to share their culture with us and we all felt it a privilege to participate for a short while.
One thing these cultures have in common with our own Native Americans is the resentment about how they were treated when Europeans, Canadians and Americans came into their tribal lands. They are still trying to come to terms with the loses they suffered in land, personal wealth, cultural freedom, not to mention the illnesses that reduced the Haidi population from 20,000 to 600.
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