Haida Gwaii is an archipelago of islands (the Queen Charlotte Islands) off the northern coast of British Columbia near the province's border with Alaska. The southern islands are mountainous, with Moresby Island predominating. The large northern island, Graham Island, where the Haida people now live, is mountainous on its western side but to the east is flat with isolated outcrops of rock. North of Dixon Entrance are the Kaigani Haida, as the Haida in Alaska are named. Their territory encompasses the southern half of Prince of Wales Island in Alaska.

Prehistory of Haida Gwaii

During the end of the last ice age between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago, events resulted in very low water levels around Haida Gwaii. What is now Hecate Strait, the body of water that separates Haida Gwaii from the mainland, was for the most part dry land. Throughout this area of dry land, there were lakes and small rivers draining north and south to the Pacific Ocean. Soil samples from Hecate Strait indicate that many areas were habitable in the last ice age. After 10,000 years ago, the melting glaciers contributed to a rise in the sea level that resulted in a flooding of the Northwest Coast, temporarily creating beach lines high above today's high tide marks.

The memory of this drastic fluctuation of sea levels is preserved in the widespread flood myths of people along the Northwest Coast. Scores of these stories have been recorded. In 1892, James Deans, a Hudson's Bay Company trader, was told a legend that was very specific about glacial events at the Honna River on Haida Gwaii:

This is the story of the long long ago told amongst our people, the Hidery, that at Quilh-ca, about three miles west from the village of Illth-cah-geetla, or Skidegate's town, lived a boy whose name was Scannah-gan-nuncus . . . . . . One day, making a further venture than usual, he sailed up the Hunnah, a mountain stream emptying its waters into Skidegate channel, four or five miles west from the place where he lived. Tradition says that this river in those days was three times larger than it was nowadays. At present there is seldom water enough to float a canoe, unless at high water. It is also related that the waters of the sea stood higher on the land than is now the case. Of the rise of the land, evidence is everywhere to be seen; old landmarks show thirty feet. After pulling up stream, he became tired; so, in order to rest, he pulled ashore and lay down. In those days at the place where he went ashore were large boulders in the bed of the stream, while on both sides of the river were many trees. While resting by the river, he heard a dreadful noise up stream, coming towards him. Looking to see what it was, he was surprised to behold all the stones in the river coming toward him. The movement of the stones frightened him so much that he jumped to his feet and ran into the timber. Here he found he had made a mistake, because all the trees were cracking and groaning; all seemed to say to him, "Go back, go back at once to the river, and run as fast as you can." This he lost no time doing. When again at the river, led by his curiosity, he went to see what was crushing the stones and breaking the trees. On reaching them, he found that a large body of ice was coming down, pushing everything before it. Seeing this, he got into his canoe and fled toward home.

Deans speculates, with some insight, on a problem that still puzzles us today:

Who was the author of this story, or when was it adopted by the Scannahs [Killer Whale phratry], I cannot say. Doubtless a tradition of ice coming down the Hunnah was current at the time when the Scannahs chose that fish as their crest. This event must have happened very early in the settlement of these islands, for tradition says at the time only two or three families lived on the southeast side of these islands, and that, excepting our hero and his grandmother, who lived at Quilh-cah, all the others dwelt in a small village on Maud Island, a mile and a half west from the others at Quilh-cah.

According to Haida tradition, there was a remnant of an earlier population on the west coast of Haida Gwaii. Marius Barbeau of the Canadian Museum of Civilization collected a flood legend from Henry Young of Skidegate in 1947. Intensive review of the body of flood and related myths of the Haida is likely to prove that they have inhabited Haida Gwaii since the end of the last ice age and thus constitute one of the oldest traceable populations of any in the New World.

