Art From The Tribe

Symbol: Bear

Traits: Strength & Learned Humility - Motherhood & Teaching

Description: Powerful and human-like, Bear is referred to as Elder Kinsman and is treated as a high-ranking guest when killed. A legend shared by many tribes tells of a chief’s daughter abducted by a bear; she subsequently married the bear and gave birth to twin cubs. This legend is often depicted in both prints and carvings.

Symbol: Bumblebee

Traits: Honesty & Pure Thinking - Willingness & Drive

Description: No description available

Symbol: Eagle

Traits: Great Strength, Leadership & Prestige

Description: Eagle is seen as a symbol of both power and prestige as well as a harbinger of peace and friendship. Eagle feathers are still considered sacred and were part of many ceremonies and rituals. Eagle is the other of the two main crests of the Haida.

Symbol: Eagle Feather

Traits: Good Luck to Both Giver & Receiver

Description: No description available

Symbol: Halibut

Traits: Life protector, Strength & Stability

Description: The Halibut is a flat fish that starts life swimming in a vertical plan and eventually turns over on its side to become a bottom feeder. The underneath eye moves to the upper side, giving the fish its unique appearance. Commonly carved in feast dishes and used for oolichan oil. The more detailed and elaborate a dish, the more highly ranked the person was who owned it.

Symbol: Heron

Traits: Patience & Graceful & Easy Going

Description: No description available

Symbol: Kingfisher

Traits: Luck Patience, Speed & Agility

Description: Some old men say the Kingfisher was meant in the beginning to be a water bird but as he had not been given either webbed feet or a good bill he could not make a living. The animals held a council over it and decided to make him a bill like a long sharp awl for a fishgig (fish spear). So they made him a fishgig and fastened it on the front of his mouth. He flew to the top of a tree, sailed out and darted down into the water, and came up with a fish on his gig. And he has been the best gigger ever since.

Symbol: Loon

Traits: Peace, Tranquility - Generous Giving Nature

Description: The melancholic-sounding bird was said to have delighted in frightening humans on shore or in canoes, as fog rolled in.

Symbol: Rabbit

Traits: Fear, Overcoming Limiting Beliefs

Description: The rabbit can be a symbol of either abundance or fear. If he freezes in fear he gets eaten! If he takes off running he multiplies. He teaches us not to let our fears paralyze us but rather to get moving and therefore to attract great abundance into our lives.

Symbol: Raven

Traits: Creation & Knowledge - Bringer of the Light

Description: Raven is known as Transformer, Trickster, Hero, Creator and is one of the two main crests of the Haida. Legends credit Raven with, among other things, releasing the Sun and Moon, bringing water and fish and, according to the Haida, discovering mankind in a clamshell.

Symbol: Salmon

Traits: Dependability & Renewal - A Provider

Description: The Pacific Northwest Coast people believed that Salmon were actually humans with eternal life how lived in a large house far under the ocean. In the Spring, they put on their Salmon disguises and offered themselves to the villagers as food. The tribes believed that when entire fish skeletons were returned to the sea, the spirits would rise again and change into Salmon people. In this way, the cycle could begin again the following year. Since the villagers feared that the Salmon people would not be treated respectfully by White people who had no knowledge of the taboos and regulations, they did not want to sell Salmon to the first White men.