Alert Bay, British Columbia
“Children are our greatest resource. It is through them that our stories, dances, songs and history will continue,” Andrea Cranmer, one of the two founders of the Tsasla Cultural Group. These two Kwakwaka’wakw women thought it was important to hold on to what is left of their culture and work with those old and young who share the same feeling.
This afternoon we were gifted with an invitation into the gukwdzi (Big House) to watch as elders and children from the Tsasla Cultural Group shared their culture with us. We were greeted in Kwakwala by Vera Cranmer, who’s daughter Andrea translated their ancestral language and thanked us for coming. She then explained, the history of the small sampling of traditional Potlatch dances we would see. As the unified voice of the singers rose filling the Big House, a steady beat from the drum log signaled the dancers who entered from behind a screen, circling, representing a transformation from an individual into the story being danced, in subtle body and hand movements. Slowly each dancer entered and began his or her circle around the central fire. We watched as the stories of a Hamatsa, a Salmon dance, a Ladies dance and the wild man of forest, the Bak’was all entered the Big House as the members of the Tsasala Cultural group shared some of their most important possessions; their stories, songs and dances.
The last dance of the afternoon was a fun dance where we were all invited to leave our seats and dance in an expression of friendship around the central fire. In just a few moments the earth floor of the Big House was filled with the entire compliment of guests from the Sea Lion! The sound of laughter filled the Big House, as we all circled the central fire, sharing in a tradition that has been expressed by the Kwakwaka’wakw people towards their invited guests for thousands of years.
Once the customary handshakes were completed we were invited to share in Sockeye salmon, barbecued in the traditional style, planked over an open fire on the beach. This wonderfully prepared fish was served with banoc and four types of homemade jam!
The rest of our afternoon was available for hikes in Gater Gardens, walking through town, and further enjoyment of the U’Mista Cultural Center and museum. Various groups headed out exploring, on a beautiful warm afternoon. A few of us returned to the burial grounds located on the waterfront of Alert Bay. Here, are a group of old and new totem poles, erected as visual statements about the ceremonial privileges and identity of those who commissioned each pole. The figures on the totem poles represented those beings from mythical times who became, or were encountered by, the ancestors of the group that later took them as crests. Along the front of the cemetery are two unusual poles: a Giant Halibut Man and a Thunderbird Man holding a Copper. These poles were commissioned in 1995 by the people of the Namgis First Nation to commemorate the opening of a new road in front of the cemetery. These poles tell the Origin Myth of Namgis people of Alert Bay:
Origin myth as told by Dan Cranmer:
“Long ago when the world was young, after the great flood, a giant halibut (that was so big you could stand on it) lived at the mouth of the Nimpkish River. One day he swam ashore and transformed himself into a human. He proceeded to build himself a house and with some difficulty raised the four main house posts. With his adze, he fashioned the huge beams that were to be placed atop the vertical posts, but once they were finished, he was unable to lift them into place. As he sat lamenting, he heard a sound behind him and turned to see a Thunderbird alight on a high rock. This supernatural bird offered assistance, and grasping a beam in his talons, flew into the sky and put the beam in place. Then he descended and took off his Thunderbird mask and costume and ordered it to fly up to the skies and said,
“You shall never flap your great wings to cause thunder, nor flash your great eyes to cause lightening only when death comes upon a prince or a princess of my descendants.” He then announced that he would be the younger brother of the first man. He then began to build a house for himself. These two “first men” became the progenitors of one of the Namgis families and those who believed themselves descended from that pair to this day have the right to display the Thunderbird and Giant Halibut as their crests.”
Soon the Sea Lion began preparations for departure from Alert Bay. Lines were pulled from the dock, and slowly Captain Kalbach maneuvered away from the Government dock in downtown Alert Bay. Some of us went to the bow of the ship and watched as the totem poles of the Burial Grounds grew smaller and smaller. Looking just out across Johnstone Strait from Alert Bay, we could see the mouth of the Nimpkish river, and using our imaginations, we could see the Giant Halibut and the first ancestor of the Namgis people standing there proudly proclaiming his lineage.
