Feasting Bear Mask
One after another the Kaw-Seth guests beached their canoes and put on ceremonial cloaks to match carefully painted faces for the celebration. All of them were men except the cousin and aunt of the suitor. Each brave wanted to make a good impression on the people and show off their wealth by wearing blue shell and claw pendants and facial markings signaling prowess in hunting, fishing, canoe racing or wrestling matches. Women sang a welcome song and drummers played as a line of visitors made their way up the hill to the chief’s house next to the wedding platform filled with dancers performing ceremonial re-enactments of an ancient story about the hunting of the supernatural elk.
When most of the guests had gathered at the house, the suitor dressed in his ermine lined tunic and owl hat and bobcat claw necklace and ear rings, walked up through the center of the crowd. He remained silent. Up until now all communication between the leaders of the two tribes and families had been carried out between the uncle of Hayoqwis named Spe-eth and the Duwam’ha step-mother Klee-wik.
Uma-Kwee herself kept away, camping near Serene Pond with her friends and most of the older children. She must be secluded until it is proper to appear in the village after the suitor and his family are gone. The bride to be was given the task of presiding as Matron over a play potlatch for the children in which the children offer treats of food, toys and dolls to each other as gifts.
Behind Hayoqwis walked his uncle and brother Tokwish both wearing owl head crests and long red capes with cormorant and moon designs. They each carried large carved boxes filled with gifts. All three were large men, taller and broader than any man in the tribe and looked all the more impressive in their ceremonial outfits. Immediately behind them the only two women of the visiting group followed, later introduced as Howlish and Gamlakyet -- the cousin and aunt of Hayoqwis. The women, wearing sea lion tooth headbands, nose rings and rose flowers in their hair, moved up the path shaking frog rattles and scallop-shell tambourines in time with the welcome song of the villagers.
The guests entered the long house lit by the home fire and torches and were served bowls of shelled steamed clams and pressed salal berries in a sauce of fine candlefish oil. When they had finished there was still food left over. This is when Spe-eth stood up for the presentation of gifts. He opened the first two boxes and handed items to the chief’s wife, tribal elders and to Uma-kwee’s mother and father, brothers and aunts and uncles.
The boxes contained many astonishing artifacts, finer than would be expected for a pre-engagement suitor testing. While the stack of finely made blankets from the first box was a traditional gift for such a ceremony, the five brightly painted eagle and bear masks and carved fishing club inlaid with disks of abalone shells in the image of an octopus were extraordinary.
Continued
When most of the guests had gathered at the house, the suitor dressed in his ermine lined tunic and owl hat and bobcat claw necklace and ear rings, walked up through the center of the crowd. He remained silent. Up until now all communication between the leaders of the two tribes and families had been carried out between the uncle of Hayoqwis named Spe-eth and the Duwam’ha step-mother Klee-wik.
Uma-Kwee herself kept away, camping near Serene Pond with her friends and most of the older children. She must be secluded until it is proper to appear in the village after the suitor and his family are gone. The bride to be was given the task of presiding as Matron over a play potlatch for the children in which the children offer treats of food, toys and dolls to each other as gifts.
Behind Hayoqwis walked his uncle and brother Tokwish both wearing owl head crests and long red capes with cormorant and moon designs. They each carried large carved boxes filled with gifts. All three were large men, taller and broader than any man in the tribe and looked all the more impressive in their ceremonial outfits. Immediately behind them the only two women of the visiting group followed, later introduced as Howlish and Gamlakyet -- the cousin and aunt of Hayoqwis. The women, wearing sea lion tooth headbands, nose rings and rose flowers in their hair, moved up the path shaking frog rattles and scallop-shell tambourines in time with the welcome song of the villagers.
The guests entered the long house lit by the home fire and torches and were served bowls of shelled steamed clams and pressed salal berries in a sauce of fine candlefish oil. When they had finished there was still food left over. This is when Spe-eth stood up for the presentation of gifts. He opened the first two boxes and handed items to the chief’s wife, tribal elders and to Uma-kwee’s mother and father, brothers and aunts and uncles.
The boxes contained many astonishing artifacts, finer than would be expected for a pre-engagement suitor testing. While the stack of finely made blankets from the first box was a traditional gift for such a ceremony, the five brightly painted eagle and bear masks and carved fishing club inlaid with disks of abalone shells in the image of an octopus were extraordinary.
Continued
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