Sisiutl
Encyclopedia
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. They are now situated within the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S...
, and figures prominently in their art, dances and songs. Sisiutl is the god of warrior invincibility, a magic war-canoe that can go underground (Winalagalis
Winalagalis
Winalagalis is a war god of the Kwakwaka'wakw native people of British Columbia. He travels the world, making war. Winalagilis comes from North to winter with the Kwakiutl...
), and guardian of the house of the sky people.
Form
Sisiutl are frequently depicted as a two headed sea serpent or snake with an anthropomorphic head (and hands) in the middle of the body. All three heads are surmounted by "horns of power" (also seen on thunderbirdThunderbird
-Creatures:* Thunderbird , a legendary creature in Native American culture* Dromornithidae, an extinct Australian family of birds* Thunderbird , a term used in cryptozoology to describe large, bird-like creatures-Computing:...
s).
The Sisiutl’s form may have biological inspiration from the local Rubber Boa
Rubber Boa
The Rubber Boa is a snake in the family Boidae that is native to the Western United States.-Taxonomy:The Rubber Boa is a snake in the family Boidae and genus Charina. The name Charina is from the Greek for graceful or delightful, and the name bottae honors Dr. Paolo E. Botta, an Italian ship's...
, which has a false head on its tail. NWC whalers told of a powerful whaling charm, a black two headed “worm.”
According to Boas the word for sisiutl in Tsimshian is "Laqaqua'sa" [literally "both sides head"] (Boas, "Vocabularies of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian" 1891). The soulcatcher
Soulcatcher
A Soulcatcher is an amulet used by the shaman of the Tsimshian, Haida, Heiltsuk, and Tlingit tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast of British Columbia and Alaska...
(Haboolm Ksinaalgat) of the northern 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...
, Tlingit, and Haida peoples exhibits the same body form, and may derive its form from the sisiutl.
Powers
The humanoid central head likely symbolizes Sisiutl’s supernatural shape-shifting powers (most commonly transforming into human form, a self-propelled canoe, or salmon). Sisiutl could also change size from a few centimeters (form of a woodworm), to a span sufficient to block off a bay. As a transformative creature of vast shamanic power, the Sisiutl could travel in and across all boundaries (worlds): land, water, & air. There is a belief among the Coast Salish that Sisiutl employ orcaOrca
The killer whale , commonly referred to as the orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas...
for transportation.
So powerful are Sisiutl, that contact, stepping on one’s slime trail, or even seeing one, was believed to cause sickness or death. According to legend, looking at the sisiutl can turn a person into stone. However, if one kills a Sisiutl, it has healing powers.
Usage
Artifacts commonly adorned with Sisiutl include masks, “flying" props, power boards (dance boards), totem poles, clubs, knives, whistles, house beams, button blanketButton Blanket
A button blanket is wool wearing blanket embellished with mother-of-pearl buttons, created by Northwest Coastal tribes.Rather than sleeping equipment, the blankets are used as capes and gifts at ceremonial dances and potlatches....
s, setee, drums, wooden belts, pectoral ornaments, headdresses, frontlets, feast bowls, and canoe decorations.
Images or sculptures of Sisiutl were employed to guard canoes and cedar plank longhouses (the Sisiutl sculpture guarding one such house was said to flick its tongues as people approached). Warriors traditionally wear the sisiutl's emblem for protection in battle.
Enemies
Thunderbirds are one of the few predators of Sisiutl. HollyHolly
Ilex) is a genus of 400 to 600 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. The species are evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers from tropics to temperate zones world wide....
, and spat blood were some of the few implements able to harm a Sisiutl.
Associations
Sisiutl are associated with the salmon (one of Sisiutl’s forms), Winalagilis (warrior spirit), the Sun (“Counselor of the World” steals the Sun’s Sisiutl mask, releasing daylight to the world in one Kwakwaka’wakw myth), the moon, Land-Otter Canoe, woodworm, house of the sky people (Sisiutl guards it). A Sisiutl also guards the house of the DzunukwaDzunukwa
Dzunukwa, also Tsonoqua, Tsonokwa, is a figure in Kwakwaka'wakw mythology . She is an ancestor of the Namgis clan through her son, Tsilwalagame...
.
Ceremony
Dancers donning the mask of Sisiutl adorn themselves with western hemlockWestern Hemlock
Tsuga heterophylla. the Western Hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma County, California.-Habitat:...
boughs, signifying wildness. Sisiutl masks were often hinged, allowing the serpent ends to simulate life-like serpentine writhing movements. Sisiutl masks were decorated with flecks of mica
Mica
The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...
, which were believed to be scales shed by Sisiutl (often found on beaches). These mica chips provided an enchanting glittery effect when danced in fire-light.
Tuxw'id (female warrior) dancers often incorporate Sisiutl in their performance, invoking Sisiutl to grant them the power of Winalagalis
Winalagalis
Winalagalis is a war god of the Kwakwaka'wakw native people of British Columbia. He travels the world, making war. Winalagilis comes from North to winter with the Kwakiutl...
(warrior spirit): invincibility and immunity from pain. They may be seemingly pulled underground by a Sisiutl, or demonstrate their power by summoning dantsikw
Dantsikw
Dantsikw are dance props of the first nations Kwakwaka'wakwa people of British Columbia, Canada. These boards were employed in during the Winter Ceremonials...
(sisiutl) power boards to rise from the earth commemorating the supernatural canoe of Winalagalis
Winalagalis
Winalagalis is a war god of the Kwakwaka'wakw native people of British Columbia. He travels the world, making war. Winalagilis comes from North to winter with the Kwakiutl...
(a copper Sisiutl canoe that can travel underground). Supernatural powers bestowed by Sisiutl might be theatrically demonstrated by 'miraculously' surviving burning alive, or being decapitated.
In the Hawinalal, to demonstrate invincibility & immunity from pain, dancers don sisiutl girdles, and are suspended from the rafters of the plank house by skewers pierced through their backs and thighs. Hawinalal dancers also cut themselves with a sisiutl knife. (Boas, "Social Organization...", p. 485).
The Ha'mshamtses ("Eaters-of-the-Ground": secret cannibal society akin to Hamatsa) employs sisiutl transformation masks.
The ME'ila dancer (commemorates a boy who brought back magical treasures from the house of the moon, then remained to live there) carries a sisiutl club.
External links
- Sisiutl Song By Mungo Martin, Track 207
- Mask Edward Curtis 1914
- Alert Bay grave totem pole
- Potlatch feast dish Edward Curtis
- House painting Edward Curtis
- Dantsikw Tuxwid dance from "Land of the Headhunters," by Edward Curtis
- Canoe decoration Edward Curtis
- Sisiutl baton Edward Curtis
- Headdress Edward Curtis
- Button blanket
- Button blanket
- Headdress painting.
- House front.
- Sisiutl board (pre 1900)
- Modern house beam
- Transformation mask.
- Wooden belt.
- Namgis welcome sign
- Alert Bay totem pole
- Documentary Shows a sisiutl mask danced in a modern potlatchPotlatchA potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...
- Article 1
- Article 2
- Article 3
