Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw

B. Burger/Flickr

"KWA-kwa-kee-walk"

"Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw” means “the people who speak Kwak̓wala,” a group comprised of 17 distinct nations that hail from the north side of Vancouver Island, adjacent islands, and coastal mainland to the east. Formerly, the entire group was mistakenly called Kwakiutl.

Population: 7,718 (as of 2014)  Language: Kwak̓wala, five dialects

Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw Voices

Seated portrait of Patricia Nolie taken outdoors with trees in the background.
"My ada, my great grandmother, was a matriarch. When I was small, she wouldn’t let me go play with my cousins. She said, “No. You sit down and you listen.” I was always upset. I thought she was really hard on me. About a week before she passed away, she called me over. She got her Indian blanket. She unfolded it and said, “This is going to be yours.” On the inside was a little pouch pinned to it. Inside is your umbilical cord, she said. She told me she’d put the pouch around her wrist when she’d cut fish, or make eulachon oil. My grandpa would wear it around his neck when he played soccer. All those things that she wanted me to become a natural at. I cried when she told me. Little did I know she was grooming me to be a leader, that person to follow our cultural traditions. Some family members say I’m too young. But ada trusted me."—Patricia Nolie (Nage'ga), Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw | Cultural leader, dancer, natural resources professional
H. Alonso/© AMNH
Portrait of Chief Robert Joseph standing inside a wood-paneled room.
"The fundamental idea behind the residential school was to kill the Indian in the child. To remove the child from any influence of aboriginal teaching. It’s quoted everywhere, by a high-up guy in the Indian Affairs Act. For me, it was a decade or more of that kind of cruelty. So I lived for a long time in rage and anger. But hatred only consumes you. So in the last 20 years, I’ve worked on all of the government responses, the church apologies, the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and establishing Reconciliation Canada with my daughters." —Chief Robert Joseph, Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw | Chief, ambassador for Reconciliation Canada
George Lawson
Barbara Cranmer stands in front of wood-shingled building with a sign that reads "Culture Shock".
"I have a shop in Alert Bay with my two sisters called Culture Shock Interactive Gallery. We have it in a very contemporary way. And the contemporary way is built on tradition. We’re celebrating 10 years of business this year. We offer cultural experiences, like weaving a cedarbark bracelet with my sister Donna. Barbecuing salmon on the beach with my cousin Kodi. Storytelling with my mom. I feel it is so important to be celebrating who we are as First Nations people today. It’s time to bring our culture out and share it with the world. People come here to tiny little Alert Bay and feel amazingly welcomed. I want to be part of that positive force."—Barbara Cranmer (T̕łaḵwagila’oǥwa) Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw | Documentary filmmaker, entrepreneur
H. Alonso/© AMNH
Chief Henry Seaweed stands near a city street.
"When I started residential school in 1948, I didn’t know a word of English. I spoke my language, Kwak̓wala, which most of us at school got in trouble for. But I really wanted to learn English. I felt left out when my friends were conversing in it. In 1954 I left school to start working. Before I left, my grandmother told me: Gwala ǥaliwe sa yak̓a̱ndas—Don’t ever forget your language. Maintain it. I ended up living in Vancouver. It’s very difficult when you’ve been away from your people for so long. I’d grab a chair from the dining room, and I would talk Kwak̓wala to the wall. That’s how I was able to maintain my language. Now I advise the new generation as they try to grasp the language and the culture proper. I’ve been around the world spreading our culture. I never wanted to let it go." —Chief Henry Seaweed (Kwax̱itola) Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw | Chief, performer and cultural advisor
George Lawson
May sits on the arm of a chair with her arms around the shoulders of her grandmother, who is sitting in the chair.
"When I finish school, I want to go to John Casablancas Institute in Vancouver and pursue a career in special effects makeup. Monster makeup, anything that involves latex, prosthetics, face painting. I have been judged a lot on wanting to do this career. But my grandma lets me do my thing. Like if my eyebrows are too square. “Why are they so blocky?” “Cuz, Grandmama, I want them like that.” She says, “OK.” My siblings and I moved in with my grandma when I was really young. My mom was an alcoholic and into drugs. Didn’t like my grandma, so there was a custody battle. My grandma’s my best friend. She would do anything for her grandchildren and that’s the kind of person I’d want to be. A successful makeup artist and a caring person."—Maya Anderson, with her grandmother Mabel Knox, Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw | High school student
H. Alonso/© AMNH
Ernest Scow sits with his elbow resting on a table, photos on the wall behind him.
“My girlfriend and I got married on Gilford Island in 1946, in the big house at that time. We were both 18. Everybody knew that we were going around, so our families decided that we better get married. We got married in the Indian way, which is called kazi’tła. Then we were no longer two people. We lasted two months short of 55 years together.”—Ernest Scow (Pałpała̱lis Wakas).
L. Allen/© AMNH
Nine smiling children stand in front of a totem and other art.
Kwak̓wala, the language of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw people, unites them as a group. Fewer than 150 people speak it fluently today. Some speakers are teaching the next generations to sustain Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw culture. Here, Donna Cranmer (T̕łisalagi’lakw, right) and the speaking club she holds at the T̕łisalagi’lakw Elementary School wear shirts that say ḵ̓a̱s’a̱ne’, which means “shirt.”
U’mista Cultural Centre. Voices: Lorraine Hunt/Violet Bracic/Pewi Alfred