“Children are our greatest resource. It is through them that our stories, dances, songs and history will continue,” Andrea Cranmer, one of the two founders of the Tsasla Cultural Group. These two Kwakwaka’wakw women thought it was important to hold on to what is left of their culture and work with those old and young who share the same feeling.
This afternoon we were gifted with an invitation into the gukwdzi (Big House) to watch as elders and children from the Tsasla Cultural Group shared their culture with us. We were greeted in Kwakwala by Vera Cranmer, who’s daughter Andrea translated their ancestral language and thanked us for coming. She then explained, the history of the small sampling of traditional Potlatch dances we would see. As the unified voice of the singers rose filling the Big House, a steady beat from the drum log signaled the dancers who entered from behind a screen, circling, representing a transformation from an individual into the story being danced, in subtle body and hand movements. Slowly each dancer entered and began his or her circle around the central fire. We watched as the stories of a Hamatsa, a Salmon dance, a Ladies dance and the wild man of forest, the Bak’was all entered the Big House as the members of the Tsasala Cultural group shared some of their most important possessions; their stories, songs and dances.
The last dance of the afternoon was a fun dance where we were all invited to leave our seats and dance in an expression of friendship around the central fire. In just a few moments the earth floor of the Big House was filled with the entire compliment of guests from the Sea Lion! The sound of laughter filled the Big House, as we all circled the central fire, sharing in a tradition that has been expressed by the Kwakwaka’wakw people towards their invited guests for thousands of years.
Once the customary handshakes were completed we were invited to share in Sockeye salmon, barbecued in the traditional style, planked over an open fire on the beach. This wonderfully prepared fish was served with banoc and four types of homemade jam!
The rest of our afternoon was available for hikes in Gater Gardens, walking through town, and further enjoyment of the U’Mista Cultural Center and museum. Various groups headed out exploring, on a beautiful warm afternoon. A few of us returned to the burial grounds located on the waterfront of Alert Bay. Here, are a group of old and new totem poles, erected as visual statements about the ceremonial privileges and identity of those who commissioned each pole. The figures on the totem poles represented those beings from mythical times who became, or were encountered by, the ancestors of the group that later took them as crests. Along the front of the cemetery are two unusual poles: a Giant Halibut Man and a Thunderbird Man holding a Copper. These poles were commissioned in 1995 by the people of the Namgis First Nation to commemorate the opening of a new road in front of the cemetery. These poles tell the Origin Myth of Namgis people of Alert Bay:
Origin myth as told by Dan Cranmer:
“Long ago when the world was young, after the great flood, a giant halibut (that was so big you could stand on it) lived at the mouth of the Nimpkish River. One day he swam ashore and transformed himself into a human. He proceeded to build himself a house and with some difficulty raised the four main house posts. With his adze, he fashioned the huge beams that were to be placed atop the vertical posts, but once they were finished, he was unable to lift them into place. As he sat lamenting, he heard a sound behind him and turned to see a Thunderbird alight on a high rock. This supernatural bird offered assistance, and grasping a beam in his talons, flew into the sky and put the beam in place. Then he descended and took off his Thunderbird mask and costume and ordered it to fly up to the skies and said,
“You shall never flap your great wings to cause thunder, nor flash your great eyes to cause lightening only when death comes upon a prince or a princess of my descendants.” He then announced that he would be the younger brother of the first man. He then began to build a house for himself. These two “first men” became the progenitors of one of the Namgis families and those who believed themselves descended from that pair to this day have the right to display the Thunderbird and Giant Halibut as their crests.”
Soon the Sea Lion began preparations for departure from Alert Bay. Lines were pulled from the dock, and slowly Captain Kalbach maneuvered away from the Government dock in downtown Alert Bay. Some of us went to the bow of the ship and watched as the totem poles of the Burial Grounds grew smaller and smaller. Looking just out across Johnstone Strait from Alert Bay, we could see the mouth of the Nimpkish river, and using our imaginations, we could see the Giant Halibut and the first ancestor of the Namgis people standing there proudly proclaiming his lineage.
