N a t i o n a l Museum of Man Nat i o n a l Museums of Canada

Musée n a t i o n a l de l'Homme Musées nationaux du Canada

Board of Trustees Conseil d'Administration

L'honorable Gérard P e l l e t i e r M. Léo A. Dorais Mr. Richard M.H. Alway Mrs. Geraldine Joan Goldfarb M. Roger B. Hamel Mrs. Rosa Lesueur T o v e l l M. Rodrigue Tremblay Dr. L a r k i n Kerwin Mr. T. Porteous

Président Vice-président Member Member Membre Member Membre Member (Ex o f f i c i o ) Member (Ex o f f i c i o )

M. Léo A. Dorais Secretary General Secrétaire général

Dr. George F. MacDonald D i r e c t o r N a t i o n a l Museum of Man

Dire c t e u r Musée n a t i o n a l de l'Homme

A. McFadyen Clark Chief Canadian Ethnology Service

Chef Service canadien d'Ethnologie

Crown Copyright Reserved © D r o i t s réservés au nom de l a Couronne

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MAN MERCURY SERIES

MUSÉE NATIONAL DE L'HOMME COLLECTION MERCURE

ISSN 0 3 1 6 - 1 8 5 4

CANADIAN ETHNOLOGY SERVICE

PAPER No. 98

LE SERVICE CANADIEN D'ETHNOLOGIE

DOSSIER No 98

ISSN 0 3 1 6 - 1862

INTERPRETIVE CONTEXTS FOR TRADITIONAL AND

CURRENT COAST TSIMSHIAN FEASTS

Margaret Seguin

National Museumsof Canada

Musées nationaux du Canada 1985 Canada

OBJECT OF THE MERCURY SERIES

The Mercury Series is a publication of the National Museum of Man, N a t i o n a l Museums of C a n a d a , des igned t o p e r m i t t h e rapid dissemination of information pertaining to those disciplines for which the National Museum of Man is responsible.

In t h e i n t e r e s t s of making i n f o r m a t i o n a v a i l a b l e quickly, normal production procedures have been abbreviated. As a result , editorial errors may occur. Should t h a t be t h e c a s e , your indulgence is requested, bearing in mind the object of the Series. The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily r e f l e c t t h o s e of the National Museum of Man or the Federal Government of Canada.

BUT DE LA COLLECTION MERCURE

La c o l l e c t i o n M e r c u r e , publiée par le Musée n a t i o n a l de l 'Homme, Musées nationaux du Canada, a pour but de diffuser rapidement le résultat de travaux qui ont r a p p o r t aux d i s c ip l i ne s pour l e s q u e l l e s le Musée n a t i o n a l de l 'Homme est responsable.

Pour assurer la prompte distribution des exemplaires imprimés, on a abrégé les étapes de l'édition. En conséquence, c e r t a i n e s e r r e u r s de rédaction p e u v e n t s u b s i s t e r dans les exemplaires imprimés. Si cela se présentait dans les pages qui suivent, les éditeurs réclament votre indu lgence étant donné les o b j e c t i f s de la collection. Les opinions exprimées par les auteurs ne r e f l è t e n t pas nécessairement celles du Musée national de l 'Homme ou du gouvernement fédéral du Canada.

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ABSTRACT

Interpret ive C o n t e x t s for Tradit ional and Modern Coas t Tsimshian F e a s t s is a d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e f e a s t t r a d i t i o n of t h e Coast Tsimshian people based on fieldwork in Hart ley Bay, British Columbia and on mater ia l from a r c h i v a l s o u r c e s and previously published accounts . The volume includes a discussion of the cultural meanings of the traditional feast complex, a brief summary of feasting pa t te rns at Hartley Bay over the last fifty years from information from current t ex ts , archives and community elders, and a description of current feasts . Both the tradit ional and mode rn f e a s t s a r e v iewed p r i m a r i l y as fo rms of d i s c o u r s e , shaped by textual conventions tha t are specifically Tsimshian.

