Ginadoiks

Last updated

The Ginadoiks (sometimes called Gitnadoiks) are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams (a.k.a. Port Simpson), B.C. The name Ginadoiks means literally "people of the rapids". Their traditional territory is the watershed of the Gitnadoiks River, a tributary of the Skeena. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company fort was established there.

Tsimshian ethnic group

The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia and far southern Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, and Alaska's Annette Islands. The Tsimshian people consist of approximately 10,000 members of seven First Nations. The Tsimshian are one of the largest First Nations peoples in northwest British Columbia. Some Tsimshian migrated to Annette Island, Alaska, where their descendants in the Metlakatla Indian Community number about 1450.

British Columbia Province of Canada

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. With an estimated population of 5.016 million as of 2018, it is Canada's third-most populous province.

Skeena River river in Canada

The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada. Since ancient times, the Skeena has been an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan—whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River," respectively. The river and its basin sustain a wide variety of fish, wildlife, and vegetation; and communities native to the area depend on the health of the river. The Tsimshian migrated to the Lower Skeena River, and the Gitxsan occupy territory of the Upper Skeena.

Contents

History

The anthropologist Viola Garfield wrote in 1938 that the then-current head chief of the Ginadoiks, Cecil Ross, Niisweexs ("Grandfather of Weexs"), had come from the Tsimshian community of Kitkatla three generations earlier "when his 'brother' usurped his place and took the ... chieftainship" of the Kitkatla tribe. The leading, royal house of the Ginadoiks had become extinct, allowing the Kitkatla man to accede to the name Niisweexs. He was succeeded by a "house 'nephew'", who was in turn succeeded by his sister's son, in accordance with rules of matrilineal succession. One of these last two Niisweexses was Henry Nelson, who died in 1925 and whose mortuary rites are described in detail in Garfield's monograph.

Viola E. Garfield was an American anthropologist best known for her work on the social organization and plastic arts of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia and Alaska.

The Kitkatla or Gitxaala are one of the 14 bands of the Tsimshian nation of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and inhabit a village, also called Kitkatla, on Dolphin Island, a small island just by Porcher Island off the coast of northern B.C. Because of their location, the Kitkatla have sometimes been called Porcher Island Indians. They were also, in the early contact period, called the Sebassa tribe, for their paramount chief at the time, Ts'ibasaa. The name Kitkatla derives from the Tsimshian name Gitkxaała, from git- and kxaała, since they are the farthest from the mainland of the Tsimshian tribes. Another name for themselves is Git lax m'oon in recognition of the land they lived on: the islands and inlets of this rugged piece of coastline.

In 1935 William Beynon recorded that Ginadoiks people in Lax Kw'alaams included 2 members of the Gispwudwada (Killerwhale clan) (i.e. the House of Niisweexs), 7 members of the Ganhada (Raven) (two house-groups, including the House of Niisganaas, with only 2 members), and 18 members of the Laxgibuu (Wolf) (one house-group).

William Beynon Chief from the Tsimshian nation

William Beynon (1888–1958) was a hereditary chief of the Tsimshian nation and an oral historian; he served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists who studied his people.

The Gispwudwada or Gisbutwada is the name for the Killerwhale "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the Gisgahaast clan in British Columbia's Gitxsan nation and the Gisḵ'ahaast/Gisḵ'aast Tribe of the Nisg̱a'a. The Nisg̱a'a also call this group the Killerwhale Tribe, though the Gitxsan use the term Fireweed clan; Gisgahaast means literally "people of the fireweed."

The Ganhada is the name for the Raven "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the G̱anada (Raven/Frog) Tribe of the Nisga'a nation in British Columbia and the Frog clan among B.C.'s Gitxsan nation. The Gitxsan also sometimes use the term Laxsee'le to describe the Frog clan.

One holder of the name Niisganaas, and therefore head of the House of Niisganaas, was Lewis Gray (c. 1857–1934), was a key informant of Garfield's during her 1932 fieldwork season. He was a shaman whose fame had spread as far as the Nass River, his supernatural gifts having been evident at his birth since he had been born with a caul. Since he had no matrilineal heirs, shortly before his death he adopted his own wife into his house-group as his sister so that she could inherit the prerogatives of the House of Niisganaas.

Nass River river in Canada

The Nass River is a river in northern British Columbia, Canada. It flows 380 km (240 mi) from the Coast Mountains southwest to Nass Bay, a sidewater of Portland Inlet, which connects to the North Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance. Nass Bay joins Portland Inlet just south of Observatory Inlet.

