Haidas

The word Haida is a derivative from the words Ou Haadas, meaning “inlet people,” the name replied when asked by the first Europeans what tribe or people they were. Their homeland is called Haida Gwaii and is situated along the archipelagos of the Queen Charlotte Islands of Canada and the southern extremities of Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. There are two main moieties (two equal subdivisions of the tribe) within the Haida people: Raven and Eagle. Under these are various sub-clans (e.g.,Sculpin, Frog, and Double-Finned Killer Whale). The two moieties make up the political group within their society. One of the important rules in Haida antiquity was that people could not marry within their own clan; even if they came from another village, they were considered family, and so Raven clan members could marry only Eagle clan members and vice versa. Through the life of the Haida, the opposite clan plays an important role, especially through the potlatch, and at the death of a family member. It is at the potlatch that the opposite clan will witness the important events in the Haida life. It is the opposite clan that will attend to the funeral details during the time of grief. Whatever competitive potlatch may be happening, or feuds, there was always the knowledge of the interdependence upon the opposite clan.

The Haida were fierce warriors, feared by the surrounding tribes as well as those to the north and south. Accounts of their conquests were noted in the address of Dkhw'Duw'Absh Chief Seattle (Si'ahl), where he mentioned that of the few benefits he could find of the takeover of his homeland by Euro-Americans was that their presence and military would protect them from invasions of the Haidas and Tsimshians. In the Haida society, however, it is not the conquests that make one great, as it is with the European cultures, but rather the person's ability to hold a potlatch. These ceremonial parties took place in the later part of the fall and winter months and required the host to be proficient in amassing and distributing wealth and property, which was proclaimed within their oratory tradition at these festive occasions. The wars were acts to procure the slaves and wealth of other tribes, which, in turn, were utilized in the potlatch preparation (for example, commissioning carvings and trading) and carrying out of the rituals within the potlatch.

The following factors led to the decline of the strength of the Haida people: the advent of European colonization of Canada and Alaska, which brought devastating diseases that spread and nearly decimated the Haida People, causing their forced relocation to the two main villages of Masset and Skidegate to escape the diseases; the ban of the potlatch in1885, which lasted over 60 years; and the exodus to the new cities for work, which brought about the demise of the potlatching economy of the Haida people and their indigenous neighbors, making it difficult for them to live in the manner of their ancestors, and making way for the mercantilism of the industrial economy upon Haida Gwaii land.

...