RESUME

Un c o n t e x t e interprétatif d e s f ê t e s t r a d i t i o n e l l e s e t m o d e r n e s d e s Tsimshian de la Côte est une description de la tradi t ion concernant les fê tes du peuple Tsimshian de la Côte. Elle est basée sur des r eche rches sur le t e r r a i n à Hartley Bay en Colombie Britannique, sur des sources archívales et sur des ar t ic les publiés antérieurement. Le vo lume c o m p o r t e un e x a m e n de la s i g n i f i c a t i o n culturelle du complexe de fê tes t radi t ionel , un bref résumé de l'organisation de ces f ê t e s à H a r t l e y Bay au c o u r s des c i n q u a n t e d e r n i è r e s années, d ' a p r è s l e s r e n s e i g n e m e n t s fourn i s par l e s a n c i e n s de la communauté a c t u e l l e , avec une description des fêtes contemporaines. Les f ê t e s t r a d i t i o n e l l e s c o m m e les f ê t e s m o d e r n e s sont considérées s u r t o u t c o m m e une forme de discours obéissant aux conventions textuel les propres aux Tsimshian.

Les personnes désireuses de recevoir en français de plus amples renseignements sur c e t t e publication sont priées d'adresser leurs demandes à:

Service canadien d'ethnologie Musée national de l 'Homme Musées nationaux du Canada Ot tawa, Ontario K1A 0M8

COVER: A map showing t h e l o c a t i o n of a n u m b e r of Ts imsh ian commun i t i e s (including Nishga and Gitksan villages), based on data from Duff ' s Indian History of British Columbia, vol. 1., the coming of the White Man. Map drawn by the Cartographic Section, Depar tment of Geography, U n i v e r s i t y of Western Ontar io.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract iii.Contents iv.Illustrations v.Preface vi.

INTERPRETIVE CONTEXTS F O R TRADITIONAL AND MODERN COAST TSIMSHIAN FEASTS

I. THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY AND THE STUDY OF CONTEXTS 1 .

II. LEST THERE BE NO SALMON: AN INTERPRETATION OF TRADITIONAL FEASTS 24 .

III. TWO CENTURIES OF FEAST HISTORY

MATERIAL ON FEASTS FROM ARCHIVES, TEXTS AND MEMORIES 6 2 .

IV. FEASTS AND SPEECHES IN HARTLEY BAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA 7 6 .

V. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 9 5 .

Endnotes 9 9 .

References Cited 102.

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Maps

MAP 1: TSIMSHIAN COMMUNITIES Cover

MAP 2: THE TERRITORIES OF THE GIT'GA'ATA 12

TABLE PHRATIES OF THE TSIMSHIAN DIVISIONS WITH HAIDA AND TLINGIT CORRESPONDENCES 5

Figures

FIGURE 1: VILLAGE STRUCTURE AND POLITICAL RELATIONS 8

FIGURE 2: STRUCTURES OF STORY-COMPLETION RESPONSES 22

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PREFACE

The feasts of the Tsimshian impressed early observers, and have been discussed in numerous published works. However few of the existing accounts focus on the Tsimshian feasts per se. Many are concerned with general discussions of Tsimshian soc ia l o r g a n i z a t i o n , or with feasts throughout the Northwest Coast . This volume places the Tsimshian feasts into the cent re of the field, and outlines their context in Tsimshian discourse premises, history and symbolic categor ies around tha t cen t re . Such a first circle of exegesis is necessarily incomplete; it is my hope t h a t t h i s work will soon be re-contextual ized by other discussions.

Fieldwork for th is s tudy was s u p p o r t e d by t h e N a t i o n a l M u s e u m of Man, Ottawa, and by the Leave Fellowship Programme, Soc ia l S c i e n c e s and Humani t i e s R e s e a r c h C o u n c i l of C a n a d a , and by a sma l l g r a n t from t h e Dean of t h e F a c u l t y of Soc ia l S c i e n c e s , Univers i ty of Western Ontar io .

