Northwest coast Kwakiutl tribe

The Kwakiutl tribe live in the pacific north west region.

Artifacts

• Cedar totem poles; constructed from cedar trees.

• Water proof cedar bark cape ; constructed from cedar trees

• Cedar bark fish trap ; used to catch fish. Constructed from cedar trees

Clothing

• Kwakiutl clothing was made of mostly cedar bark and animal fur.

• They mainly wore hoods and capes.• The women wore aprons made of bark bound

together with goat hair.

Language• They created their own language called kwak ’wala it

had many different sounds that we don’t have in our own English language. Today Kwakiutl tribe members mostly speak English but they also speak some of there native tongue . Here is a quick word in Kwakiutl. It is gilakasla [ gee-lah–kah- slah ].

decorations

• The Kwakiutl tribe put totem poles in front of their homes.

Houses

• They lived in houses called “The Big-Houses”.• They were 20-60 feet wide and 50-150 feet

long.• They were very large homes that could fit up

to 4 families. They built the houses out of red cedar wood and wooden pegs.

Kwakiutl food

• They mostly ate fish from the rivers and the sea.

• They did not farm crops.• The women gathered shellfish, seaweed, and

berries.

Tools and weapons

• They made canoes of cedar wood which they used to relocate when animals migrate.

• Their canoes were sometimes up to 60 feet long!

• They used tools made of stone in everyday work.

customs

• There main belief was nature.• They never wasted things.• They believed that if they threw the fish

skeleton back in the water it would come back next year for them to catch.

• They carved figures in poles called totem poles that are very colorful.

Men and women roles

• The women were mostly gathers and took care of kids.

• The men were fishermen and hunters.• They both did artwork and storytelling.