Kwakwala_gilakas_la

Kwakwala_wiksas_howareyou

From the Collections: Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw head ring

Head ring

During a sacred series of dances called the t'set'seḵa, Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw people wear items made of red-dyed bark from cedar trees. In this ceremony youth are initiated into a society called hamat’sa based on contact with supernatural beings. They can call themselves hamat’sas thereafter. This striking head ring may have been worn by a hamat'sa during the final stage of his initiation rite—an inherited privilege. The abalone shell ornaments depict a face—notice the eyes or eyebrows, nose, and mouth.

This head ring is from the Ḵwikwa̱sutinux̱ community in Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw territory off the coast of British Columbia, Canada.

AMNH 16/6864, acquired 1899

Man wearing head ring walks on a path along the shoreline.
Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw chief Henry Seaweed (Kwax̱itola), a hamat’sa himself, wears a head ring woven of fishing twine and cedar bark after a ceremony at Ba’as (Blunden Harbour), B.C.
H. Alonso/© AMNH

Ongoing Traditions

Two people prepare food outdoors over open fires.
Fort Rupert (Tsax̱is), Vancouver Island, B.C.  Here, filleted salmon is barbecued on traditional cedar stakes and horse clams roast in their shells at the Vancouver Island Traditional Foods Conference held in Tsax̱is in 2015. The annual event shares cultural teachings and techniques as well as a traditional feast.
Salish Sentinel
Wood plank building with a double-headed serpent painted over the doorway.
North EndFort Rupert (Tsax̱is), Vancouver Island, B.C.Tsax̱is, situated on a broad crescent beach, has been home to various Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw groups over time. After the Hudson’s Bay Company built a fort here in 1849, the place became a trade hub and the home village of the Kwagu'ł nation of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw. Here, its huge ceremonial house displays a sisiyutł: a double-headed serpent with potent supernatural power.
AMNH/Laura Allen
Large group of people gather in a ceremonial space.
Alert Bay Big House. Potlatches mark important occasions in the lives of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw. At this 2014 potlatch, Trevor Isaac receives his new name, Galastowik, and position as a chief in his ‘namima, or extended family group. He inherited the chiefly position from his great-great-grandmother. Here, Trevor (in white tunic) dances with family in celebration. “Being given the position is a great honor,” says Isaac. “I’ll remember this moment for the rest of my life.”
S. Holland/U'mista Cultural Centre
Man wearing a headdress addresses a group of people.
U’mista Cultural CentreAlert Bay (‘Ya̱lis)This thriving museum and education center upholds Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw cultural heritage and language to ensure its long-term survival. In this photo, people celebrate the opening of U’mista’s Power of Giving exhibit in 2011. U’mista means “the return of something important.” U'mista Cultural Centre opened in 1980 to house potlatch treasures returned from large Canadian museums. Government officers had seized the items in 1922 after a local potlatch during a ban on the cultural practice.
Image credit: C. Cook
Tall figurative wooden sculpture looms against the sky.
U’mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay (‘Ya̱lis), B.C.  The stories of many Northwest Coast cultures warn of a frightening being in the forest. For the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw, this is Dzunuḵ̓wa, which this carving depicts. Dzunuḵ̓wa is usually represented as female. Since she is said to snatch and eat children, Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw kids are told to avoid an encounter with her by staying close to home at night.
H. Alonso/© AMNH
Large wooden structure with murals painted on the sides.
Ǥwaʼyasda̱ms (Gilford Island), B.C.  As of 2015, about 30 people live year-round on this small island village, home of the Ḵwikwa̱sutinux̱ nation of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw. Among its newest structures are the refurbished ceremonial big house shown here (called a gukwdzi in Kwak̓wala) and a state-of-the-art water treatment facility.
H. Alonso/© AMNH
A house under constructions shows supporting totems that will face the interior of a home and hold roof beams.
Ǥwaʼyasda̱ms (Gilford Island), B.C.  This image shows a new big house being built on Gilford Island in 1900. At that time, extended families lived together in these traditional houses. You can see the two main supports here: the vertical posts carved as figures and the stout beams on top that bear the roof. Planks made of split cedar logs were then added to the roof and sides.
AMNH Library 328744
Aerial view of a waterway and snowcapped mountains.
Dzawadi (Knight Inlet), Klinaklini River, B.C.  For generations, Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw people have gone to the delta of this mainland river to harvest a fish important to their nutrition and culture—the eulachon ("OO-li-kun"), or candlefish. The oil from this fish remains a precious condiment for traditional foods, often as a dip for dried or smoked salmon. The Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw name of this place, Dzawadi, means “place of dzaxwa̱n”, or eulachon.
C. Cheadle
Canoes are pulled up to the shore near tall totems and wooden houses.
Dzawadi (Knight Inlet), Klinaklini River, B.C.  The Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw community that once lived at Dzawadi permanently are the A̱wa̱ʼetła̱la. No visiting groups could start catching eulachon until after the A̱wa̱ʼetła̱la chief dipped his net first with some ritual words. There is no permanent village at Dzawadi today, but many people travel here in March and April, staying in their family’s cabin while they harvest the spring run of the fish. Eulachon is now at risk from bycatch in commercial fisheries.
AMNH Library 329955

