Photo Gallery

An Ozette longhouse has been reconstructed inside of the Makah Cultural and Research Center. The wall and ceiling planks were movable and could be shifted to suit the weather conditions. Fish were hung from the ceiling rafters for drying or smoking. Living areas and fire pits were separated from each other so that several families could occupy the same house.

In the 1930s, the Stikine Tlingit moved to Wrangell, where they built a ceremonial house on the small island in the harbor. The house was ceremoniously opened in 1940. The painting on the front indicates it is a bear clan house.

The back wall inside the house is painted in a design based on a Chilkat blanket. The two house posts carved with killer whales and, on the right, with cuttlefish, are copies of old, decayed posts. They were added in 1985 and dedicated by means of a potlatch

Similar to other Northwest Coast villages, the new community centers are being modeled on traditional building styles. This is the longhouse of New Aiyansh, on which a thunderbird and several killer whales have been painted.

The new ceremonial house in Kitwancool and the mythical Will-a-daugh with her wood worm child on a replica of an old totem pole symbolize the Indian tradition.

Of the four supporting posts of the ceremonial house in Alert Bay, the two posts in back are identically carved with the figure of the forest giantess Tsonoquoa with a thunderbird. The cross beam represents the two-headed sea monster Sisiutl. The carving was done by a local artist, Henry Speck. The board wall, which shields the sacred part of the ceremonial house, depicts a thunderbird and a killer whale.

During the renaissance of traditional Kwakiutl culture, a large ceremonial house was built in Alert Bay at the initiative of the former chief, James Sewid. It is 15 meters (49 feet) wide, 21 meters (69 feet) long and 5.1 meters (17 feet) high. The center's opening on June 18, 1966, was planned to coincide with the Centennial of the Province of British Columbia. The front is decorated with an enormous killer whale, the door is protected by the figure of a guardian.

In 1980 the Nimkish Kwakiutl in Alert Bay opened the new Umista Cultural Centre. Its front, decorated with a thunderbird and killer whale, is patterned after an old chiefs house.

The traditional and the contemporaneous: Are the totem pole and the television antennae the symbols of modern life for Indian people? The answer is probably "yes," reflecting the ambiguous attitude of the residents of this house toward their native culture. Many native people find it difficult to be proud of their history and tradition. For 100 years they have been told that their traditional way of life is uncivilized and to distance themselves from it as fast and as completely as possible. It is not easy to reconcile today's white world with the valuable cultural elements of the past.

The fishing harbor of Port Albion on Ucluelet Inland, where the Ucluelet Nootka have a small reservation. Originally they also lived on Long Beach, which is now a part of Pacific Rim National Park.

Friendly Cove on Nootka Sound where James Cook once ancKored and where the Swiss-English documentary artist, John Webber, captured the first images that the Europeans received of the Nootka. The Mowachaht Confederation made an annual migration to the Sound for a communal whale hunt. One of their communities was located at this site, which they called Yuquot, "where the four winds blow." Today Friendly Cove (the Yuquot Reserve) is inhabited by only a half-dozen people.