The first traces of the Haida presence consist of roughly flaked stone tools found in intertidal areas that were once dry land. From earliest times, ocean-going canoes enabled these earliest inhabitants to communicate with neighbours to the north, from whom they adopted new forms of tools such as sharp stone flakes called microblades. These were preferably made of obsidian, a volcanic glass that can be precisely fingerprinted to identify its place of origin. The presence on the islands of obsidian from mainland sources long distances away provides a clue to the maritime skills of the ancient people of Haida Gwaii. Archaeological surveys have located sites in all parts of Haida Gwaii that indicate the population was sizable by 5,000 years ago. At about that time, their economy was expanding from a primary reliance on hunting and fishing to include harvesting shellfish from the huge intertidal areas that surround many of the more protected waterways of the islands. The abundance of shellfish provided a virtually inexhaustible supply of food; it also made possible a stability of residence that allowed the establishment of more permanent villages where food, tools and other material objects could be safely stored, as well as the development of craftsmen who could devote more time to art. These changes led to the refinement of woodworking tools and skills, which, in turn, allowed for the construction of bigger and more elaborate canoes as well as larger plank houses.

Improved watercraft also meant that people were able to travel to food resources in far-flung areas and that warfare, particularly against mainland tribes, was a profitable venture. In fact, at the time of first contact with Europeans, the Haida could strike out from their island fortress and cross the treacherous waters of Hecate Strait, which they alone had mastered, with little fear of retribution from their mainland enemies.

Social Organization

The Haida were divided into two social groups, or moieties, called Raven and Eagle. The Raven moiety was subdivided into twenty-two lineages, or families, and the Eagle moiety into into twenty-three; the lineages were not grouped into clans. According to John R. Swanton, "in olden times each town was inhabited by one family only," but by historic times, all villages contained representatives of several lineages and most contained members of both moieties. Marriages had to take place between Eagles and Ravens, rather than those who belonged to the same moiety, and children became members of the same moiety as their mother.

Each lineage provided its members with entitlement to a range of economic resources such as fishing spots, hunting or collecting areas, and house sites. Other prerogatives included rights to a wealth of myths and legends, dances, songs and musical compositions. Names were a highly coveted lineage property and were bestowed to mark different stages of people's lives. Names were also given to important material belongings such as fish traps, houses, canoes, feast dishes and even feast spoons. Face painting and tattoo designs were also lineage property, as were all crests, of which Swanton lists over seventy.

Each household, whose average size was around thirty to forty people (consisting of about ten closely related nuclear families of a lineage), was headed by a chief. The houses of powerful chiefs were large and could contain up to a hundred individuals, including slaves. Each lineage also recognized the authority of a chief who could act as a war chief in times of conflict. The town chief was the head of the most wealthy or populous lineage in a village, but changed from time to time in accordance with the general fortunes of the lineage or because of the respect commanded by a certain chief. During the last century, for instance, there was intense rivalry between Chief Ninsingwas and Chief Skidegate. According to Newton H. Chittenden, a surveyor for the British Columbia provincial government, "They quarrelled bitterly over their rank for a long time, Ning-Ging-Wash, by means of his more liberal potlatches finally prevailing, but not until two of their adherents had been killed."

Chiefly rank was passed down by inheritance through the matrilineal line, usually to a chief's oldest sister's son. Inherited positions determined the order in which chiefs or people of high rank were seated at potlatches and feasts. Those who had not had potlatches given for them, or who did not own houses or major property, were considered commoners. The Haida also owned slaves, who were war captives or the children of captives, often taken from neighbouring tribes on Vancouver Island or the mainland.

The potlatch was the most important Haida ceremony and accompanied the progress of high-ranking people through the social order to mark the giving of names, marriages and deaths. Years of preparation were required to amass the food to feed invited guests and the wealth to distribute gifts to pay for the witnessing of events. The building of a house and the raising of a frontal pole usually called for the major potlatch any chief would give in his lifetime.

