Erstellt am: 22. 2. 2014 - 09:34 Uhr
The Spirits of Haida Gwaii
FM4 Reality Check: My chat with Haida storyteller Kung Jaadee will become available as a podcast and a "Saturday Special" on today´s Reality Check.
Also, special thanks go to Eric Kalnins and the other lovely people at BC Ferries without whose assistance this feature would not exist.
Johnny Bliss, 2013
* - Inside Passage
and then,
* - Hecate Strait
The journey that took me to the Canadian northwestern island archipelago of Haida Gwaii last year, was a very long one. Although I've begun to document this trip in my previous two stories*, I feel I should first note that there are a great many more chapters to this story, that will (for now) remain untold, as I skip ahead to my meeting with the Haida storyteller Kung Jaadee, in the northern community of Old Masset.
Haida Gwaii... How I will remember this scenic and unearthly place is in the beauty and wildness of its landscapes and forests, and the unabashed presence everywhere of animals such as bears, eagles, and ravens, who do not hide from the people living there, but live in a kind of harmony.
The place pulsates with life; the entire forest is alive.
If you've never heard of Haida Gwaii, perhaps you've heard of the Queen Charlotte Islands? They were given that name by some random European colonialists who were passing by in the late 1700s, and patronizingly decided to name the archipelago after one of their ships.
(1) - Or, if you're old school, you might even call them Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai, meaning 'Islands at the Boundary of the World'
The local indigenous population - the Haida people - and most other settlers now living here call it Haida Gwaii, which in Haida language means 'Islands of the People'(1); this was made official in June 2010.
Johnny Bliss, 2013
(2) - European colonialists, if you-don't-know-who.
Ever since European colonialists started arriving, Haida population and culture has been decimated. First, a series of smallpox and measles epidemics starting in the mid-1800s (courtesy of you-know-who[2]) reduced the population by as much as 90 percent. To put that in concrete terms, a population that in the 1700s numbered up to 20,000 fell to mere hundreds.
Something similar happened to the culture and language. Christian Methodists missionaries arrived and began aggressively converting the survivors; residential schools were formed, where young Haidas were sent and forbidden to speak their language. Some estimates suggest that only several dozen fluent speakers of Haida remain.
(3) - Present population has recovered from its worst point, with about 4370 people estimated to be living there now.
Many of them are not Haida, however.
A kind of cultural (and actual) genocide took place, which makes it even more remarkable that the Haida Nation is as strong as it is today(3).
Johnny Bliss, 2013
In the Northern community of Old Masset, I met a woman who told me that her name is Kung Jaadee, and she is a Haida storyteller. She has spent the better part of 21 years travelling across Canada, to nearly every province and territory, and telling stories from the Haida culture.
She told me that there are two clans in Haida Gwaii, Raven and Eagle, and that she belongs to Raven Clan. She told me that Raven is the Creator, and the Trickster, and is at the core of most of her stories.
She shared with me songs, historical knowledge, a wealth of personal experiences, and many stories about the spirits that populate Haida mythology; I was struck by how humans were relegated, in most such stories, to living at the border of worlds populated by supernatural beings.
Contrary to my usual habit, I have not provided a text transcription of the stories she told me. This is for two reasons. The first is that the text alone does not do justice to oral storytelling; when she tells her stories, so much of it has to do with tone, breath, and silence, so given the option, I would rather take a silent moment and listen, rather than read.
The second reason is that stories, in Haida culture, belong to the storytellers. Kung Jaadee will not tell Eagle stories, because she does not belong to Eagle Clan. By the same logic, it seems more respectful to allow her voice to tell her own stories, rather than transcribing them myself.
Here is an old story involving a Haida princess who got kidnapped by bears, and lived among them for years:
What about the origin of our universe? How did the sun, the moon, and the stars find their way into the sky? Here is another story:
Johnny Bliss, 2013
Johnny Bliss, 2013
For more stories and knowledge shared by Kung Jaadee of the Haida Nation, tune in at 12 o'clock midday to FM4 Reality Check, or check back here after the program for the podcast!
FM4 Reality Check
If you miss the program, you can still stream it via the Reality Check podcast or at fm4.ORF.at/7tage.