I am in debt to the Band C o u n c i l and t h e m e m b e r s of t h e c o m m u n i t y of H a r t l e y B a y , British Columbia, who allowed me to live in the community and to a t tend and study feasts . I have e s p e c i a l l y a p p r e c i a t e d d i scuss ions wi th Al f red Anderson, Clarence Anderson, Louisa Anderson, Helen Clifton, John Clifton, William Cl i f ton , F l o r a E a t o n , E rn i e Hi l l , Sr . , E rn i e Hi l l , J r . , Lynn Hi l l , Mar j ie Hi l l , M a r g a r e t R e e c e , Simon Reece , Arthur Robinson, Colleen Robinson, Cora Robinson, Gideon Robinson, Lucy Robinson, Violet Robinson, Dick Wilson, and Mildred Wilson. E l i z a b e t h Dundas he lped me in learning to wri te and analyze Sm'algyax. I have also benefi t ted from discussions of ideas with Carole Farber , Lee Guemple, Marjorie Ha lp in , A n d r e a Laforet , John Dunn, John Cove, Ken Campbell , Jim McDonald and George MacDonald, among many other good colleagues and friends.

Finally, the grea tes t debt is to my two sons, Rip and Michel, who have shown grea ter pat ience and understanding than I ought to have asked.

London, Ontario m.s.6 June, 1983

vi

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I. THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY AND THE STUDY OF CONTEXTS

INTRODUCTION

Traditional Tsimshian Chiefs conducted themselves with the formality and concern for protocol now associated with international diplomacy, and that analogy is highly a p t . Each t e r r i t o r y was held to be a world apar t , distinct in history, custom and law; to enter t h e t e r r i t o r y of a n o t h e r v i l l age (or even of a n o t h e r l i neage s egmen t ) was to enter a foreign land, whether a nearby one which shared the same language or a more distant Haida or Tlingit one. The inhabitants of each domain figured as reciprocal symbolic 'others ' , providing an important component of a view of the universe as a place of many worlds, and bounding e a c h world wi th c o n t r a s t i n g o n e s . The peop le of e a c h v i l l age e m p h a s i z e d t h e fo re ignness of outsiders by epi thets (both polite and pejorative), and by descriptions of the exotic p r a c t i c e s of e a c h . A c t u a l and classificatory kinship relationships penetra ted the insularity of each village. Knowledge of o t h e r g roups was o f t en i n t i m a t e and detai led. Ideas, customs and objects moved easily between groups, but adoption of foreign customs was framed by the premise tha t , once adopted, the customs were no longer fo re ign ; they w e r e p l a c e d wi th in t h e mean ing s y s t e m . If a Chief received a privilege such as a dance from a neighboring chief, the privilege and the s to ry of i t s a c q u i s i t i o n b e c a m e a p a r t of t h e in terpret ive context for his own g r o u p . If t h e o t h e r g roup u n d e r s t o o d it d i f f e r e n t l y , t h a t w a s t h e n a t u r a l consequence of their foreignness. As long as each Chief had a legi t imate claim to the use of the privilege their i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s w e r e c o r r e c t for t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e wor lds , and th i s would be a f f i r m e d a t p e r f o r m a n c e s . The external form was shared, as was the understanding tha t a l lowed t h e loca l i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s to bo th exist . Foreigners were seen as capricious, and potentially dangerous, but never as wrong in being foreign.

G e n e r a l i z a t i o n s b e c a m e more broad as distances increased, so tha t the Southern Tsimshian focussed on the distinctions among themselves and those among Coast Tsimshian, but were less concerned with the part iculars that were important in distinguishing one Gitksan or Nishga group from a n o t h e r ; t h e non -Ts imsh i an speak ing groups such as the Haida and Tlingit were character ized equally broadly, and all t h e g roups beyond t h e N o r t h e r n K w a k i u t l w e r e m e r g e d as d i d o o ( S o u t h e r n e r s ) . 1 D e t a i l s of shared kinship and history were known, but had to be constantly revitalized in order to continue to hold force in structuring interact ions.

