Kasaan – Riveted

Kasaan | The Re-Dedication of Naay I’waans (the Chief Son-I-Hat Whale House)

Laura Domela — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 06:50:47 +0000

Oral history indicates the Haida people have inhabited Haida Gwaii for over 17,000 years. Archeological findings have established habitation on the islands as far back as 13,700 years. Regardless of which number is correct, that’s over 100 centuries of cultural history, dating back beyond 10,000 BC. So when the Haida invite you over to share some of their traditions, it packs quite a bit more weight than a “tradition” like watching football on television at Thanksgiving.

The Haida arrived in Southeast Alaska around 200 years ago from Haida Gwaii. The first clan leader to arrive took the name Son-I-Hat. Son-I-Hat’s household settled at the Old Kasaan village (Gasa’aan) site as early as the 1700s. After the first Son-I-Hat passed on, his nephew (born in 1829) took and carried on the Son-I-Hat name. The village grew to include up to 500 people living in 18 lodges with up to 60 totem poles. In 1862, a smallpox epidemic killed almost ninety percent of the population in Old Kasaan. Son-I-Hat moved his remaining family to a new site (about 10 miles to the north) to a new house he built in 1880. The new house Naay I’waans, was nicknamed the “Whale House.”

By October 2011, the Whale House had fallen into disrepair and a plan was made for its restoration. A team of four carver/craftsmen was tasked with rebuilding the Whale House using traditional methods and with as much of the original components and material as possible. Five years later, the work was complete, and yesterday the village of Kasaan (population normally around 50 people) was packed with hundreds of visitors celebrating the re-dedication of the only remaining Haida longhouse in the United States.

Last summer when we visited Kasaan for the first time, we met several of the carvers on the project. They invited us to come back a year later for the celebration and re-dedication, and so we did!

To start things off, people gathered on the beach in front of the Whale House to greet the canoes from other tribes and clans as they arrived.

Kids playing in the water while the canoes came in. (I heard some people a little unhappy that the kids were ruining every photo, but I disagree.)

This kid got right in on the action of greeting the first canoe to land (from Klawock):

Chief John McAllister warmly greeted every canoe and gave permission to come ashore:

This canoe was designed by Marvin Oliver (Quinault/Isleta Pueblo), and the canoe was paddled over 30 miles to Kasaan from Ketchikan the day before. They are Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian (with friends of Salish, Quinault, and Chinook heritage):

Carver, Harley Bell-Holter bringing in the canoe from Ketchikan:

Announcing arrival and asking for permission to come ashore:

We were standing next to this kid’s mom, and I believe she said the piece he’s wearing was carved by his grandfather and indicated it was very precious to her…she was freaking out a little bit every time he leaned over the side of the boat with it (which I get! look how cool it is!)

After the canoes had landed successfully, everyone made their way up the beach to the Whale House for the re-dedication.

First, there was dancing and singing…the dancers/singers danced and sang, circling the Whale House and then filed inside, filling it with the good spirit. When they were finished, the speeches and dedications and thank yous began (much of it in the Haida language, which in itself is incredible since there are only a couple dozen people who still speak Haida, and most of them are over 70).

Julia Coburn, the eldest Haida matriarch, spoke early on, flanked by her daughter Jeanie and her grandson Lee.

The carvers, L to R: Harley Bell-Holter, Stormy Hamar, his son Eric Hamar, and Justin Henricks.

And speaking of carving, would you take a look at this adze work!

Each of the carvers spoke about the effect this project had on them, and it was….you know what? There are just no words to describe how incredible this whole thing was. I’m trying, but the level of heartfelt communication coming from every person was something so special to witness. Harley talked about the longhouse being a beacon not just to Haida people, but to ALL people, and it really feels that way. The community is so friendly and welcoming, and the level of respect and honor for the Haida culture and tradition is impressive.

Stormy Hamar and his grandmother:

He said he was trying to be all cool and then his gram came up and made him get all teary and messed up his cool. It was pretty sweet.

I took quite a few detail shots of people and regalia during the in-between times.

Detail of Chief John McAllister’s head piece (while it was not on his head):

I couldn’t help this next shot. This little boy was grabbing hands of gravel and pouring them over his open sandals. Then, he’d go sit on a stump and remove his shoe, pour the sand and gravel out, put his shoe back on, and then do it again.

