Laxsgiik
Encyclopedia
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.
The name Laxsgiik derives from xsgiik, the word for eagle in the Tsimshian, Gitksan, and Nisga'a languages.
The chief crest of the Laxsgiik is the Eagle. Beaver and Halibut are also common Laxsgiik crests.
Tsimshian, Gitksan, and Nisga'a matrilineal houses belonging to the Laxsgiik tend to belong to one of two groups, the Gwinhuut and the Gitxon.
Gwinhuut houses include:
, homeland of the Haida nation. Gitxon is popularly etymologized as git (people of) + x (to eat) + hoon (salmon), yielding the meaning "salmon eaters." The anthropologist Marius Barbeau
, whose writings are the best introduction to Laxsgiik histories, calls this group's ancestral histories "the Salmon-Eater tradition." Members of the Gitxon group can be found among the Nisga'a
, among the Tsimshian tribes of Kitselas
and Gitga'ata
, among the Haisla
nation at Kitamaat, and at Skidegate
on the Queen Charlottes. Gitxon houses frequently are headed by chiefs named Gitxon. At Hartley Bay, where the Gitga'ata
live, the group is known as the House of Sinaxeet.
Barbeau's now discredited theories about the peopling of the Americas—he claimed a far more recent Siberian ancestry for the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshianic-speakers (Tsimshian, Gitksan, and Nisga'a) than is now known to be possible for any Amerindian group—included an assertion that the Gitxon people migrated from Siberia
, via the Aleutian Islands and Kodiak Island
in Alaska, "only a few centuries ago" (as he phrased it in the Preface to his Totem Poles). (Barbeau also, controversially and by today's standards erroneously, attributed their adoption of the Eagle crest to the influence of Russian traders' heraldic emblems during the fur trade.)
In 1927 in Kincolith, B.C., Barbeau recorded from the Nisga'a "Chief Mountain" (Sga'niism Sim'oogit, a.k.a. Saga'wan), a story (adaawak in Nisga'a) of the origin of the Gitxon people which records their arrival on the Queen Charlotte Islands
, homeland of the Haida, where the Gitxon Eagles came to form one moiety of a village while the people of Qoona formed another. This story tells of Gitxon's niece Dzilakons (variously spelled) and her engagement with a prince of the opposite moiety which led to a war between the two sides, spurring the Gitxon people's migration to the Nisga'a homeland on the Nass River
, to the Tsimshian villages of Kitkatla
and Kitsumkalum
, and to the Cape Fox (in Nisga'a Laxsee'le) tribe of Tlingits in what is now Alaska.
Other versions of Gitxon migrations tell of movements from the Charlottes to the Nass, from the Nass to the Charlottes and back again, from Kitsumkalum to the Charlottes and back again, or from Kitselas to Kitamaat to the Charlottes and back again. The Charlottes and Alaska both arise as possible originary points for this group.
In 1947, Edmund Patalas ("belonging to the Kitamat tribe at Hartley Bay") described to the Tsimshian ethnologist William Beynon
the origins of the people of the "Gitxon" group who migrated from the land of the Queen Charlottes first to Kitamaat and then to the Gitga'ata people, where a branch of this group, the House of Sinaxeet, is now considered "the royal Eagle house of Kitkata." In 1952, Barbeau recorded a Nass elder's statement that the Gitxons at the Tsimshian village of Hartley Bay were the most numerous, while the Gitxon populations at the Tsimshian villages of Kitsumkalum and Lax Kw'alaams
were nearly extinct.
The Gitxon people at Kitsumkalum, who are referred to in stories, were not part of the Kitsumkalum tribe by the time Barbeau interviewed Kitsumkalum elders on the subject in the 1920s. The anthropologist James McDonald speculates that the Kitsumkalum Gitxons may have become extinct during the fur trade and that the Kitselas Gitxons borrowed members from the Gispaxlo'ots
Laxsgiik to perpetuate their lineage during the 20th century. The Kitselas House of Gitxon and Niisgitloop today is a Kitselas house closely associated with the Kitsumkalum community.
In 1924, the Gitxon of the Kitselas tribe was Samuel Wise. Barbeau interviewed him at Port Essington, B.C.
, in 1924. His version of the migration tells of a journey of Gitxon people from the Charlottes, to Kitamaat, and then up to Kitselas.
