Stories’ and Ceremonies’ Connection to the Land

“Potlatch: a strict law bids us to dance. We dance to celebrate life, to show we are grateful for all our treasures. We must dance to show our history, since our history is always passed on in songs and dances. It is very important to tell the stories in exactly the same way. We put our stories into songs and into dances so they will not change. They will be told the same way every time. We use theatre and impressive masks to tell our ancestors’ adventures so the people witnessing the dance will remember it. “The ceremony to tell our stories and to show social changes such as birth, marriage, name giving, standing up a new chief and death is called a Potlatch. In the Chinook language it means ‘to give.’ The people we invite are not only guests. They are also witnesses of our Potlatch and we give them presents for being a witness.”

This quote from the U’mista webpage signifies the importance of songs, stories, and ceremonies to the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw culture and governance system. The language in our stories and ceremonies contain teachings and protocols — and if you listen and watch carefully, through the stories and ceremonies of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw, you will understand our connection to the land. Our creation stories link us to specific places. The ’namima (clan) is regarded as the fundamental social structure of the Kwakwa̱ka’wakw. Each clan has descended from animals or supernatural beings represented by family crests. Our family crests, now expressed in regalia and button blankets, link us to our ancestors, who are worthy of respect and care. Clans feast together and have titleholders, who hold names, songs, and crests. Traditionally, clans had access to resource sites in clam beaches, herring spawning grounds, berry patches, halibut banks, clover-root fields, and rivers. During winter potlatches, dancers channel supernatural spirits and animals when they put on their masks and transform into their ancestors. To prepare for ceremony, it is important to use hemlock, Western red cedar, and medicinal plants to cleanse for this transformation. In Kwak̓wala, our ancient stories and songs describe what lands we are responsible to uphold.

Elder Chas Coon wanting Andrea to pick some blackberries for him. Photo: Andrea Lyall, 2015

Looking at words, stories, and ceremonies is a way to find a cultural fit that is missing in state-led ‘solutions’ that are failing to provide permanent social and economic benefits to Indigenous Peoples.

Andrea at G̱wayasdums. Photo: Keith Atkinson, 2016

Stories and songs also hold messages on the importance of traditional practices and foods, such as the importance of women cultivating clam gardens, shamans picking medicines, relationships with the animal kingdom, and sharing of wild salmon and seafood.

Indigenous Knowledge & Decision Making

In the last couple of decades, many biologists and conservationists have recognized that we can learn from Indigenous knowledge and practices. For instance, researchers at the Hakai Institute are celebrating that for millennia the Indigenous Peoples of present-day British Columbia lived in the forests without degrading them, but actually made them more productive by the way they used them. Indigenous management practices included developing clam gardens, creating perennial root gardens in estuaries, and using fire to enhance berry patches. The forests grew taller and faster from the nutrients in clam shells and fire. This is a positive trend suggesting that Indigenous knowledge and practices are being valued as something that can contribute to land and resource management.

Bighouse at G̱wayasdums on Gilford Island, British Columbia. Photo: Ana Paula Fernandes, 2015

As well, in present-day Canada, in particular British Columbia, Indigenous rights are becoming recognized. Indigenous Peoples are in the process of rebuilding their governance institutions. While the approach, challenges, and goals vary depending on the unique characteristics of each community, there are common themes that emerge in these conversations, including ensuring cultural continuity, assertion of greater decision-making authority over lands and resources, and increased social and economic autonomy.

G̱wayasdums on Gilford Island. Photo: Ana Paula Fernandes, 2015

A resurgence of traditional decision making is important because the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw are surrounded by forests and waters. Our language, stories, ceremonies, and practices are interwoven and dependent on one another. Each is important and speaks to what Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw are responsible to on the land and in the waters. As Kwak̓wala holds our kinship structures and history, it can describe who we are as a people like no other language can. While some of this knowledge would need to be protected, so can the teachings held within the stories and ceremonies be used to inform what needs to be protected. Looking at words, stories, and ceremonies is a way to find a cultural fit that is missing in state-led “solutions” that are failing to provide permanent social and economic benefits to Indigenous Peoples living surrounded by the forests. After some time given to rebuilding governance structures and to resurgence of cultural practices, we will be able to revitalize our words, stories, and ceremonies so that they will have a much wider applicability once again.

Visit the First Voices Kwak̓wala archive.