First Nations Of Canada - The Haida

Introduction
The Haida live in one of the great temperate old-growth rain forests of Canada. "Old growth" means that the trees are hundreds of years old and have never been cut down. Most forests in Canada are second growth, having been cut down by loggers and replanted with young trees at some point. The territory the Haida inhabit consists of over 138 islands in British Columbia and is known as the Queen Charlotte Islands. The Haida refer to their lands as Haida Gwaii, "the people's islands." In the past, the Haida inhabited areas that went all the way to Alaska. Over the years, the Haida have been involved in defending some of the most beautiful rain forests in the world from clear-cutting. Clear-cutting is when logging companies cut everything in a forest down at one time to get the trees they want to use. The area the Haida have been trying to protect is known as Gwaii Haanas, or South Moresby. The Haida are also known as great carvers. Today Haida carvers are known around the world.

History
Like many Aboriginal groups in Canada, the Haida believe there was a time when great animals and birds lived on the earth. The Haida believe that these great beings are the spirits of the smaller animals and birds that we know today. Sometimes what we think of as legends actually developed because of people passing down stories of things that happened long ago. The Haida's belief in great animals and birds may be one example of this.

Many thousands of years ago, during the last Ice Age, great creatures such as the mastodon, giant beaver and wooly mammoth roamed the earth. These animals were much larger than the animals we know today. It is possible that the Haida's beliefs come from hearing stories, through their oral traditions, about these animals.

Creation Story
One of the most famous stories that the Haida tell is the story of Raven. The story begins during a time when there was only water and the sky above. There was no earth, only a single reef that came out of the water. A reef is a chain of rocks close to the surface of the water or sticking out of it. All of the great beings lived on top of this reef. The greatest of the beings lived on highest point of the reef. Next to him were all the others stretched in a row. Finally at the end was the weakest of the great beings. The great flying being, Raven, flew above but couldn't find a place to land. He decided that he would travel to the sky country instead.

In the sky country, there was a town that was set up in five rows. In the town, the chief's daughter had a baby. During the night, Raven entered the chief's house, scooped the baby out of its skin and took its place, becoming Raven Child. Then Raven Child began to get hungry, so he took an eye from everyone in the first row of the village and ate them all. He did this for four more nights with each of the other rows in the village. A woman made of stone saw everything that was happening, and she told the sky people about it. The chief of the town called everyone together and sang a song for Raven Child. One of the people was holding Raven Child in his cradle and dropped him. He fell down though the sky and drifted on the water.

Suddenly Raven Child heard a voice say, "Your grandfather is going to let you in." He stepped out onto a two-headed totem pole made of stone and he found he could climb up and down it. He climbed down and found a house at the bottom. He entered the house and found a man that looked like a seagull. The man said to Raven Child, "Put this speckled stone in the water first and the black one next. After you do this, bite off a piece of each and spit it out. You will see them unite and become one." Raven Child did as he was told. When the two pieces came together they began to appear as trees. He put them in the water and they stretched and became the land called Haida Gwaii.

After this, Raven Child was able to make many things. When the great waters had gone down, Raven Child summoned four groups of human beings. One of the groups of human beings was the Haida.
We learn from this oral tradition that the Haida believe in a world that lives above them, an earth world in the middle, and a world below the earth. The story also tells us that the trees and land are sacred to the Haida. The Raven is also sacred. He is a trickster who is greedy and mischievous, but who also teaches humans how to live a good life. The Raven has supernatural powers and uses them to obtain important things for humans. He stole the sun, moon and stars for humans, as well as giving them fresh water, salmon and fire. When the Haida look at their country, they understand the story of Raven. His creation is all around them.

Contact with Europeans
Like other Aboriginal societies, the Haida way of life changed with the coming of Europeans in the late 1700s. Disease, especially smallpox, affected the Haida and many died. Some people estimate that as much as 95 percent of the Haida population died from disease. The worst smallpox epidemic was in 1862. A census by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1885 showed that there were only about 800 Haida left. In 1915, there were even fewer -- only 588. Now there are about 4 000.
Europeans also brought alcohol, which created even more problems. Their lives were also changed when the Canadian government stopped them from having potlatches (a great sharing of presents) and making totem poles. These two things were important for the Haida to remain a happy people. The Canadian government at that time wanted to encourage the Haida to be more like Europeans.

The Haida Today
One great threat to the Haida way of life today is the logging of the forests. Because the trees in Haida Gwaii are very old, they are very large. Logging companies want to cut down all the old growth trees. The Haida say that if this happens there won't be any plants or animals left in Haida Gwaii. The Haida way of life will be ruined.
A few years ago, around 75 Haida stopped logging trucks from taking the trees in South Moresby, on Lyell Island. They were arrested and spent time in jail. One Haida man involved in protecting Haida Gwaii is Guujaaw, a member of the Raven Clan. Thanks to him and the many Haida women involved in the protests, today the region has been turned into a protected park that is 90 kilometres long. Parks Canada and the Haida manage the park together.

