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- Title: palhe’ch ’utl’ ts’uyximulwut ni’ ‘utl’ s’amunu | Somenos Memorial Potlatch
- Description: Memorial at a longhouse (or Hamlock’s Barn) showing dolls under a decorated blanket and two men standing on the side.
(Photo taken 16 June 1910).
hwuhwilmuhw knowledge
- Speaker/Story Teller: Sti’tuma’t | Ruby Peter (Kwa’mutsun Elder)
- Date of recording: 10 Aug, 2011
- Listen to the recording in Hul’q’umi’num’:
palhe’ch ’utl’ Ts’uyximulwut ni’ ‘utl’ s’amunu | Somenos Memorial Potlatch
- nilh swe’ ’utl’ ts’uyximulwut palhe’ch ’i ’utl’ s’amuna’, thi palhe’ch.
This is the big potlatch at Somenoes hosted by ts’uyximulwut. - ni’ ni’ ’u kwthu ’apun ’i’ kw’ toohw ’apun sil’anum.
This is 1910. - ’i’ tle’shun thu ts’uyximulwut, ten ’utl’ qwulestun, Adam Jimmy.
And the host was Ts’uyximulwut, Qwulestun | Adam Jimmy’s mother. - nilh swe’ ’utl’ Ts’uyximulwut palhe’ch ’i ’utl’ S’amuna’, thi palhe’ch.
And this is the big potlatch at Somenoes hosted by ts’uyximulwut. - lumstunuq ’u tthu xeetth’, lhq’utsse’lu tthu xeetth’ ni’ saay’stum’.
They showed five memorial dolls that they had prepared. - ’e’ut stsutsin’stum’ ’u tthu swuqw’a’lh, ’ula’ulh ’u tthu snuhwulh, tl’eqt snuhwulh.
They were sitting in the canoe leaning against a mountain goat wool blankets. - sus ’uw’ sul’ixwstum’ ’u tthu tl’uw’ qul’et ’uy’uy’mut swuqw’a’lh.
And they covered with a beautiful goat wool blanket. - saay’stum’ tthu lhq’etssus munaya’lh, swuy’qe’ st’e ’uw’ slhunlheni’us ’i’ tthu stl’ul’iqulh, stl’ul’iqulh, yey’sul’u stl’ul’iqulh.
They prepared five dolls, a male doll and female dolls and children, two children. - swuqwa’lh tthu ni’ st’e kw’uw’ thuytum stsmunaya’lh.
The dolls were made of mountain goat wool. - qux syaays, qux swuwqw’a’lh hakwushum.
It was a lot of work using many goat wool blankets. - ’uweelh te’ulh shxatth’ustun ’u kw’un’a wulh hith.
This is before that had photographs. - ’uw’ hay ’ul’ tthu xeetth’ ni’ ha’kwushum’, they’tum’ tthu munaya’lh ’i’ nilh ni’ slumstunuq.
So they were using memorial icons, preparing dolls to memorialize. - nilh niilh yath ’uw’ ha’kwushus tthu yuw’en’ mustimuhw, ’utth’amustum ’u tthu s’itth’um ’i’ ha’ swuy’qe’ suqiws, sya’isa’qw.
The First People always dressed them in clothes—if it was a man, in pants, and they put a hat on it.
[Ruby notes: Dresses and shawls were put on the female dolls.] - ’i’ hay tthu na’nuts’a’ tl’uw’ sya’isa’qw ’u thu tam.
One doll is wearing a hat and one a tam. - qux syaays ’u kwsus thuytum tthu.. tthu munaya’lh.
It’s a lot of work making the memorial dolls. - ni’ hay ’u kwsus hay, ’i’ hay tthu snuxwulh ts’uhwle’ ’i’ ni’ yuqwtum.
When the potlatch was finished, the canoe was burner. - ’i’ ha’ ’uwu ’i’ nemustum ’u kwthu na’nuts’a’ sye’yus, nilh shnemustewut tthu snuhwulh.
Or they gave the canoe to a particular relative. - ’i’ hay tthu munaya’lh, hay ni’ ts’uhwle’ ’i’ ni’ me’shum ’i’ tl’uw’ thuytum tl’uw’ qul’et hwu swuqw’alh.
The dolls were taken apart [yuxwutum] and the pieces [sxwut] reused to make blankets. - ni’ hwi’ t’uqw’t’uqw’utum tthu swuwqw’a’lh ’i ni’ smem’t ’u tthu ’imushne’tun tun’tsakw mustimuhw.
They broke apart the blankets to gift to the visitors from far away. - quxulh hay ’ul’ qux syaays kws thuytewut tthu palhe’ch.
A lot of work was involved in preparing for a potlatch. - tl’uw’ hay ’ul’ sht’es, ts’uhwle’ ’i’ ni’ yuse’lu, lhihw skweyul tthu palhe’ch ’u kwus [sq’uq’ip].
And it was like that, sometimes two or three days - tthu niilh sii’em’ ni’ yath ’uw’ palhe’ch.
