"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
"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
AMNH/Hélène Alonso
"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
"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."
"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
"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
AMNH/Hélène Alonso
“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).
Image credit: AMNH/L. Allen
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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.”
Image credit: U’mista Cultural Centre. Voices: Lorraine Hunt/Violet Bracic/Pewi Alfred
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.”
Image credit: U’mista Cultural Centre. Voices: Lorraine Hunt/Violet Bracic/Pewi Alfred
Ǥilakas'la (Welcome/thank you)
Wiksas? (How are you?)
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
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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.
Image credit: AMNH/H. Alonso
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.
Image credit: AMNH/H. Alonso
Ongoing Traditions
Sustaining the Flame
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.
Image credit: Salish Sentinel
North End
Fort 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
Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw Potlatch
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.”
Image credit: S. Holland/U'mista Cultural Centre
U’mista Cultural Centre
Alert 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
Wild One of the Woods
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.
Image credit: AMNH/H. Alonso
Big Houses
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.
Image credit: AMNH/H. Alonso
Big Houses
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.
Image credit: AMNH Library 328744
Eulachon Place
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.
Image credit: C. Cheadle
Eulachon Place
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
The Hunt Family and Franz Boas
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.
Image credit: American Philosophical Society
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.
Image credit: AMNH Library 11604
Waiting for the Feast
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.
Image credit: AMNH Library 335772
In Memory of Ancestors
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.
Image credit: U’mista Cultural Centre UPN-06011
George Hunt’s Legacy
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
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Dance apron
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
Dance apron
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
(left) About 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. Slide to reveal an image of Alert Bay today.
(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.
Image credits: (left) AMNH Library 104471; (right) AMNH/H. Alonso