The re-dedication ended and everyone made their way back via the trail to the village center for food, more singing and dancing performances, gift-giving, and socializing. The canoes, leaving the shore:

There was a large variety of wonderful food: salmon, halibut, spot prawns, crab, corned venison and cabbage, deer ribs (bbq style), deer stew, and many side dishes including salads, sea asparagus, pastas, fry bread, fresh fruit, and many, many cakes. The Totem Trail Cafe cooks were killing it…it was a potluck though, so I don’t know which things they did and which things people brought (I know we brought a big lemon/caper/pasta salad with shaved brussels sprouts, but that’s all I know.)

Gifts (such as gorgeous, hand-carved war helmets, masks, drums, and other amazing pieces of art) were presented to those who had a key part in enabling this restoration. The potlatch and gift-giving tradition is integral and central to this culture. Interesting side note: Potlatches went through “a history of rigorous ban by both the Canadian and United States federal governments.” The generous, gift-giving economy centered around potlatches was seen as “wasteful, unproductive, and contrary to ‘civilized values’ of accumulation.” (Wikipedia) WTF?

Okay, and now more singing and dancing!

The Carver’s Dance:

And I tried, but I do not remember which dance groups were from which places (and they were not listed in the nice program that was handed out, dangit). They were all wonderful:

That’s carver Justin Henricks there, next to the man holding the carved orca rattle that was AMAZING. He was behind us in the food line (his little son was playing with the rattle), and he told us it was very old and had been in his family for a couple generations.

I mean seriously (I zoomed in), how great is this??

Here’s a short compilation video of footage that Kevin took, to give you some sound and movement to go with the still photos:

As the festivities wound down (some time after 7pm), we made our way along the shoreline trail back to Airship.

It was a beautiful evening, and a beautiful day (in all ways).

We hung out on the boat and talked about the day, and then a little bit later we heard some drumming and singing. I opened the door and listened. On the shore, a group of people was playing drums and singing around a couple of bonfires. The sound carrying across the water, combined with the clear, starry sky, after such an amazing day…we grabbed our chairs and some blankets and sat up on the top deck, thinking it just couldn’t get any better. And it couldn’t have, but then it did.

Háw’aa.

Kasaan | Canoe Landing

Laura Domela — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 18:36:53 +0000

Today we awoke to drumming and singing on the dock as the first canoe arrived from Klawock. We watched the greeting but didn’t take photos, since it felt like we were a little late to the party.

Another canoe was paddling all the way from Ketchikan (a 30+ mile paddle). They left at 8am and were expected into Kasaan around 6:30pm.

Just as we were leaving to walk into town and back out the Whale House, another canoe arrived by trailer. We asked if they needed help launching it, and they accepted our offer. We helped bail rainwater, launch the canoe, and then helped paddle it over to the dock. This canoe (30 feet or so) was a bit more stable than the single canoe we tried out yesterday.

Paddles:

Michael Chilton, relaxing after the launch:

Everyone is very excited about tomorrow’s celebration. Out at the beginning of the Totem Trail, two new plaques were installed to commemorate the original restoration and the second restoration, and to honor the carvers and contributors to the project.

More boats arrived at the docks in the afternoon…Provider (a boat we knew from Meyers Chuck), a large sailboat (I don’t remember its name) from Sweden (they’d come from Japan, then Russia, then the Aleutian Islands, and now Kasaan!), and a few other boats from Ketchikan (with a few Haida from Haida Gwaii aboard).

We were out exploring in the dinghy when we caught a far off glimpse of the canoe and its pilot boat, so we headed back to the dock to be part of the greeting.

Long house and totem pole (original front house pole brought from Old Kasaan), taken from the dinghy:

Chief John, waiting with his regalia:

The canoe and its tired paddlers, from Ketchikan:

They’re greeted by welcome songs by the Kasaan Haida, and welcomed to come ashore by the chief.

More singing and celebrating their arrival. That’s Harley Bell-Holter in the center, apprentice carver on the project:

This is Freddy in the mask:

We’re excited for tomorrow’s celebration, and feeling so fortunate to be here for such an event.

Kasaan | Carving Shed Details

Laura Domela — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 07:45:38 +0000

We learned a new word while chatting with the carvers here in Kasaan the other day. It’s a German word that means “making something worse while attempting to make it better.” The word is: verschlimmbessern. They’d just learned it from Thomas, a man we met (while paddling the Haida canoe yesterday!). He’s visiting Kasaan from Germany for the celebration. Verschlimmbessern is a concept every artist and craftsperson knows intimately, and I love that there’s a word for it.