From the Collections: Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw Transformation Mask

Mask

Masks can reveal spiritual and personal transformation, important concepts for Native communities. A dancer wearing this mask relates the story of Siwidi, a young man altered by his encounters with supernatural sea creatures. See Siwidi’s change, beginning as a bullhead fish (sculpin), then a sea raven, and lastly as Born-to-Be-Head-of-the-World, a hero.

This mask is from the Gwawaʼenux̱w community in Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw territory off the coast of British Columbia, Canada.

AMNH 16/8942, acquired 1902

George Hunt and Franz Boas

Group of men, women and children stand in front of wooden house.
Fort Rupert (Tsax̱is), Vancouver Island, B.C.  This 1894 photo shows Fort Rupert resident George Hunt (Kixitasu’) (second from left), a collaborator of Franz Boas (far right), the anthropologist who developed this hall. Hunt was Tlingit and English but was born here in the Kwagu'ł community. Hunt collected and interpreted nearly all of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw cultural treasures in the Museum’s collection.
American Philosophical Society
Two men hold up a blanket in the background behind a woman seated on the ground spinning thread next to a cradle hung on a branch.
Franz Boas (left) relied on experts within Native communities, including George Hunt (right), to document lifeways and provide context for collected items. Here, a Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw woman demonstrates how to spin thread from cedar bark. She is also rocking her baby’s cradle from a string attached to her toe.
AMNH Library 11604
Man stands wearing a ceremonial robe, while others are seated on the ground behind him.
Fort Rupert (Tsax̱is), B.C. Franz Boas collaborated extensively with Fort Rupert’s Kwaguʼł community. In 1894, Boas hosted a feast for 250 residents—the culturally appropriate way to start an important relationship. Here, a chief waits for Boas’s feast to begin. He is wearing his ceremonial button blanket backwards to show the design for the photographer.
AMNH Library 335772
Memorial poles stand in front of an iron-fenced enclosure.
Fort Rupert (Tsax̱is), Vancouver Island, B.C.  In the cemetery at Fort Rupert, memorial poles mark the graves of Emma Hunt (‘Max̱wa̱la’oǥwa, marker at left) and her husband Chief Thomas Hunt (Yała̱’wa Na̱gedzi), a descendant of George Hunt.
U’mista Cultural Centre UPN-06011
Large group of adults and children, some wearing ceremonial garb, stand on the tarmac near an airplane.
Fort Rupert (Tsax̱is), Vancouver Island, B.C.  Today, there are hundreds of living descendants of George Hunt. Some remain in touch with descendants of his collaborator, Franz Boas. Here, members of the Hunt family (wearing Chilkat blankets) welcome the Boas family at the airport in Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, for a reunion in 1986.

From the Collections: Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw Dance Apron

Rectangular textile with dangling puffin beaks.
Worn by a dancer at ceremonies, this apron is distinctive in that it incorporates strips of fabric from a flour sack printed with advertisements—both an act of upcycling and artmaking. The dangling triangles are the outer beaks of puffins, which are naturally shed and were collected on rocks in breeding zones. When an apron like this is danced, the beaks rattle softly. This dance apron is from Fort Rupert (Tsax̱is) in Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw territory on Vancouver Island, Canada.
AMNH 16/2356, acquired 1897

Then and Now

Canoes and people crowd the waterside in Alert Bay. Houses and roadway lines the edge of Alert Bay.
(left) Approximately 1903: Guests gather at a potlatch on the main street of Alert Bay. High-ranking families host these ceremonial feasts to proclaim their chiefly privileges and family history. (right) 2015: Alert Bay remains a strong Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw community today with a busy commercial waterfront. Potlatches are now held in a traditional-style big house on a hill above the bay, not visible here.
 (left) © AMNH Library 104471; (right) H. Alonso/© AMNH