Tłagakwame' or headpiece, squarish shape, complex pattern of woven red cedar
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T´łagakwame'

Headpiece

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.

Catalogue Information

Provenance

Owned by Harry Hanuse 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. In September 1993 Dan Hanuse Sr. requested that his father's pieces be transferred from Nuyumbalees to U'mista as per the wishes of the majority of Harry Hanuse's descendants.

Materials

Bark, Cedar; Fibre, Cotton

Dimensions

8.5 cm

Accession Number

94.09.009

Physical Description

Cedar bark head band with a complex design consisting of twisted cedar bark slanted in opposite diagonal lines. Red.