Mythology and Crests

The mythology of the Haida, like that of other tribes on the central and northern coast, is based on the epic cycle of stories about the Raven* and his various exploits. The Raven is truly a trickster who liberates humankind from a clamshell, then in one story sets the universe in order, only to threaten it with chaos in the next. The Raven is the most greedy, mischievous and lecherous creature imaginable, but almost without meaning to, teaches humans the arts of living a good life. Haida artist Charles Edenshaw* alone could recount several hundred different Raven stories from memory. One of the best-known of these stories tells how the Raven disguised himself in order to enter the house of the Sky Chief, from whom he stole the sun, moon and stars to give to humankind. In another popular tale, the Raven was hungry, so decided to swim underwater to eat the bait off the hooks of some halibut fishermen. However, the hook lodged solidly in his beak. The fishermen banded together to haul up what they thought was a huge halibut, but got the Raven's beak instead. Many stories describe the Raven's encounters with supernatural beings and how he acquired other useful things for humans from them, such as fresh water, salmon, the fish weir and the house -- the latter from the Beaver.

Most Haida objects are decorated with crests -- figures of animals, birds, sea creatures and mythic beings -- that immediately identify the moiety (Raven or Eagle) and often the lineage of the owner. On a more subtle level the placement of a crest figure, and especially the smaller figures attached to its ears, chest or mouth, refer to a specific myth involving that crest. An example is the Edenshaw family's frequent use of the Butterfly on the chest of the Raven, which refers to a series of myths in which the Butterfly is the Raven's travelling companion in the Masset series of stories. In the Skidegate series of myths, however, it is the Eagle who accompanies the Raven on his travels. Details such as these make it difficult to read the full range of meaning on a totem pole without a thorough knowledge of the mythology, but there is no one alive today who is familiar with the thousands of myths that have been recorded in various museum archives. Hence, the "text" that can be associated with a particular pole is similar to a Mayan text*, in that only a few glimpses are possible.

Around 1900, John R. Swanton worked out a list of crests with information from such knowledgeable Haida artists as Charles Edenshaw of Masset, John Cross and John Robson of Skidegate, and Tom Price of Ninstints. These men all had an intimate working knowledge of the mythology and how crest designs should be used on everything from tattoos to totem poles. Tattoos were put on the thighs, chest, shoulders, forearms, backs of the hands and even all of the sections of fingers.

Although the Haida have almost seventy crest figures, less than a score are in general use. A few crest figures were used by many lineages, and a larger number were exclusive to a few lineages. The Killer Whale, which is a particularly strong feature of Haida art and myth, is a popular crest. All Raven lineages use forms of the Killer Whale as a crest; one of them, the Raven-Finned Killer Whale, refers to the myth in which Raven pecked himself out of the body of a Whale through the end of its dorsal fin. Eagle lineages of Ninstints use only the Five-Finned Killer Whale, which links them to specific Killer Whale chiefs whose undersea village was near their own and with whom their mythic ancestors had a profitable experience. The tall dorsal fin of Killer Whale crests that belong to Ravens are always black, while those of Eagles have a diagonal white stripe.

All of the land mammals used as crests, except for the Beaver, belong to the Raven moiety. Some of these crests such as the Mountain Goat, the Wolf and the Grizzly are of animals that do not occur on Haida Gwaii; their use was transferred from Tsimshian chiefs on the mainland. All crests of amphibious creatures such as the Beaver and the Frog are the exclusive prerogative of the Eagle moiety and also originated with the Tsimshian. Sea mammals mostly belong to the Ravens, although many Eagle lineages use the Blackfish as a crest. Fish crests are heavily weighted in favour of the Eagle moiety, who use the Sculpin, Skate, Dogfish, Starfish and Halibut. The Ravens share with them the Dogfish and the Skate.

The Raven moiety does not use the Raven as a crest, but the Eagle moiety does use its namesake frequently, as well as many other bird crests including the Raven, Cormorant, Heron, Hawk and Hummingbird. The only bird crests the Raven moiety uses are the Flicker, Hawk and Horned Owl.

* for all these subjects you can find much more information on the Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, Canada site (see Sources)