#haida tribe

[prairie-tales]

Haida sailor mask, c. 1850s.

Region: North-East Coast.

This Haida mask, depicting a red-haired European sailor, demonstrates a remarkable fusion of ancient Native American traditional culture with the outsiders who came to trade and settle in North America. The Haida had a rich artistic culture, and this is exquisite example of their work. Probably carved in cedar wood, the hair and beard are realistically rendered and painted, and the freckles are inlaid with glass. The maker may have heard of a story that a Native American girl once saved the life of a red-haired sailor, but the realism of this carving suggests that it was probably based on the artist’s own observation s of European sailors and traders. Unfortunately, this contact with Europeans had less benign influences: the native population was devastated by smallpox, influenza and other diseases previously unknown to them. After 1774, when they experienced the first contact with Europeans, 95% of the Haida population was wiped out by epidemics, and by 1915 the population comprised just 558 individuals.

Source: ‘Folk Art’, Susann Linn-Williams, pp. 204-5.

[prairie-tales]

Haida feast dish, c. late 1700s.

Region: British Columbia.

This ceremonial feast dish, carved in the shape of a dog, would have been used at the great Potlach ceremonies of the Haida. Potlach means ‘to give’, and these ceremonies involved the giving of gifts during feasting that was traditionally based on seal meat and salmon. These feasts served to establish and reinforce the relationships between tribal groups. The hosts would bestow gifts of value to demonstrate their status and guests would reciprocate. This gift-giving became highly competitive, as the different groups vied with each other with increasingly lavish items. These included food, blankets, masks, furs, wampum, etc., and would sometimes end with highly valuable goods being burned in a display of extravagance that was supposed to demonstrate hierarchical superiority. There are apocryphal stories of tons of whale oil and mounds of furs and blankets going up in smoke and in the nineteenth century Potlaches were banned because of the perceived wastefulness. The feasts were made legal again later in the century, when their purpose of reinforcing relationships between trial groups was more fully understood.

Source: ‘Folk Art’, Susann Linn-Williams, pp. 180-81.

[prairie-tales]

Haida eagle clan totem pole.

Region: British Columbia.

Totem poles have become inextricably linked to our perception of the Native American peoples. They are an important part of tribal life, serving to remind the people of their history and playing a central role in the great Potlach ceremonies. The carving on these poles are representations of mythic beings, usually animals, that had helped the tribe and given them power. They were also erected as memorials and mortuaries for the dead.

The Haida eagle clan are traditionally believed to have made the first of these symbolic pieces. There are various stories about the origins of the totem pole, and according to one legend, the outsider husband of a Haida woman saw from his canoe a vision of their village with many intriguing poles beneath the water. Later, with the help of his wife’s family, the man raised his first totem pole, made from a cedar log.

This example of a Haida totem pole is surmounted by an eagle, which is the tribal crest and represents thunder, lightning and rain. Other animals are intricately carved in brightly coloured sections, but the rear side of the totem pole always remains blank.

Source: ‘Folk Art’, Susann Linn-Williams, pp. 166-67.