T´łagak´waxawa'yi
Neck ring
Cedar Bark regalia is sacred and used in all except one of the Kwakwaka’wakw ceremonies. Although they may appear the same, each object is unique and is only used for specific dances.
Owner
T´łakwa, Sam Scow, ’Namgis (Alert Bay)
Catalogue Information
Provenance
Owned by Sam Scow until its forced surrender to Indian Agent William Halliday on March 25, 1922. Halliday later displayed and photographed the seized pieces at the Parish Hall in Alert Bay. After doing an inventory, he crated the items in June, and at the end of September he shipped them to Edward Sapir at the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of History). They remained the property of the NMM until their repatriation by the U’mista and Nuyumbalees Cultural Societies in 1979.
Materials
Bark, Cedar; Fibre, Cotton; Fibre, Wool
Accession Number
80.01.128
Physical Description
A very thickly padded ring with an inner binding of white blanket materials and an outer binding of shredded red-dyed cedar-bark. Attached to this ring in different places are two much smaller rings, bound in alternate bands of natural coloured and red-dyed, shredded cedar bark. Tied in at these points also, are two bundles of red-dyed and natural shredded bark, which form fringes. Neither of the smaller rings form perfect circles and one of them is quite twisted.