A caul or cowl is a piece of membrane that can cover a newborn's head and face. Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in fewer than 1 in 80,000 births. The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the physician or midwife upon delivery of the child.

Houses

Houses of the Ginadoiks include:

Related Research Articles

The Laxsgiik is the name for the Eagle "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to identically named groups among the neighboring Gitksan and Nisga'a nations and also to lineages in the Haida nation.

Kitsumkalum is an original tribe/ galts'ap (community) of the Tsimshian Nation. Kitsumkalum is one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada. Kitsumkalum and is also the name of one of their Indian Reserve just west of the city of Terrace, British Columbia, where the Kitsumkalum River flows into the Skeena River. Archaeological evidence places Kitsumkalum with property holdings (laxyuup/territories) in the Kitsumkalum Valley, down the Skeena River to the coast, the Zymacord, areas around Lakelse Lake and many special sites surrounding coastal and inland areas of the North West Coast prior to 1846 and as far back as 5,000 years BP.

Kitselas, Kitsalas or Gits'ilaasü are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, in northwestern Canada. The original name Gits'ilaasü means "people of the canyon." The tribe is situated at Kitselas, British Columbia, at the upper end of Kitselas Canyon, which is on the Skeena River. It was once a great trading nexus, just outside and upriver from the city of Terrace. It is the most upriver of the 14 tribes and it borders the territory of the Gitxsan nation.

The Giluts'aaẅ are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Giluts'aaw means literally "people of the inside". Their traditional territory is the area around Lakelse Lake, near present-day Terrace, B.C., at the Skeena River.

The Ginaxangiik are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Ginaxangiik means literally "people of the hemlock." Their traditional territory includes the watershed of the Exchamsiks River, a tributary of the Skeena River. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company fort was established there.

The Gispaxlo'ots are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Gispaxlo'ots means literally "people of the place of elderberries." Their traditional territory includes an area on the Skeena River between present-day Terrace and Prince Rupert. Since 1834, when a Hudson's Bay Company trading fort was established at Lax Kw'alaams, they have been based there. Their chief Ligeex permitted the HBC to build on Gispaxlo'ots territory.

The Gitando are the youngest of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian people in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" First Nation of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia. The name Gitando means the people of weirs. Their traditional territory includes the watershed of the Exstew River, a tributary of the Skeena River. Since 1834, the Gitando have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, following establishment of a Hudson's Bay Company trading fort there. They are closely related to the Gispaxlo'ots, another of the Nine Tribes, who have an adjacent territory.

The Gitlaan are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Gitlaan means literally "people of the Stern Canoe." Their traditional territory includes the watershed of the Zimacord River, a tributary of the Skeena River. An area of the riverbank there resembled from the distance a canoe-stern, hence the name of the tribe. Since 1834, the Gitlaan have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company fort was established there.

The Gits'iis are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C.

The Gitwilgyoots are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Gitwilgyoots means literally "people of the place of kelp." Their traditional territory includes several areas around the estuary of the Skeena River. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company fort was established there.

The Gitzaxłaał are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Gitzaxłaał means literally "people of ." Their traditional territory includes the watershed of the Ecstall River, a tributary of the Skeena River, including the now abandoned town, Port Essington, B.C. They also own areas on Dundas Island. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company fort was established there.

Henry Wellington Tate was an oral historian from the Tsimshian First Nation in British Columbia, Canada, best known for his work with the anthropologist Franz Boas.

Ligeex is an hereditary name-title belonging to the Gispaxlo'ots tribe of the Tsimshian First Nation from the village of Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia, Canada. The name, and the chieftainship it represents, is passed along matrilineally within the royal house called the House of Ligeex. The House of Ligeex belongs to the Laxsgiik.

Frederick Alexcee was a Tsimshian carver and painter from the community of Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia, Canada.

Calvin Helin is a Canadian businessman and writer on aboriginal topics who is a member of the Tsimshian First Nation in northwestern British Columbia.

Kitselas Canyon

Kitselas Canyon, also Kitsalas Canyon is a stretch of the Skeena River in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, between the community of Usk and the Tsimshian community of Kitselas. It was a major obstacle to steamboat travel on the Skeena River.

References

Marius Barbeau Canadian ethnographer and folklorist

Charles Marius Barbeau,, also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology. A Rhodes Scholar, he is best known for an early championing of Québecois folk culture, and for his exhaustive cataloguing of the social organization, narrative and musical traditions, and plastic arts of the Tsimshianic-speaking peoples in British Columbia, and other Northwest Coast peoples. He developed unconventional theories about the peopling of the Americas.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.