People who seemed to live in ships ra ther than houses became known as ' ams iwah , which has been t ranslated as driftwood people; their peculiari t ies became known far and wide , mos t no tab ly the absence of women among them. To the 'amsiwah the Tsimshian were Indians, and their many villages seemed to be similar, though some were l a r g e r and r i c h e r t h a n others . The Tsimshian have come to know a great deal about the 'amsiwah of course, but only o c c a s i o n a l l y have we 'amsiwah understood the Tsimshian in the context of the local meaning systems in which they traditionally lived.

There have been many changes in Tsimshian life in the last two hundred years , and many of the differences between villages have been lost as each village has b o r r o w e d s i m i l a r useful i deas from t h e ' a m s i w a h , or been c o m p e l l e d to conform to less welcome pa t te rns . Some of the tradit ions of each village continue to shape a c t i v i t i e s and u n d e r s t a n d i n g s to t h e p r e s e n t day . Some a d d i t i o n a l fragments of earlier contexts have been recorded in t h e t e x t s r e c o r d e d by e a r l y

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e thnographers . This book will begin to c rea te an interpreta t ion of the context of one S o u t h e r n T s i m s h i a n g r o u p , G i t c j a ' a t a , t h e people of which now live in the village of Hart ley Bay. It will focus on the feast system tha t was the cornerstone of t radi t ional Tsimshian social organization, and tha t continues in its modern form to present a unique vision of the world.

The r e s e a r c h for t h i s work has inc luded 24 m o n t h s of fieldwork in H a r t l e y Bay ove r a five yea r p e r i o d . Dur ing t h a t t i m e I h a v e s o u g h t an understanding of the nature of current feasts in tha t community and have discussed oral t radit ions with many of the elders. I have also a s s e m b l e d r e c o l l e c t i o n s of act ivi t ies in the community over the past sixty years . Text mater ia l col lected in Hart ley Bay by William Beynon has provided some independent documentat ion from t h e 1940 's and 1950 ' s . T e x t s and descr ip t ions of feasting tradi t ions from other areas have been consulted, and discussed with community members , but most of the m a t e r i a l s t h a t o r i g i n a t e d in other locales are considered foreign; similari t ies are seen as interest ing, but local knowledge is the only source that compels integrat ion, and even there variation is accepted .

T h e p r o d u c t of t h e f o c u s s e d l o c a l r e s e a r c h is an e x e g e s i s , or contextual izat ion. Each fragment of information provides par t of the in terpre ta t ion for t h e o t h e r s . P a r a d o x i c a l l y , much of the locally derived in terpre ta t ion should prove to hold in its general contours for o ther Ts imsh ian g r o u p s . The m a t e r i a l r e v e a l s p a t t e r n s r e l a t e d to conventions of discourse and linguistic s t ruc ture tha t were shared by all speakers of the Tsimshian languages. These pa t te rns comprised t h e p r o c e s s by which Ts imsh ian def ined ' o t h e r n e s s ' and ' u s - n e s s ' . They were productive of unique local p r a c t i c e s and h i s t o r i e s as t h e y i n t e r a c t e d wi th t h e e x i s t i n g c o n t e x t in e a c h l o c a l e , but I hope tha t the pa t te rns themselves express some of the shared understandings tha t const i tu te the unique gen ius of T s i m s h i a n c u l t u r e and will u l t i m a t e l y contr ibute to an interpret ive context for a r t e fac t s of tha t culture for which local exegesis is no longer available.

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Map 1

T s i m s h i a n T e r r i t o r i e s and V i l l a g e s

Kispíox <

Kisgegas

Kuldo.