House Groups Among the Laxsgiik Tribe include:
Coast Tsimshian
Coast Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'algyax, is a Tsimshianic language spoken by the Tsimshian nation in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska...
of the Tsimshian
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...
nation of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada, and southeast Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. It is considered analogous or identical to identically named groups among the neighboring Gitksan and Nisga'a
Nisga'a
The Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga’a language as Nisga’a, are an Indigenous nation or First Nation in Canada. They live in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. Their name comes from a combination of two Nisga’a words: Nisk’-"top lip" and...
nations and also to lineages in the Haida nation.
The name Laxsgiik derives from xsgiik, the word for eagle in the Tsimshian, Gitksan, and Nisga'a languages.
The chief crest of the Laxsgiik is the Eagle. Beaver and Halibut are also common Laxsgiik crests.
Tsimshian, Gitksan, and Nisga'a matrilineal houses belonging to the Laxsgiik tend to belong to one of two groups, the Gwinhuut and the Gitxon.
Gwinhuut
The Gwinhuut (meaning literally "refugees") are according to tradition descended from migrations from the Eagle-clan peoples of the Tlingit nation in what is now Alaska. Gwinhuut houses are more numerous than Gitxon ones, and they are related to various Tlingit Eagle groups. All Gitksan Laxsgiik are Gwinhuut, as are most Tsimshian and Nisga'a Laxsgiik houses.Gwinhuut houses include:
- House of LigeexLigeexLigeex 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...
, Gispaxlo'otsGispaxlo'otsThe 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...
tribe, Lax Kw'alaamsLax Kw'alaamsLax-Kw'alaams , usually called Port Simpson, is an Indigenous village community in British Columbia, Canada, not far from the city of Prince Rupert. It is the home of the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River, which are nine of the fourteen tribes of the Tsimshian nation...
(Port Simpson)
- House of Lutguts'amti, GitkxaałaKitkatlaThe Kitkatla 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 this they have sometimes been called Porcher...
tribe, KitkatlaKitkatla, British ColumbiaKitkatla is a small Tsimshian village situated approximately 45 km S.W. of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, on the north side of Dolphin Island. The village is accessible via Prince Rupert by regular float plane flights or by boat. It is home to the Kitkatla tribe of Tsimshians....
Gitxon
The Gitxon (also spelled Gitxhoon) group mostly claim descent from ancient migrations from the Queen Charlotte IslandsQueen Charlotte Islands
Haida Gwaii , formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of...
, homeland of the Haida nation. Gitxon is popularly etymologized as git (people of) + x (to eat) + hoon (salmon), yielding the meaning "salmon eaters." The anthropologist Marius Barbeau
Marius Barbeau
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...
, whose writings are the best introduction to Laxsgiik histories, calls this group's ancestral histories "the Salmon-Eater tradition." Members of the Gitxon group can be found among the Nisga'a
Nisga'a
The Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga’a language as Nisga’a, are an Indigenous nation or First Nation in Canada. They live in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. Their name comes from a combination of two Nisga’a words: Nisk’-"top lip" and...
, among the Tsimshian tribes of Kitselas
Kitselas
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...
and Gitga'ata
Gitga'ata
The Gitga'ata are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and inhabit the village of Hartley Bay, British Columbia, the name of which in the Tsimshian language is Txałgiu. The name Gitga'ata in the Tsimshian language means "people of the cane"...
, among the Haisla
Haisla
The Haisla are an indigenous people living at Kitamaat in the North Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Their indigenous Haisla language is named after them...
nation at Kitamaat, and at Skidegate
Skidegate
Skidegate is a Haida community in Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southeast coast of Graham Island, the largest island in the archipelago, and is approximately west of mainland British Columbia across Hecate Strait...
on the Queen Charlottes. Gitxon houses frequently are headed by chiefs named Gitxon. At Hartley Bay, where the Gitga'ata
Gitga'ata
The Gitga'ata are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and inhabit the village of Hartley Bay, British Columbia, the name of which in the Tsimshian language is Txałgiu. The name Gitga'ata in the Tsimshian language means "people of the cane"...
live, the group is known as the House of Sinaxeet.
Barbeau's now discredited theories about the peopling of the Americas—he claimed a far more recent Siberian ancestry for the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshianic-speakers (Tsimshian, Gitksan, and Nisga'a) than is now known to be possible for any Amerindian group—included an assertion that the Gitxon people migrated from Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, via the Aleutian Islands and Kodiak Island
Kodiak Island
Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States and the 80th largest island in the world, with an...
in Alaska, "only a few centuries ago" (as he phrased it in the Preface to his Totem Poles). (Barbeau also, controversially and by today's standards erroneously, attributed their adoption of the Eagle crest to the influence of Russian traders' heraldic emblems during the fur trade.)
