Empire Island: Beya Clan

In a reading done in class, “Farmers of the Woodlands,” written by Peter Nabokov and Dean Snow, there is discussion of the religious and spiritual beliefs of the people who lived in the Eastern Woodlands. For the Penobscot bands, they had the spiritual belief of totems. These totems were animals. They believed the totems were the ancestors to the people of the band. These totems linked them to the lands they lived, hunted, and fished

The chief organizes religious rituals and feast rituals relating to our spirituality. We focus on the religion of the earth, of nature, and the changing seasons. The woodhenges relate with the passage of the sun over the course of the year. Other spiritual aspects we are guided by include the four directions. We practice a spiral snake dance, and it is related to the changing seasons or solstices. The chief is the closest to the gods because he lives atop of the mounds in a temple, which is a testimony to his power over us as well as the respect we have for him as the most powerful and elite member of Cahokia. Separate from the elite, the rest of us live in wooden huts because we are not related to or as close to the

Totem poles were used for different things in each tribe. For example, in the Lillooet tribe mortuary poles were used to mark grave sites (“Lillooet” American History). In the Haida totems were used as a way of indicating rank in lineage (“Haida” American History). For the Tlingit tribe mortuary poles are given as wedding gifts to be placed outside the home of the newlyweds (“Tlingit” American History). “Wood carving was probably the preeminent Bella Coola art. Masks, entry poles, house frontal poles (with entry through a gaping mouth), and carved posts were often painted and decorated with crest figures. They had no fully developed totem pole” (“Bella Coola” American History). “The Kwakiutl were artists. Even in utilitarian items, visual art was joined with rhetoric, mythology, and performance art to glorify the kin groups. Wooden objects, such as massive house posts, totem and commemorative poles (non aboriginal), masks, rattles, feast dishes, and other objects used for crest displays were carved and/or painted” (“Kwakiutl” American History).

The Gwaii Haanas Totem Poles represent and commemorate ancestry, histories, people, and or events. Each totem pole is designed differently with beings or crest animals. These markings show a family lineage and the rights and privileges that each family held during the time they lived in. Some totem poles honoured a specific event or person, and others are visual representation of kinship. These totem poles don’t really tell stories, they are documents of how each family lived or what they did. Totem poles were first brought up by the First Nations of the Pacific Northwest. During the First Nations they had what was called memorial or commemorative poles. These poles were often created, by their successor,

It was made with wooden frames and covered with bark. There were no windows but small holes in the roof so smoke from cooking fires could escape out of the longhouse. Many families could live in a single longhouse. They used animal skin to have privacy when they did their thing. Men hunted animals such as deer, rabbit,turkeys,etc.

Totem poles are monuments created by First Nations of the Pacific Northwest to represent and commemorate ancestry, histories, people, or events. Totem poles are typically created out of red cedar, a malleable wood relatively abundant in the Pacific Northwest, and would be erected to be visible within a community.

When a chief dies his ashes are put in a hollowed out spot at the top of his pole. Different creatures have different meanings, such as the bear represents healing powers and instinctiveness, the buffalo represents life, getstrength, and sacredness, the cougar represents leadership. loyalty, and courage. It is believed that a totem animal is with you forever. There is no specific way to carve a totem pole it is something meaningful to the carver and the thing it is representing. The meaning of the pole is based off how the carver is feeling.

She describes the significance of the figures being carved and writes as though totem poles were bringing a story to life. This is exemplified by the quote “Then he enriched the shorn things with carvings. He wanted some way of showing people the things that were on his mind, things about the creatures and about himself and their relation to each other.” (Carr, 85). By the opening line of page 86, Carr establishes their personification as she tells the readers of the “flesh and blood” in the animals depicted, whose nature “the natives themselves understood” (Carr, 86). She also notes that the crests on the totem poles will outline specific personality traits. This personification gives the totem poles, once a part of nature, a great deal of vitality, which was a very prominent part of native culture. Carr recognizes this, and then relates it to the people who have made them, establishing a symbolic connection between the totem poles, the native people, and native

As the sunrises over the crisp fall horizon, followers begin to surround the sacred space in anticipation for what is about to take place. The sacred space is soon surrounded by people who are dressed in the sacred colors, some wearing necklaces of their totem, while others wear headdresses that adorn with their sacred symbol. People begin to drink, play music, and prepare a banquet feast for each other, creating a festival atmosphere in hope that today’s ritual will be a success. As the ritual gets set to begin followers begin to crowd into the sacred space, surrounded with pictures and names of those who have reached greatness. As the ritual begins, music is played in order to bring everyone together and prepare for the events that

The use of the oil paint falls from broad and gestural to refined and purposeful. Over all the painting style is semi-loose to retain essential information within the painting. The worm colors bring a comforting feel to the piece of thoughtful solitude and prayer. Although this painting depicts what life may have been to Indigenous people in the 19th century, the artist shows his lack of understanding of the culture. Respect is one of the core values to many planes people and respect goes further than the relationship between people but all things in life such as birds and stone and plants. They all have a sprit that is considered a relative. The problematic aspects of this painting are how sacred items are leisurely treated as objects. The three most noteworthy items are the cha’nupa, cansiga, and waph’a’ha. First, the cha’nupa should be propped up or held and not let be lying on the ground and put together. Second, the cansiga should also be propped up and face up at all times. Finally, an eagle feather or waph’a’ha should never touch the ground. These are things that can be damaging to our own understanding of history, Indigenous culture and spirituality. Although this is just one painting a person without the cultural knowledge could see this and believe that the treatment is tolerable since this is a paining from the past and insightful artist. This paining wile well

After a long journey, you find yourself in uncharted territory. As you scout the area, you notice a small village off in the distance. Upon approaching this settlement, you are greeted by some armed townsfolk. They attack you without warning, and take you to a large hall in the center of town. There, you see many men parading around in an intoxicated stupor, showing off their trophies and talking of their success in past battles and wars. They eat with bare hands, ripping at the food and drinking until they can no longer handle themselves, finding a home on the open floor. The hall is dressed with weapons of war, from shields to swords and everything in between. The women are wrapped in chains, fulfilling their only purpose of serving the

Those who fell in battle were carried to their homes by their family. They were covered by the embrace of their native land and decorously laid out in death by those whose duty it is to bury them.” (Page 54 Lines 386-390) Although the other women find it hard to see the positive and call Kassandra mad, this is again her way of coping with her distress. This shows how badly war has weakened the mind and heart of

Isolde did not bother to lift the bottom hem of her dress as she slogged through the mud, ankle deep after days and days of punishing rainstorms. She paused for a moment to adjust the satchel strap digging into her shoulder, promising herself she would not glance back at the castle where her husband, King Mark, slept. He would find out she had run off soon enough, and what then? What then…?

There was an elderly frail snow-white haired woman. Others helped her undress to the shouts of the insurgent’s to hurry up. Two young women helped carry her to her place in line in front of the makeshift grave.

Many women in the Middle ages are not seen as warriors, this title was given to the men. Even though, many women during this time; despite the gender difference, “were included in the ranks of many mercenary and national armies” . These women were fearless fighters and defended their homesteads and country if warranted. Women who took on the role as warriors, were seen in a total different light as “natural women”, they were expected to “abandon their true identities and take on a more ruthless, and masculine role” . In fact, many women began to dress like men in order to fight alongside them in battle. As the times began to change, so did the ways of thinking. As more women began to join the battlefields, “the more they