And it was the respected persons that always were potlatching. - hay ch q’a.
Thank you.
Key information
- Time period or Date: 1910
- Theme(s): Potlatch/Ceremonies, Villages, Buildings
- Location: Somenos Village
- Source info (type – name): Museum — Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives
- Photographer credit: Mark William Thompstone
- Individuals identified: Possibly Police Tone and Tom George
Learn more
About the photograph:
This photograph was taken by photographer Mark William Thompstone, during a memorial that was held on June 16, 1910. Late Elder Ruby Peter | Sti’tuma’t identified the memorial as that of Ts’uyximulwut (qwulestun | Adam Jimmy’s mother), held in the community of Somenos. The image shows two men, Indigenous Constable Tom George and an unknown man, standing next to a canoe that has been covered by a woven blanket. Sitting in the canoe and leaning against a mountain goat wool blanket are five memorial dolls (xe’tl’). The blanket that covers the canoe features a unique embroidered design of flowers and stems.
This photograph is in several museum and archive collections including the Cowichan Valley Museum and Archives, the Royal British Columbia Museum and Archives, and the City of Victoria Archives (where it is identified as a memorial potlatch on the Songhees Reserve). In the latter collection, the photograph is printed in reverse and includes more of the image. A flag can be seen next to the striped wool blanket that the dolls are leaning against.
About memorial practices
Hul’q’umi’num’ people have many protocols and rituals around grief and mourning. These practices are rooted in tradition and carried on with the help of Knowledge Keepers from within our communities. Our grief, mourning, and memorial practices connect us to our ancestors, to our community, our family, and our homelands.
Long ago, before photographs existed, Hul’q’umi’num’ memorials featured hand-made dolls like those in this photograph. The dolls were effigies representing the deceased. In her book, What was said to me: the life of Sti’tum’atul’wut, a Cowichan woman,1 late Elder Ruby Peter | Sti’tuma’t shared:
The memorial that we have, usually the person has to be deceased for about four years before they are honoured with a memorial and their pictures are shown to the people. Before they started using pictures, they used to make a little doll from the goat’s wool to represent a family member who is deceased, who has been deceased for four years and a doll would be made from goat’s wool and make it look like a little doll. The last doll that was done was by Adam Jimmy’s mother, and she had a memorial of three people who were adults. There is a picture [see above] of that memorial that was at the Provincial Archives. The dolls that were made were made to look like adults by having a hat and a doll big enough for the hat to be put on them. That was put on a canoe and the canoe was set down and blankets were put in there and then the dolls were set down into the canoe a certain way so they’ll face the people. This is brought around to the people, and they are told who this doll represents. She was the last one to have these goat’s wool dolls as a memorial. After that, they have been using pictures of people that have passed away and they use their pictures to show.2
After four years have passed since the death of a loved one, family members of the deceased hold a memorial event like that pictured in this photograph. In her book, late Elder Ruby Peter | Sti’tuma’t shared teachings from her father about grief and mourning protocols. After the fourth year, a picture of the deceased could be brought out and shown to the people. According to the teachings:
…if you cry for a person all the time, you are keeping them in this world and not letting them go to the next world, you are holding them back and not letting them rest. This is mostly the purpose of showing the picture to people and having a memorial, to release your loved one on their journey to the next world – to let them go.3
During her lifetime, late Elder Ruby Peter | Sti’tuma’t worked tirelessly to share her knowledge of the Hul’q’umi’num’ language as well as of our culture and traditions so that they would be carried on in future generations. In 2010, as part of this important work, she recorded teachings about memorial dolls “to help the children understand what the doll is about and the healing and how serious what it is we are making today.”4 Speaking about the dolls in these recordings she said, “What I’m showing you is something our ancestors really treasured. It’s called xe’tl’. It’s a doll that they used to show it to the people when one of the family member dies. They show this to the people four years after their death.”5 Although we no longer use these dolls during our memorials, using pictures of the deceased instead, we carry on the healing traditions of our ancestors and follow their teachings to make ourselves strong today.
We are grateful to Elders and Knowledge Keepers like late Elder Ruby Peter | Sti’tuma’t who generously shared their knowledge and worked to keep our important culture and traditions alive. The death and mourning protocols and rituals we observe come from our ancestors and are deeply meaningful to our people. We continue to follow these important teachings today, to heal ourselves and our communities.
Footnotes:
- Peter, R., Demers, H., & ProQuest. (2021). What was said to me : the life of Sti’tum’atul’wut, a Cowichan woman (H. Demers, Ed.). Royal BC Museum.
- Ruby Peter | Sti’tuma’t, What was said to me, p. 36. Peter identified Adam Jimmy’s Indigenous name as qwulestun. See RPStoriesLC18-Dec_21DG.docx
- Ruby Peter | Sti’tuma’t, What was said to me, p. 37.
- Ruby Peter | Sti’tuma’t, “Memorial Doll”, Memorial doll.Eng.doc
- Ruby Peter | Sti’tuma’t, “Memorial Doll”, Memorial doll.Eng.doc
Related images
Related images to come.
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