Procession, songs, dancing mark return of ancestors to Haida Gwaii
First nation almost destroyed by European contact enjoys milestone on road back
        
      Glenn Bohn
      Vancouver Sun


June 22, 2005
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=10dd11a7-5118-4814-be22-e4f8a2c38517


          
            CREDIT: Mark Van Manen, Vancouver Sun
            Chief Skidegate Dempsey Collinson holds traditional food dishes to be burned as an offering to the thousands killed by smallpox.
    
SKIDEGATE -- A long day of aboriginal ceremony and ritual in this Haida community Tuesday marked the "end of mourning" for long-dead ancestors the mourners never met.

Fifteen years after the original inhabitants of the Queen Charlotte Islands began their emotionally charged campaign for the return of human bones taken away by archeologists and looters, Haida repatriation committees have retrieved and reburied all the known Haida remains that were once in exhibit halls and storage boxes in North American museums and universities.

On national Aboriginal Day in Canada, a first nation that almost became extinct after European contact enjoyed another milestone in its cultural renaissance.

The end of mourning celebration began mid-morning, near the totem poles and cedar longhouse on the long, grey beach between the sea and the village of Skidegate.

It would end about 12 hours later, after a procession to the village cemetery and an evening feast with aboriginal songs and dancing.

On the longest day of the year, hundreds of Haida and invited guests gathered around a beach fire for a ceremonial burning of natural foods that nurtured one of the great, art-rich aboriginal cultures of the Pacific Northwest.

There were 26 cedar shakes laden with food. Each shake was a plate for a mouth-watering array of nature's bounty: A crab's leg, huckleberries, smoked black cod, a butter clam, herring roe on kelp, a filet of salmon . . . .

One by one, the descendants of unpopulated villages and thriving aboriginal communities placed the offerings on the fire.

The smoke from hand-held bundles of smouldering sweet grass mixed with the smell of burning food. Four RCMP officers in formal red serge uniforms watched quietly in the background as Haida in red and black traditional dress spoke in Haida and English, one after another, during a rare sunny day on these rain-drenched, misty islands.

"Creator God, we thank you for this gathering, for all those who came out in friendship and concern, helping us to celebrate the return of the bones of our ancestors," said Johnny Williams, hereditary chief of the eagle clan in the village site of Tanu.

"Now they've been returned, so they can rest on Haida Gwaii."

During the last decade, the bones of about 450 people have been brought back to the archipelago the Haida call Haida Gwaii, or Islands of the People.

The last three ancestral remains -- two returned from the University of Oregon and one returned from a former commercial fisherman who now lives in Nanaimo -- were buried in the cemetery here June 4, in bentwood cedar boxes.

According to Haida tradition, an end of mourning celebration must be held on another date after the bones are reburied, to allow loved ones to continue their journey to the spirit land.

"Today is a great day," Haida language teacher Diane Brown declared. "We are feeding our ancestors."

Archeologists estimate at least 14,000 Haida lived on this temperate, food-rich archipelago, in more than 100 villages, before Europeans came to the islands, exposing the aboriginal population to diseases that native people had no resistance to. An epidemic of smallpox swept through indigenous communities, killing people up and down the B.C. coast.

By 1911, there were just 589 Haida still alive. The survivors went to two villages -- Skidegate and old Masset -- leaving artifacts, mortuary poles and grave sites behind.

For archeologists, the bones and artifacts left in caves, forests and islands were treasure chests to be removed, categorized and exhibited in the world's great museums.

For the Haida, it was another insult that dishonoured their ancestors.

Dempsey Collinson, 76, whose traditional title is Chief Skidegate, was one of the traditionally dressed elders in the closest circle around the food ceremony fire.

Collinson said he felt sad when he travelled with other Haida to New York City and Washington, D.C. to reclaim some of the human remains.

"Now, we have them all home," he said. "I'm happy they're all here."

The food-burning ceremony was followed by a lunch near an oceanside cedar longhouse. Later, cedar canoes landed at the beach, bringing cedar bentwood gift boxes.

In the afternoon, hundreds of people followed traditional chiefs as they walked to Skidegate cemetery. More speeches and prayers commemorated six new wooden memorial signs placed where returned Haida remains are now buried.

Each sign told a story.

"Repatriated from Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, U.S., 2003," one of the signs stated.

Underneath those words were the names of the village sites from which the bones were believed to have been taken: Skidegate, Skedans, Nan Sdins, Taanuu, Cumshewa, Kaisan, Skincuttle.

Many other aboriginal groups in B.C. have been quietly and sometimes publicly pressing their demands for ancestral remains, but no other first nation has brought back so many.

Still, the Haida repatriation movement hasn't finished its work.

Andy Wilson, one of the volunteers, said the Haida know there are Haida remains in two museums in Britain -- the Pitt Museum and the British Museum -- but haven't finished their global search.

"We haven't even looked at Europe yet," Wilson said.

gbohn@png....


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


Native News North
List info{all lists}:
http://nativenewsonline.org/natnews.htm



Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews-north/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    NatNews-north-unsubscribe@yaho...

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/