Giant Raven Mask
Chief Katee’qwa rose his head and smiled broadly. He watched the Kaw-Seth young men climb the Duwam’ha Meeting House pole -- the tallest in the village -- to fasten lines hung with blue and white abalone shells. He was delighted to see the shells draped on the Thunderbirds wings flash in the sunlight and breeze.
When Hayoqwis, Tokwish,Kalis, Wountie and Tis'ka had finished, the Chief gathered them to stand beneath the pole, then lifted his hands to bless them in loud voice.
“May the otter-people forgive you now that you so finely decorate the totems that tell the stories of the Duwam’ha heroes. Wonderful Doer of the Heavens who holds the ocean like a man cups water for a drink has granted you success. I accept the first test as complete. But, be careful when you take the second step toward your Duwam’ha transformation and journey to hunt bear on Great Island. Beware that Otter-Chief might emerge from the depths to demand payment for the food that you took from his people. He may try to drown all of you.”
The chief also said that he worried the party would be hunting in the territory of the Flat Head Selawik people – who everyone knew were oppressed by the spirits of many powerful birds and strange beings of the sea and forests in their region. At the end of a long channel that led to the center of their island lived the elusive Masala Ghost Bears -- a race of bears with pure white fur that numbered one in ten compared to their brown cousins. The Selawik made a tea of berry seeds washed from its scat and believed that eating flesh of one of the white Bears properly killed doubled the length of a man's life.
“The Raven People, like the bird spirit himself, are tricksters – their flat heads are full of treachery. Don’t trust their word. They betray their own fathers, cheat at gambling and steal even trifles if they can,” he said.
“But, they will know where the white bears feed -- if you can get it out of them.”
Hayoqwis set out with his brother Tokwish for Great Island the next morning to begin the hunt. They took Spe-eth and his older sons Kalis, Wountie and Tis'ka in the lead canoe named Half Moon -- marked with cormorant and eagle designs and fitted with the bear crest on the prow. Paddling along the way the men sang bear hunt songs vigorously, full of excitement at the hope of bringing back the skin of a white bear as a cloak for the engagement feast. The weather was warm and the wind still and Hayoqwis could almost smell a successful hunt.
For many summers since the battle with the grizzly, he and Tokwish had hunted black bears on their own islands and they knew just how they would meet the requirements of the chief to kill the bear without spear, arrow, knife or club. Each of the braves had painted their faces for the hunt. The ceremonial markings, along with years of experience, gave them confidence that soon the suitor would pass the second test and be one step closer to winning his bride.
The braves knew that they would need to first obtain permission to hunt in the territory of the Flat Heads who dwell year round in nine strong villages on the warm south end of their Island. These people took their name from an age-old practice of their nobles who fasten planks of sacred cedar to the heads of their babies so that the children of nobles grow up with flattened foreheads. From their nose to the top of the head a straight line marked them as distinguished people. The feature was most valued among them. But, Spe-eth detested the custom, saying that it was cruel and unnatural.
In spite of the warnings of chief Katee’qwa – who had perhaps lost too many gambling games as a young man at Selawik Potlatches there – the Flat Heads were known to welcome trading visitors and gambling parties with an almost extravagant hospitality. There would be a welcome feast, gambling dances, invitations to the sweat lodge and certainly gifts for a suitor party on a quest.
Spe-eth had visited these people as a young man on his quest and had lived for a winter in the village known as Klauck that sat on a fine beach facing south, but open to the western winds of the sea. Klauck was ruled by a society of shaman who made medicine by honoring the power of giant ravens that were said to haunt the deep forests and mountains of the southern tip of the island.
Continued
When Hayoqwis, Tokwish,Kalis, Wountie and Tis'ka had finished, the Chief gathered them to stand beneath the pole, then lifted his hands to bless them in loud voice.
“May the otter-people forgive you now that you so finely decorate the totems that tell the stories of the Duwam’ha heroes. Wonderful Doer of the Heavens who holds the ocean like a man cups water for a drink has granted you success. I accept the first test as complete. But, be careful when you take the second step toward your Duwam’ha transformation and journey to hunt bear on Great Island. Beware that Otter-Chief might emerge from the depths to demand payment for the food that you took from his people. He may try to drown all of you.”
The chief also said that he worried the party would be hunting in the territory of the Flat Head Selawik people – who everyone knew were oppressed by the spirits of many powerful birds and strange beings of the sea and forests in their region. At the end of a long channel that led to the center of their island lived the elusive Masala Ghost Bears -- a race of bears with pure white fur that numbered one in ten compared to their brown cousins. The Selawik made a tea of berry seeds washed from its scat and believed that eating flesh of one of the white Bears properly killed doubled the length of a man's life.
“The Raven People, like the bird spirit himself, are tricksters – their flat heads are full of treachery. Don’t trust their word. They betray their own fathers, cheat at gambling and steal even trifles if they can,” he said.
“But, they will know where the white bears feed -- if you can get it out of them.”
Hayoqwis set out with his brother Tokwish for Great Island the next morning to begin the hunt. They took Spe-eth and his older sons Kalis, Wountie and Tis'ka in the lead canoe named Half Moon -- marked with cormorant and eagle designs and fitted with the bear crest on the prow. Paddling along the way the men sang bear hunt songs vigorously, full of excitement at the hope of bringing back the skin of a white bear as a cloak for the engagement feast. The weather was warm and the wind still and Hayoqwis could almost smell a successful hunt.
For many summers since the battle with the grizzly, he and Tokwish had hunted black bears on their own islands and they knew just how they would meet the requirements of the chief to kill the bear without spear, arrow, knife or club. Each of the braves had painted their faces for the hunt. The ceremonial markings, along with years of experience, gave them confidence that soon the suitor would pass the second test and be one step closer to winning his bride.
The braves knew that they would need to first obtain permission to hunt in the territory of the Flat Heads who dwell year round in nine strong villages on the warm south end of their Island. These people took their name from an age-old practice of their nobles who fasten planks of sacred cedar to the heads of their babies so that the children of nobles grow up with flattened foreheads. From their nose to the top of the head a straight line marked them as distinguished people. The feature was most valued among them. But, Spe-eth detested the custom, saying that it was cruel and unnatural.
In spite of the warnings of chief Katee’qwa – who had perhaps lost too many gambling games as a young man at Selawik Potlatches there – the Flat Heads were known to welcome trading visitors and gambling parties with an almost extravagant hospitality. There would be a welcome feast, gambling dances, invitations to the sweat lodge and certainly gifts for a suitor party on a quest.
Spe-eth had visited these people as a young man on his quest and had lived for a winter in the village known as Klauck that sat on a fine beach facing south, but open to the western winds of the sea. Klauck was ruled by a society of shaman who made medicine by honoring the power of giant ravens that were said to haunt the deep forests and mountains of the southern tip of the island.
Continued
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