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Dennis Begin
Contemporary Haida Mask.
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One Haida Totem pole cut into three parts.
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Raven and First Man in Bill Reid Rotunda
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Master Slave Owner.
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Bentwood Box for storage and cooking.
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Patricia Begin
Bear holding child. Kwakwakw' wakw
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Haida cedar dugout canoe.
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Wasco Sea Wolf capturing three Killer Wales.
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Back of the MOA looking at the Great Hall and Reflecting Pond
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Haida Long House.
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Patricia Begin
Haida Long House
Story and Photos By Dennis Begin
Anthropology is the study of human societies, their culture, and evolutional development. The University of British Columbia in Vancouver is fortunate to house one of the world's finest exhibits of Northwest Coast First Nations art. Overlooking English Bay, the museum also serves as a primary research centre, Canada's largest teaching museum and is a major tourist attraction. The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) has been around since 1947, redesigned by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson in 1976 and renovated again in 2010. Their objective is to promote awareness and understanding of First Nations culture and history.
After entering the museum, take the ramp down to the Great Hall. Along the ramp are artifacts from the Haida, Gitksan, Nisga'a, Kwakwaka'wakw and Musqueam Coast Salish Nations. Some of the larger artifacts on display are parts of totem poles, wood carvings, baskets, bentwood boxes, and various feast dishes. Light pours in through the 15-meter high windows revealing authentic indigenous artifacts that seem from a lost world. In the Great Hall there are larger artifacts including a dugout canoe, totem poles, carvings, and the Potlatch Platform.
Haida House Complex
Outside the Great Hall there is a Haida House complex with a reflecting pond. Built in 1962 by Bill Reid and Doug Cranmer, the longhouse is the primary residence while the little house serves as the family mortuary. The free-standing totem poles are memorial poles. The Haida House complex resembles a typical village, like Kaay Linagaay in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands). Kaay Linagaay is an ancient village site at Skidegate on Graham Island. This Heritage Centre serves as a keeper of the Haida culture, language, traditions, and history.
Life on Haida Gwaii was not always idyllic as the Haida raided remote villages, pillaged and plundered and took women and children as slaves. Slaves would also be sacrificed during pole raising ceremonies. The British government and Christian missionaries put an end to these raiding parties, slavery, totem poles, and the potlatch celebrations.
Totem Poles
Totem poles or monumental poles are not all generic. There are corner posts, entrance poles, support posts, and mortuary poles with graves for family members. Poles also differ between tribes. For example, Haida poles have animals with large bold eyes. Kwakwaka'wakw poles have animals with narrow eyes, while the Tsimshian and Nuxalk have poles depicting supernatural beings. The poles vary in size, reaching over 20 meters, made from red cedar and usually face the ocean. Totem poles are read from the top down and can be a symbol of property rights, genealogical records or important events like a potlatch. The animals on the totem poles, such as the bear, usually represent the family crests and clan lineage. A totem pole lasts approximately 100 years and when the pole collapses, they are left to decay.
Two spectacular sites for original totem poles are Gwaii Haanas on Moresby Island and Ninstints (SGang Gwaay), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Artist Emily Carr, from Victoria, became famous for her paintings of totem poles of the Haida, Gitksan, and Tsimshian. In 1926 she began painting the first of 45 pictures of totem poles found in the abandoned villages of Haida Gwaii. Her paintings can be found in the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Bill Reid
The major attraction in the MOA is the work of Haida artist Bill Reid. His masterpiece in the Rotunda is called ‘The Raven and the First Man.' This monument is carved out of yellow cedar and took two years to complete. The carving is about a mythological creature (Raven), who helped create the world and the first man. Man emerged out of a giant clam and established the Haida First Nation on ‘The Land of the People' (Haida Gwaii). The Bill Reid Rotunda also displays art pieces done in gold, silver, argillite, and wood. If interested in the work of Bill Reid, visit The Bill Reid Gallery on Hornby Street.
An interesting fact about the museum is that during the Second World War, it was the location of three large 6-inch artillery guns called the Point Grey Battery. The range was 14,000 yards for a 100-pound shell, reaching West Vancouver. The purpose of these weapons was to defend Vancouver from a possible Japanese attack. The cement gun emplacements are located between the museum and the Haida House Complex. The Raven and the First Man is the exact location of the middle gun.
Cultural Research and Galleries
The museum is located at the University of British Columbia, which offers courses in anthropology and archaeology. The Centre for Cultural Research (CCR) in the museum is connected to the Reciprocal Research Network (RRN), creating a digital network with museums around the world. The CCR is open to both students and the general public, with 50,000 ethnographic objects and 535,000 archaeological objects for display.
The Multiversity Galleries house thousands of artifacts from Australia, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. There are 16,000 objects on open storage, ranging from jewelry, Inuit carving, baskets and an entire section on Chinese culture. The Digital Catalogue System (MOA-CAT) allows individuals to find not only artifacts in the museum, but also the audio and visual sources. Just open the world by opening any of the storage drawers.
There are three large galleries that play host to in-house exhibitions as well as touring exhibits from foreign countries. Permanent exhibits include the Koerner European Ceramics Gallery with 600 pieces of dishes and the Hawthorn Library and Photo Archives.
Haida Masks
My favourite artifacts are the Haida masks, located in the Multiversity Galleries. Originally the masks were used in dances and ceremonial occasions, but have now become expensive collectibles. The masks are made from red cedar and copper and painted red, black and blue. When wearing a mask, the dancer enters the spiritual world of wild animals and becomes that animal.
Plan on taking three hours to tour the museum, with or without a guide. Over 130,000 people per year visit the MOA. The museum is billed as "a place for world arts and culture," but the Haida art steals the show.