Kitwancool*

Kitwanga, Kitsegukla;

Hazelton

Canyon City

Aiyanshi

Greenville

KincolHh

' Pon Simpson Kitsumkalum, Kitselas

Kitkatla

pin N

ISLAND BANKS

lb

Hartley

sBav

PRINCESS ROYAL ISLAND

Metlakatla

jKftasooi

fSWINDtfl

TSIMSHIAN COMUNITIES-DATA FROMDUFF 1965

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THE TSIMSHIAN GROUPS

The Ts imsh ian peop le occup i ed t e r r i t o r i e s along the Nass and Skeena Rivers and their t r ibutar ies and estuar ies , extending to the islands and coast to the s o u t h . T h e r e w e r e four major linguistic divisions: the Nishga on the Nass; The Gitksan on the upper Skeena, above the canyon at Kitselas; the Coas t Tsimshian on t h e lower r e a c h e s of the Sk ee n a and t h e adjacent coast; and the Southern Tsimshian who extended Tsimshian culture as far sou th as m o d e r n - d a y K l e m t u . The T s i m s h i a n speak ing g roups w e r e bounded on t h e north by the Tl ingi t and Interior Athapaskan groups, on the east by the Carrier Athapaskan, on the south by the speakers of Northern Kwakiutl languages, and to the west by the Haida of the Queen Char lo t te Islands. The Tsimshian, Tlingit and Haida comprise t h e c o r e of t h e N o r t h e r n P r o v i n c e ( D r u c k e r : 1 9 6 5 ) of the Northwest Coast , sharing many a s p e c t s of c u l t u r a l p r a c t i c e and soc ia l o r g a n i z a t i o n , no t ab ly t h e m a t r i l i n e a l reckoning of descent and exogamous marriage groups which shared to temic c res t s .

The four Tsimshian divisions were united by c lose ly r e l a t e d l a n g u a g e s ; boundaries between the divisions were marked by the linguistic pa t te rns themselves , by dist inctive ecological contexts in each division's ter r i tor ies and the annual cycles a t t u n e d to t h o s e c o n t e x t s , by different emphases in ri tual act ivi t ies , and by the polit ical context and re l a t ionsh ips to fo re ign g roups m a i n t a i n e d by e a c h . The boundaries were bridged by long-established t rade relat ions, in ter -marr iage , feasting exchanges between some chiefs, and occasional conflict . Tsimshian groups adjacent to such fo re ign g roups as t h e Haida and Tlingit had some of the same sorts of relationships with t h e i r fo re ign and Ts imsh ian n e i g h b o r s . The four T s i m s h i a n languages were independent speech communit ies, with separa te s tandards, but were sufficiently similar in grammat ica l s t ruc ture and vocabulary t h a t b i l i ngua l i sm was r e l a t i v e l y c o m m o n . Bi l ingua l i sm in t h e c o m p l e t e l y u n r e l a t e d l a n g u a g e s of neighboring groups such as the Haida and Tlingit was a lso fa i r ly w i d e s p r e a d ; t h e b i l i ngua l s inc luded spouses in i n t e r - e t h n i c m a r r i a g e s , slaves captured from the foreign groups and t h e group of highly r a n k e d C h i e f s ' t r a n s l a t o r s who had an important role in diplomatic relat ions.

The major d iv is ions of t h e T s i m s h i a n did not function as political or economic units, though there were some long-term pa t te rns of i n t e r - m a r r i a g e and alliance linking individual villages. The local village was generally an independent te r r i tor ia l , economic and political unit . The te r r i tor ies controlled by e a c h v i l l age w e r e t h e p r o p e r t y of t h e l oca l s e g m e n t s of each matri l ineal phratry or clan -exogamous, matri l ineal crest group; the village was the unit of defense , t h e l oca l clan the unit of political interact ion, and the house was the ordinary production and consumption group.

