During the 18th century, Europeans arrived on the Pacific Coast and established fur-trading posts. Soon, Episcopal and Methodist
missionaries arrived to convert the Indians. Their conversion to Christianity undermined traditional Haida culture, and disease and
alcohol brought by the outsiders decimated the population. Today, small groups of Haida Indians live in the Masset and Skidgate
communities in Canada and at Hydaburg on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska.
Raven
Raven is one of the most popular characters in Haida mythology. He is said to have created the earth when he tired of flying
over a world covered with water. Landforms, tides, the habits of certain animals - all those and more are credited to Raven. In
many of the stories, such as the story of daylight, the trickster Raven changes his form.1
|
Detail of another example of Haida woodcarving
Totem Pole
Haida
After 1850
Wood, malacite, pigments
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
|
Raven Rattles
The Haida have long been gifted woodworkers. The men built great houses and the most prized maritime boats along the coast.
Haida artists carved totem poles, storage boxes utensils, and rattles in the form of ravens, among other art objects.
Raven rattles take their name from their ravenlike shape. Today, their original purpose and the exact meaning of their complex decoration
is no longer known. The first raven rattles may have been powerful instruments used by religious specialists called shamans. However,
Haida people who were alive around 1900 said that rattles were the instruments of dancing chiefs2, part of the elaborate
REGALIA
they wore for a dance to greet canoes from other villages. Raven rattles are now used only for special occasions.
|
Repeated vertical lines of Raven's beak, mouth, and his diamond-shaped eye emphasize
the proud upward thrust of his head. An
INLAID
shell forms his shiny opalescent eye.
|
In this rattle Raven's head thrusts upward and his chest puffs out, forming the body of the rattle. His wings sweep downward along his
sides. The repeated vertical lines of Raven's beak, mouth, and his diamond-shaped eye emphasize the proud upward thrust of his head.
INLAID
shell forms his shiny opalescent eye. Most known raven rattles look much like this one, but they have the additional detail of a small
box of daylight held in his beak.
Several birds are evident in this wooden rattle. On Raven's belly is the face of a rather large bird, carved in low
RELIEF.
The design, barely visible here, may depict a hawk or some other natural being. Another abstracted bird's head faces the rattle
handle.
|
Roll over the image to see the figure of a human from the Chief's Rattle |
|
Roll over the image to see the puzzle-like contour lines from the Chief's Rattle
|
A reclining man rests his head on Raven's head. His long red arms wrap around his drawn-up knees. A long-billed bird bites the man's
extended tongue. The meaning of this exchange is unknown, but may suggest the transference of power from one being to the other.
The complex linear design of this rattle is characteristic of Northwest Coast Indian art. Each form is tightly integrated into the
puzzlelike composition. Strong contour lines define many of the forms, such as the brow, eye, nostril, and beak of Raven. These
lines tie the complex imagery together, leading from one form to another to create a rhythmic composition.
The raven rattle was painted with black and bright colors that also structured the design. Over time, much of this pigment has worn
away. However, traces of red paint are still visible on the reclining man's arms and on the mouth, cheek, and forehead of the large
bird that is also Raven's chest.
1 Raven stories are told by Haida storytellers in John R. Swanton, Haida Texts and Myths, Bureau
of American Ethnology Bulletin, 29 (Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1905), pp. 110-150.
2 Bill Holm, The Box of Daylight: Northwest Coast Indian Art (Seattle: University
of Washington Press, 1983) p. 25.
|