Page 90 - The Secret Museum

by the Haida, because they are the only people who use it. The 12 Haida crammed

into the tiny room I saw the rattle in, within Blythe House. Selina told me, ‘Their
reaction to the rattle was really mixed; the younger generation were quite happy to
pick it up and play with it, but the older generation wouldn’t go anywhere near it
because it has such a spiritual significance.’

I checked in with Vince Collinson, a representative of the Haida people who
visited the Wellcome archive. He explained, ‘The rattle was originally used by
sGaaga, which would explain our elders’ hesitancy and some of our young people’s
lack of hesitancy, as there are no “old style” sGaaga left today, so they can’t

understand their powers. The last person in Skidegate (a Haida community on Haida
Gwaii) who was operated on by a sGaaga passed away in 2007.’

Vince told me of another dimension to their visit to England. Some museums in
England have other artefacts belonging to the Haida, including some of their
ancestors’ bones. The Haida Repatriation Committee is working to bring home these
treasures so the souls of the ancestors can be laid to rest and the Haida nation healed.
Vince explained, ‘We have a very close attachment to the land of Haida Gwaii. The
water, animals, birds, those are our identity, our business card. We believe the souls

of the dead don’t rest in peace if their bones are not left in their homeland.’

He told me that, following the visit in which they looked at this beautiful puffin
rattle, a Haida ancestor held in the Pitt Rivers Museum for over a hundred years was
repatriated and reburied in August 2010, a process initiated over ten years earlier by
the Haida. ‘It was truly a momentous, historic day of healing for both the Haida and
the British.’ This was not the first time ancestors had been given back to their people.
Between 1992 and 2004, the remains of 460 of their ancestors were brought back to
Haida Gwaii. An ‘End of Mourning’ ceremony was held on the islands in 2006, in

which their souls were released to Gaahlandaay Tllgaay (Spirit Land). The Haida
are hopeful that many of their belongings – and not just their ancestors’ bones will be
returned to them. Nika Collinson of the Ts’aahl Eagle Clan explained how important
is it that Haida treasures are restored to them. ‘As Haida treasures return home,
elders come to see them … as [the elders] remember, they begin to talk, bringing the
history, use and stories of these treasures out of concealment and passing this

knowledge on to the next generations to learn from. Without the return of these
cultural materials, so much of this knowledge would not come to the surface and
subsequently would not be passed on.’

There were once tens of thousands of Haida people. When Europeans arrived on
the islands, this number quickly fell to fewer than 1,000, because of introduced
diseases, including measles, typhoid and smallpox. Today, there are around 5,000
Haida, around 2,000 of whom live in Haida Gwaii, with others in Prince Rupert, the
lower mainland of British Columbia, Seattle and Alaska.

The Haida are known for their tall totem poles, which they call ‘monumental
poles’ – or ‘gyaagang.Ngaay’ in Haida. They say the first pole carvers were inspired