Way of Life
Long ago the Haida sometimes went to war against other Native groups for revenge or to get items of wealth and, especially, slaves. The Haida's slaves were either people caught in wars or were the children of those who had been caught. The Haida were successful warriors because they had excellent seamanship skills. Haida forts were very well defended against attack. Haida also defended themselves by wearing armour, including wooden helmets and breastplates, and a war coat made from thick sea lion hides or several layers of elkskin. They used bows and arrows and spears, as well as war daggers.

Food
The Haida's main food sources were the salmon and eulachon fish. The eulachon was highly prized because, besides being good to eat, its oil could be used for lighting lamps. In order to get eulachon, the Haida had to travel to the Nass River and trade with the Nisga'a people. There were also many animals the Haida could hunt. The largest was the grizzly bear. The grizzly bear is also honoured by the Haida of Haida Gwaii.

Clothing
Before the Haida came in contact with Europeans, most Haida wore clothes made of woven red or yellow cedar bark. Women wore skirts and capes and men wore long capes. Besides these woven bark capes, the Haida also had large elkskin capes that were decorated at the sides with paint and fringes. The Haida women wove hats from split spruce roots and the men painted them with forms of animals, using mostly red and black but sometimes with small touches of green and blue.

Shelter
The Haida lived in what we call longhouses. These were very large. Houses usually belonged to a single clan family, like Raven. Each household could have as many as 30 people and was headed by a chief.

Transportation
The Haida usually travelled by sea. They used huge war canoes. Each canoe was hollowed out of a single cedar tree and could hold about 50 to 60 warriors.

Education
The Canadian government thought that Native people should live more like Europeans. They sent many Haida children away to residential schools to learn European culture. Residential schools were schools run by Christian churches, and were far away from the Haida villages. Some children never saw their families for years. Once there, the children were not allowed to speak the Haida language, and were sometimes beaten for doing so. It wasn't just Haida children that were sent away. Over the years, many other Aboriginal children from other Aboriginal societies in Canada were also sent to residential schools.
Today the government knows that it is important for children to live with their families and learn about their culture. Now Haida children go to schools in and around their communities. They are relearning their culture and language.

Language
The Haida language is spoken by the Haida of Haida Gwaii and by Haida living along the cost of Alaska. The Haida language is part of the Na-Dene family of Aboriginal languages, but is not closely related to any other language.

Religion
The Haida believed in medicine people who could gain special powers from the great supernatural beings. Supernatural beings are those that live beyond the earth world. They may have the power of the sun, the moon, or even the thunders. A Haida medicine person with powers from these beings would dress in special clothes. He usually wore a dancing blanket. When people were sick he would try and cure them. He would have an assistant to help him. The assistant would beat a drum while the medicine person used his powers to cure. The Haida believed that when people became sick, it meant they were out of balance. The drumming and singing would help bring people back into balance and they would get well.

Governance
The Haida were divided into two main clans. The clans were passed down through the mother's line, which means that a person would always belong to the clan that his or her mother came from. The two main clans were Eagle and Raven. If a Haida was a member of the Eagle Clan, he or she had to marry someone from the Raven Clan. This way people had family all over the place. There were other clans as well. Some of these came under the Raven and Eagle Clans, like smaller groups within a larger group. Within each clan, Haida families had crests, which are pictures that represent different things. The village of Skidegate in Haida Gwaii has as many as 14 different crests. Eagle Clan crests can include pictures of frogs, dance hats, copper, cormorants, beaver, dogfish and black whales. Raven Clan crests include pictures of the moon, mountain goats, orcas, grizzly bears, rainbows and sea grizzly bears.

Music, Dance and Festivals
Like other Aboriginal peoples on the Northwest Coast, the Haida practiced the potlatch. A potlatch was a great giveaway of presents. It was a form of sharing, which was an important element in Aboriginal life. In the spring, and especially the summer and fall, the Haida would collect many things that they would give away during potlatches in the winter. During a potlatch there were dances and speeches. A Haida chief would invite many guests from all over to attend. They might witness the giving of special names, the honouring of those who had died, and the giving of presents. A chief would give away everything he had collected throughout the year. These gifts would go to the chiefs of other villages and to the people. The more a chief gave away, the more he would be respected. Other chiefs would also hold potlatches. That way, during another potlatch, a chief would get some things back. This kept everyone happy. It was like being in one big family. Each chief possessed certain songs, dances and stories. These could also be given away as gifts.

Arts and Crafts
The Haida are known for their totem pole carvings. Totem poles are carved out of large cedar trees from the rain forest. The carvings are usually faces of the great beings like Raven and Eagle. Each carving tells a different story. A totem pole is the oral tradition of the Haida people put into sculpture. Totem poles usually include the crests of different Haida families. They also tell the history of the crests.
The Haida have given Canada some of its most skilled carvers. The most famous of these carvers died a few years ago. His name was Bill Reid. Bill Reid carved the totem pole that is in front of the Skidegate Band Council office. Skidegate is a Haida village. Bill Reid's most famous carving is The Spirit of Haida Gwaii and features both Raven and Eagle. It can be found in Washington D.C., in the United States, at the Canadian Embassy.