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- Title: weens ’u tthu swuw’qa’lh ni’ ’utl’ kwa’mutsun | Kwa’mutsun Village Potlatch and Blanket Toss
- Title spoken by: Pul-hwuletse’ | Wayne Charlie
- Description: People on a raised platform throwing a blanket to the crowd below. Also shows buildings and canoes in village.
hwuhwilmuhw knowledge
- Speaker/Story Teller: —
- Date of recording:
- Listen to the recording in Hul’q’umi’num’:
Audio currently unavailable
Key information
- Time period or Date: 1900s
- Theme(s): Potlatch/Ceremonies, Buildings, Handiwork
- Location: Kwa’mutsun Village
- Source info (type – name): Museum — Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives
- Photographer credit: Unknown
- Individuals identified: N/A
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About this image
In this image, several people are on top of a platform throwing blankets to the crowd waiting below. The stl’un’uq was held at Kwa’mutsun Village in Cowichan Bay around 1900. Many cedar dugout canoes can be seen along the shoreline.
In her memoir, late Elder Ruby Peter | Sti’tum’atul’wut shared this about potlatches:
The potlatch was a do that went on for days – four days to one week. You would have people come around and stock up on food, different kinds of foods, then have a big do for four to five days, even to one week, and people would be around all that time for different things that would go on. This wasn’t in the winter time. This was in the summer time, and people used to come around from all over. Mother used to talk about, we used to hear both of them talking about, answering each other, about how they used to have potlatch and how many Longhouses there were in Quamichan, and people used come and visit in those great big canoes, q’xhuw’lh, and they would stay for days and days participating in this potlatch.1
Related pictures
This painting by Arthur David John Pitts, created in 1934, shows poles and platforms at Kw’amutsun Village used to distribute goods from during a stl’un’uq.
About stl’un’uq | potlatch
It was Syalutsa who introduced the practice of giving gifts to invited guests from atop a specially built platform to the Quw’utsun people.2
Today the practice is commonly known by outsiders as a potlatch. The Hul’q’umi’num’ word is stl’un’uq. stl’un’uq are an important part of our Coast Salish governing structure, our culture, spiritual traditions, language, and ways of being. Traditionally, stl’un’uq lasted for several days and would involve family, friends and important visitors from many other communities. Each stl’un’uq involves feasting, ceremonial dances and regalia, Hul’q’umi’num’ ceremonial speakers, gift giving, and acknowledgement of guests. stl’un’uq are held for many reasons including the giving of names and mouring the loss of a loved one.
As part of the federal government’s policy of assimilation, the stl’un’uq | potlatch was banned from 1884 until 1951. During this time our ancestors faced harrasment from Indian Agents and police officers, confiscation of regalia and other ceremonial goods, and even imprisonment for hosting or participating in a stl’un’uq. Like many Indigenous communities, Hul’q’umi’num’ people protested the ban on their ceremonies and advocated for the recognition of their right to engage in traditional cultural and ceremonial practices. They also kept the practice of stl’un’uq alive, passing on the traditions to younger generations and hosting and participating in stl’un’uq in secret, away from the watch of Indian Agents and police.
Vocabulary
- slhix [s=√lhix] leftover money or goods from potlatching; souvineer (strips of swuqw’a’lh given
- at potlatches or dances) (BC 14APR80)
- stl’un’uq [s=√tl’e=unuq] potlatch (CW AUG91)
- tl’un’uq [√tl’e=unuq] potlatch: put on a potlatch (CW JUL91)
- tl’ee’nuq [√tl’e=unuq=PROG] potlatch: putting on a potlatch (CW Band)
- tl’eshut [√tl’e=shen=t] invite him/her to a dance, potlatch (CW JUNE91
- swuqw’a’lh [s=√wuqw’=a’lh] blanket: goat’s wool blanket (CA 180675)
- swuwqw’a’lh [s=√wuqw’=a’lh=PL] blankets: goat’s wool blankets (RP,BA 10DEC75) • suw’ kwunutum tthu swuwqw’a’lh suw’ q’pa-a-atum. The blankets were taken and gathered up. (WS Eagle Story)
See also (pdf): Vocabulary for Ceremonies
Footnotes:
- Ruby Peter | Sti’tum’atul’wut, What Was Said to Me: The Life of Sti’tum’atul’wut, a Cowichan Woman, p.152
- Daniel Marshall, Those who fell from the sky: A History of the Cowichan Peoples, p.10.
Related images
Related images to come.
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