T h e r e w e r e up to four exogamous clans in each village, designated by the principal c res ts of each. The Coast Tsimshian te rms for the four groups are : G i s p u d w a d a ( t he t e r m is not fully analyzeable, but the principal cres ts are the blackfish and grizzly bear); Ganhada (also unanalyzeable, principal cres ts raven and f rog) ; L a x s g i i k ('on t h e eagle ' , principal cres ts eagle and beaver); and Laxgibuu ('on the wolf, principal cres ts wolf and bear) . Marr iage was a lways o u t s i d e t h e c r e s t g roup i n h e r i t e d from the mother within the divisions of the Tsimshian, and o u t s i d e t h e ' f r i end ' c r e s t g roup wi th t h e o t h e r t r i b e s . T a b l e 1 s h o w s t h e correspondences; the columns show parallel groups, which shared exogamy and were t rea ted as "sisters and brothers".

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Table 1

Coast Tsimshian Southern Tsimshian

Blackfish Blackfish

Wolf Wolf

Eagle Eagle

Raven Raven

Gitksan Fireweed Wolf Eagle Frog/Raven Nisga Blackfish Wolf Eagle Raven Haida Tlingit

Raven Wolf

Raven Wolf

Eagle Raven

Eagle Raven

Phratr ies of the Tsimshian Div is ions with Haida and Tl ingit Correspondences

D r u c k e r (1965:122-123) s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e Eag l e g roups among bo th Gitksan and Nishga were each limited to a single clan-local group descended from a group of Tlingit origin. The emphasis on sub-clans was not i d e n t i c a l among t h e divisions, but the differences are outside the scope of this summary.

A c lan migh t i nc lude s e v e r a l d i s t i n c t l ines which t r a c e d or igin t o s e p a r a t e a n c e s t o r s ; t h e s e l ines maintained mutual exogamy, but did not consider themselves directly re la ted. In some cases there were lineages from two lines of a clan within a single village. The local segments of these lineages were the groups which held ter r i tor ies and feasted as units. Depending on t h e s i ze of t h e loca l segment there might be one or more houses, which were headed by chiefs who had inherited names carrying economic and r i tual privileges. The chiefs had established relat ive ranks, which determined their rights to precedence in political interact ions. The rank relationships were most clearly defined for c h i e f s who p a r t i c i p a t e d as guests at the same feasts , tha t is for all the chiefs of all the local lineages within a village, and for the chiefs who feasted reciprocally in nearby villages.

The te r r i tor ies belonging to a local segment of a clan were administered by the chiefs, each of whom inherited control over a spec i f i c t e r r i t o r y wi th t h e chief-name. There was a limited set of names and associated te r r i tor ies . Women also held names of high rank, inherited from their own mothers , but it was unusual for a woman to hold a t e r r i t o r y - c o n t r o l l i n g n a m e , though she might hold the privilege of managing cer ta in resources such as berry-picking grounds. A chief had t h e r igh t to p e r m i t a c c e s s t o his t e r r i t o r y , and to manage the resources taken there . Generally each clan represented in a village had control over sites for each of the types of available resources in an area, but one local lineage segment often held the highest ranked names and controlled the bulk of the ter r i tory .

L a r g e red c e d a r p lank dwe l l ings housed e a c h of t h e loca l l ineage-segments; if the group were large and several chiefs were of high rank there might be s e v e r a l such houses for t h e s e g m e n t . The house as a group of people was generally called by the name of the chief, but the s t ruc ture itself might also bear a name, the use of which was an inherited privilege. The residents of each house were usually a group of men c lose ly r e l a t e d t h rough t h e i r m o t h e r s , wi th t h e i r wives, children, dependents and slaves. This was the usual unit of production and consumption. The man bearing the highest r a n k e d n a m e was d e e m e d to be t h e owner of t h e house , bu t he took counse l wi th the holders of the other ranked names in his house in making decisions about resource u se , s u c c e s s i o n , a l l i a n c e s , defense, marr iages, and all other ma t t e r s tha t bore implications for the power and prestige of the house. Mat ters of mutual in teres t , such as defense, were discussed wi th t h e ch i e f s of the o t h e r houses in t h e v i l l age as well. Succession to the highest ranked names was a m a t t e r of concern to chiefs in other villages, and was