Kwakiutl
The Kwakiutl, or Kwakwaka'wakw, are Indigenous people native to the northwestern coast of British Columbia, primarily occupying areas on Vancouver Island and the mainland. They are part of a larger cultural group that includes various bands, traditionally organized around family units known as numaym. A significant aspect of Kwakiutl culture is their spiritual connection to guardian spirits and the elaborate potlatch ceremonies, which revolve around gift-giving and celebrate major life events.
Historically, the Kwakiutl were skilled artisans, known for their intricate totem poles, ceremonial masks, and sophisticated canoes, all crafted from local resources like red cedar. Their economy heavily relied on fishing, particularly salmon, along with hunting and gathering practices. Despite facing challenges such as European colonization and governmental attempts to suppress their cultural practices, including a ban on potlatches in the late 19th century, the Kwakiutl have maintained their cultural identity.
Today, the Kwakiutl continue to reside on First Nations reserves in British Columbia, engaging in efforts to reclaim their heritage and secure self-governance. They strive to preserve their language and customs, with potlatches remaining a vital part of their contemporary cultural expression.
Kwakiutl
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Northwest Coast
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Wakashan
- PRIMARY LOCATION: British Columbia
- POPULATION SIZE: 3,670 with Kwakiutl ancestry (2023, The Canadian Encyclopedia)
The Kwakiutl Indigenous people inhabited much of the northwestern coast of British Columbia. They were divided into three groups geographically and had a religion centered on guardian spirits. They were famous for potlatch festivals, in which status was obtained through extravagant gift giving. Kwakiutl villages were composed of wooden multifamily dwellings, and the main occupation of their inhabitants was fishing. Contemporary Kwakiutl are found on various First Nations reserves (reservations) throughout British Columbia.
History
The Kwakiutl Indigenous people, whose name means “beach on the other side of the river,” occupied part of Vancouver Island and the British Columbia coast between Bute Inlet and Douglas Channel. Originally part of twenty-eight communities collectively called Kwakwaka'wakw, eighteenth-century Europeans called all members the Kwakiutl. They formed three groups called the Haisla, the Heiltsuk, and the Kwakiutl proper (Southern Kwakiutl), and they spoke variants of the Wakashan language family. Their known history has large gaps; however, it is well known that their primary occupation was fishing and that they depended upon the sea for most needs. Like the other Indigenous peoples of the region, the Kwakiutl were excellent craftsmen with wood, making beautiful totem poles, elaborate ceremonial masks, and highly sophisticated canoes. After 1780, the year of the first visits by British and American traders, the Kwakiutl obtained steel tools and became even more adept artisans.
Traditional Life
The Kwakiutl were organized into a number of autonomous bands whose social organization included chiefs, nobles, commoners, and enslaved peoples, interrelated by complex rules. The minimal social unit in a band was an extended family, or numaym, wherein descent was patrilineal; the matrilineal Haisla were the exception. Haisla matrilineal descent was patterned after that of the neighboring Tsimshian, who influenced them greatly. Rights, property, dances, and religious positions were parceled out to Kwakiutl according to their lines of descent.
The Kwakiutl religion was based on guardian spirits whose aid could be obtained by appropriate prayer and fasting by either men or women. The different guardian spirits divided numaym members into secret societies (such as Cannibals, Warriors, and Grizzlies), each of which had special dances and ceremonies. The most famous of the Kwakiutl ceremonies was the potlatch. These ceremonies of gift-giving were common to many Indigenous nations of the Northwest Coast region. The Kwakiutl were noted for the elaborate nature of their potlatches, in which the giver might practically beggar himself through the bestowing of gifts. The potlatches were celebrated to commemorate marriages, important births and deaths, the naming of heirs, and the initiation of members into secret societies. At death, Kwakiutl were either cremated or buried. Burial was in caves, trees, or (in the case of the very rich) canoes.
Kwakiutl villages were orderly collections of plank houses made from the red cedar tree, whose wood is straight and easy to work with simple tools. The highly decorated Kwakiutl houses looked and were shaped somewhat like barns. Most houses in a village were each occupied by all the members of a given numaym; however, some village houses were used only for religious ceremonies. The Kwakiutl, who were great anglers, fished and traveled in large, well-designed dugout sailing canoes, also made from red cedar logs. They also used the canoes in warfare with various neighboring Indigenous peoples.
The Kwakiutl economy was based mostly on fishing for salmon and, to a lesser extent, cod, halibut, herring, and hunting seals. Fishing was carried out with harpoons, nets, weirs, and many other kinds of sophisticated equipment. The Kwakiutl also hunted some deer and moose with bows and arrows. The vegetable foods of the Kwakiutl included seaweed, roots, and berries gathered by the Kwakiutl women. The Kwakiutl made fine clothing from bark, animal skins, wool, and dog hair.
An 1885 federal law prohibiting the potlatch threatened the entire Kwakiutl culture. A raid in 1921 of a potlatch on Village Island in British Columbia resulted in forty-five arrests, with twenty-two being imprisoned. All ceremonial objects were confiscated. In 1967, the Kwakiutl began efforts to have the items returned. The National Museums of Canada agreed to return part of the collection on the condition that two museums be built to house current and any newly discovered artifacts.
Contemporary Life
Nineteenth-century Christian missionaries attempted to convert the Kwakiutl, who held onto their beliefs strongly. To speed Kwakiutl absorption into mainstream Canadian life, the government outlawed potlatches in the late nineteenth century, reinstating them in the mid-twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, the Kwakiutl, more commonly known as the Kwakwaka'wakw in contemporary times, live on their ancestral lands on northern Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia. Most of the original villages were abandoned after inhabitants moved to other communities closer to hospitals and schools. The Kwakiutl are organized into thirteen bands and are working with the government of British Columbia to obtain self-government. Many Kwakiutl members have retained their traditional language and customs, especially demonstrsated in their funeral potlatches.
Bibliography
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Curtis, Edward S., et al. The Northern American Indian: Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska. Indigenous Peoples Media LLC, 2015.
"Kwakiutl." Canadahistory.com, www.canadahistory.com/sections/periods/early/pre-history/Kwakiutl.html. Accessed 6 Nov. 2024.
"Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw." American Museum of Natural History, www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/northwest-coast/kwakwakawakw. Accessed 6 Nov. 2024.
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Rohner, Ronald Preston, and Evelyn C. Bettauer. The Kwakiutl: Indians of British Columbia. Waveland, 1986.
Webster, Gloria Cranmer, et al. "Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 8 June 2023, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/kwakiutl. Accessed 6 Nov. 2024.