In 1927 in Kincolith, B.C., Barbeau recorded from the Nisga'a "Chief Mountain" (Sga'niism Sim'oogit, a.k.a. Saga'wan), a story (adaawak in Nisga'a) of the origin of the Gitxon people which records their arrival on the Queen Charlotte Islands
Queen Charlotte Islands
Haida Gwaii , formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of...
, homeland of the Haida, where the Gitxon Eagles came to form one moiety of a village while the people of Qoona formed another. This story tells of Gitxon's niece Dzilakons (variously spelled) and her engagement with a prince of the opposite moiety which led to a war between the two sides, spurring the Gitxon people's migration to the Nisga'a homeland on the Nass River
Nass River
The Nass River is a river in northern British Columbia, Canada. It flows from the Coast Mountains southwest to Nass Bay, a sidewater of Portland Inlet, which connects to the North Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance...
, to the Tsimshian villages of Kitkatla
Kitkatla
The Kitkatla 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 this they have sometimes been called Porcher...
and Kitsumkalum
Kitsumkalum
Kitsumkalum is one of the 14 bands of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and is also the name of their Indian Reserve just west of the city of Terrace, British Columbia, where the Kitsumkalum River flows into the Skeena River...
, and to the Cape Fox (in Nisga'a Laxsee'le) tribe of Tlingits in what is now Alaska.
Other versions of Gitxon migrations tell of movements from the Charlottes to the Nass, from the Nass to the Charlottes and back again, from Kitsumkalum to the Charlottes and back again, or from Kitselas to Kitamaat to the Charlottes and back again. The Charlottes and Alaska both arise as possible originary points for this group.
In 1947, Edmund Patalas ("belonging to the Kitamat tribe at Hartley Bay") described to the Tsimshian ethnologist William Beynon
William Beynon
William Beynon was a hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation and an oral historian who served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists....
the origins of the people of the "Gitxon" group who migrated from the land of the Queen Charlottes first to Kitamaat and then to the Gitga'ata people, where a branch of this group, the House of Sinaxeet, is now considered "the royal Eagle house of Kitkata." In 1952, Barbeau recorded a Nass elder's statement that the Gitxons at the Tsimshian village of Hartley Bay were the most numerous, while the Gitxon populations at the Tsimshian villages of Kitsumkalum and Lax Kw'alaams
Lax Kw'alaams
Lax-Kw'alaams , usually called Port Simpson, is an Indigenous village community in British Columbia, Canada, not far from the city of Prince Rupert. It is the home of the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River, which are nine of the fourteen tribes of the Tsimshian nation...
were nearly extinct.
The Gitxon people at Kitsumkalum, who are referred to in stories, were not part of the Kitsumkalum tribe by the time Barbeau interviewed Kitsumkalum elders on the subject in the 1920s. The anthropologist James McDonald speculates that the Kitsumkalum Gitxons may have become extinct during the fur trade and that the Kitselas Gitxons borrowed members from the Gispaxlo'ots
Gispaxlo'ots
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...
Laxsgiik to perpetuate their lineage during the 20th century. The Kitselas House of Gitxon and Niisgitloop today is a Kitselas house closely associated with the Kitsumkalum community.
In 1924, the Gitxon of the Kitselas tribe was Samuel Wise. Barbeau interviewed him at Port Essington, B.C.
Port Essington, British Columbia
Port Essington was a cannery town on the south bank of the Skeena River estuary in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, between Prince Rupert and Terrace, and at the confluence of the Skeena and Ecstall Rivers. It was founded in 1871 by Robert Cunningham and Thomas Hankin and was for a time...
, in 1924. His version of the migration tells of a journey of Gitxon people from the Charlottes, to Kitamaat, and then up to Kitselas.
Nisga'a - Laxsgiik
Some Nisga'aNisga'a
The Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga’a language as Nisga’a, are an Indigenous nation or First Nation in Canada. They live in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. Their name comes from a combination of two Nisga’a words: Nisk’-"top lip" and...
House Groups Among the Laxsgiik Tribe include:
-
- House of Minee'eskw - Melvin Robinson
- House of Hleek - Joseph Gosnell Sr.
- House of Bayt 'Neekhl - Moses McKay
- House of Gwiix Maa'w - John Robinson
- House of Laa'y - Hubert Haldane
- House of Luuya'as - (previously Jacob Rush)
- House of Gitxhoon - Ernie Morven
- House of Txaalaxhatkw - Charles Stewart
- House of Gwakaans - (previously Williams Angus)
- House of Sga'nisim Sim'oogit - James Robinson