Alert Bay, cruising Johnstone Strait
Under the rising sun the Sea Lion pulled into the Government dock in the community of Alert Bay. Our morning would be spent visiting the U’mista Cultural Center, museum, and this First Nation community’s Big House. After breakfast, we gathered on the bridge deck to choose between walking through town to the U’mista museum or riding by van the short one mile to our destination.
We were awestruck entering U’mista, or as the native elders of the community refer to this building – a “box of treasures.” The wall opposite the entry was covered with newly carved masks, wall hangings, prints and paddles; all using formline design to tell a story associated with the piece that had been created. After a little time in the gift shop exploring Northwest coast art, books and clothing, we were invited to the lower area of the museum for an interpreted walk through one of the finest collections of elaborately carved masks, coppers, rattles, and whistles depicting the Potlatch Ceremony of the Kwakwaka’wakw. The Potlatch is the very foundation for a system of laws by which Northwest Coast Native communities have lived from time immemorial. Some aspects of the Potlatch have changed over the years, but the purpose for holding one are often the same today as they were in the past – naming of children, memorializing the dead, transferring rights and privileges, marriages, the raising of totem poles or the opening of Big Houses. The Potlatch is a gathering of people that serves to validate these events before witnesses by the giving of gifts or property. The witnesses are gifted and feasted to say “Thank you” for bearing witness to a specific event or occasion.
“When one’s heart is glad, he gives away gifts. It was given to us by our Creator, to be our way of doing things, to be our way of rejoicing, we who are Indian. The Potlatch was given to us to be our way of expressing joy.”
–Agnes Alfred, Alert Bay, 1980
But, there had been a period of time when these highly valued pieces had not been at home in Alert Bay. Confiscated by the Canadian government in 1921, they had remained in storage for many years until the First Nations people of Alert Bay decided to petition the government for the return of some of their most prized possessions. In order to have their regalia returned, the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations had to provide a museum to house their treasures. “In earlier days payment of ransom or by a retaliatory raid, they were said to have U’mista.” The building of this museum before the return of the regalia was considered a form of U’mista.
Our group was divided in half and taken into the lower or west end of the museum, where the returned Potlatch pieces are housed. They are arranged in the same order they would be presented during a Potlatch. Lillian Hunt, a long time resident of Alert Bay, was our guide, telling the stories that each piece of regalia evokes… Our imaginations took us into the drama and theatre that a Potlatch in a Big House would create! As if reading our thoughts, our next stop was the Big House of Alert Bay. It was a special day in the Big House. The night before had been one of the biggest Potlatchs held in Alert Bay in many years. The oldest member of the community, Auntie Ethel, and her entire family had gathered to give a Potlatch, inviting community members and family from all over Canada. The celebrations had finished early this morning, allowing our group to make the same entrance into the Big House under an arbor of Hemlock bows. The central fire was lit and the floor was littered with tiny eagle feathers and eagle downe, laid down to bring peace to the celebration. For the next hour two elders Auntie Ethel, and Auntie Ema, their daughters, granddaughters and great-grandchildren all told us the stories of their families through dance and song, wearing regalia that has been passed down for generations. At the end of this exhibition our response was a standing ovation; the Chief’s recognition of this was to bless us all. The magic of the night before was still in the Big House; only hours before our arrival there had been hundreds of people dancing around the fire, just as we had – reminding us all of the resiliency of human spirit and the joy of diversity.
Under the rising sun the Sea Lion pulled into the Government dock in the community of Alert Bay. Our morning would be spent visiting the U’mista Cultural Center, museum, and this First Nation community’s Big House. After breakfast, we gathered on the bridge deck to choose between walking through town to the U’mista museum or riding by van the short one mile to our destination.
We were awestruck entering U’mista, or as the native elders of the community refer to this building – a “box of treasures.” The wall opposite the entry was covered with newly carved masks, wall hangings, prints and paddles; all using formline design to tell a story associated with the piece that had been created. After a little time in the gift shop exploring Northwest coast art, books and clothing, we were invited to the lower area of the museum for an interpreted walk through one of the finest collections of elaborately carved masks, coppers, rattles, and whistles depicting the Potlatch Ceremony of the Kwakwaka’wakw. The Potlatch is the very foundation for a system of laws by which Northwest Coast Native communities have lived from time immemorial. Some aspects of the Potlatch have changed over the years, but the purpose for holding one are often the same today as they were in the past – naming of children, memorializing the dead, transferring rights and privileges, marriages, the raising of totem poles or the opening of Big Houses. The Potlatch is a gathering of people that serves to validate these events before witnesses by the giving of gifts or property. The witnesses are gifted and feasted to say “Thank you” for bearing witness to a specific event or occasion.
–Agnes Alfred, Alert Bay, 1980
But, there had been a period of time when these highly valued pieces had not been at home in Alert Bay. Confiscated by the Canadian government in 1921, they had remained in storage for many years until the First Nations people of Alert Bay decided to petition the government for the return of some of their most prized possessions. In order to have their regalia returned, the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations had to provide a museum to house their treasures. “In earlier days payment of ransom or by a retaliatory raid, they were said to have U’mista.” The building of this museum before the return of the regalia was considered a form of U’mista.
Our group was divided in half and taken into the lower or west end of the museum, where the returned Potlatch pieces are housed. They are arranged in the same order they would be presented during a Potlatch. Lillian Hunt, a long time resident of Alert Bay, was our guide, telling the stories that each piece of regalia evokes… Our imaginations took us into the drama and theatre that a Potlatch in a Big House would create! As if reading our thoughts, our next stop was the Big House of Alert Bay. It was a special day in the Big House. The night before had been one of the biggest Potlatchs held in Alert Bay in many years. The oldest member of the community, Auntie Ethel, and her entire family had gathered to give a Potlatch, inviting community members and family from all over Canada. The celebrations had finished early this morning, allowing our group to make the same entrance into the Big House under an arbor of Hemlock bows. The central fire was lit and the floor was littered with tiny eagle feathers and eagle downe, laid down to bring peace to the celebration. For the next hour two elders Auntie Ethel, and Auntie Ema, their daughters, granddaughters and great-grandchildren all told us the stories of their families through dance and song, wearing regalia that has been passed down for generations. At the end of this exhibition our response was a standing ovation; the Chief’s recognition of this was to bless us all. The magic of the night before was still in the Big House; only hours before our arrival there had been hundreds of people dancing around the fire, just as we had – reminding us all of the resiliency of human spirit and the joy of diversity.