Anyway, we did a bunch of work in the morning yesterday on Airship and then wandered into the village to have some lunch at the Totem Trail Cafe. The food was excellent!! We shared a BLT and a Reuben (the Reuben won but both were great). After lunch we wandered over to the carving shed to hang out and chat some more with the carvers (and get another look at the in-progress totem pole). I took a few more photos of some of the details. Here’s the design for this totem pole, with sections from top to bottom depicting Future, Present, and Past:

You can see the texture well in this light:

The male and female figures at the top of the totem pole, representing the family of the future (there is one child on either side, inside the ears (see design drawing up top). Love the fingernail detail!

Detail of the clam shell. The clam and the crab are part of the Present section of the design:

Rope ties all three sections together, running throughout the entire design:

I love how the grain of the wood works with the design of this face (well, and how the design works with the grain, of course):

The canoes will be arriving today (how many? don’t know. from where? also don’t know. but we’re told there will be canoes), so I’ll try to capture some images of that. So far we’re the only “tourist” boat here at the dock, but town is bustling with quite a few people. (Also, the Port-a-Potties arrived yesterday…the sign of a real “Event”.) Kasaan is connected by road to the towns of Klawock (44 miles) and Craig (50 miles) and the Inter-Island Ferry Authority (IFA) goes between Ketchikan and Hollis. Here’s a map, if you want to see the route to/from Craig, Hollis, and the relationship to Ketchikan, lower right corner:

I think we need to take the boat to Craig next summer.

Oh yeah, last night at sunset, I took photos of the light on the shore too:

But see why it’s so hard to turn around? Just look at what’s going on in the other directions!!

It’s even gorgeous in the boring direction!!!

Kasaan | Paddling a Haida Canoe

Laura Domela — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 02:49:31 +0000

This afternoon we got an opportunity to paddle a hand carved Haida canoe here in Kasaan Bay!

This is the first canoe built by Stormy Hamar (head carver on the longhouse project), and he plans to make more (which is great, because they’re super fun to paddle). It’s a little tippy when you first get in, but as you get used to it and relax (and get moving) it begins to feel pretty easy. This is a smaller, single-person version, carved from red cedar with a decorative, yellow cedar edge. If you want to see other examples of Haida canoes, check out this link to some images.

What a cool thing to be able to do! Thanks Stormy!!

Kasaan | Sunsets and Quiche

Laura Domela — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 18:17:12 +0000

The sunsets in Kasaan are so beautiful. These are three photos from last night, at different stages.

As the sun sets, the low golden light shines bright on the village and the hillside (behind me)…maybe I’ll take photos of that next time, but it’s hard to look away from the changing colors in the sky. Speaking of changing colors, the aurora forecast for last night was high, and since we had a mostly clear sky, I set an alarm for 1am…but by then some clouds had come around so there wasn’t anything to see. I checked again around 3:30am (the sky was clear) but I just saw stars. Of course this morning, the facebook page for Aurora Notifications was lighting up like crazy with a ton of photos of last night’s lights. Bah! We’ll try again tonight maybe, but so far today’s sky is cloudy.

We were in the market a few days ago and I wanted to get some flour and yeast to make some pizza dough, but they only had 5 lb bags of flour and I didn’t feel like trying to find a place for that bag in the kinda-full cupboard back on Airship, so as I was browsing the wall of Bob’s Red Mill small packages of a zillion kinds of flour, I spotted this bag of gluten-free pizza crust, and we decided to try it.

I bought some yeast, but this bag actually came with a package of yeast inside. We made one small pizza with half the dough (and some homemade red sauce), and it turned out really good. We both prefer pizza dough with gluten (mainly because of the texture), but this was not bad at all. The next morning I made some tiny breakfast quiches (in muffin tins) using a little more of the dough (I’d wrapped it in plastic and kept it in the fridge overnight). Those turned out great, so this morning I had some leftover sausage and cabbage from last night’s dinner, so I got out a round cake pan, and with the rest of the dough I made kind of a quiche (eggs, cheese, sausage, spinach, cabbage, a little salsa, salt and pepper). It turned out great!! This dough is actually perfect for quiche-like things…and if you’re gluten free, I highly recommend it for pizza too.

Update (for Pat):

Here are my notes on the quiche I made. Heat oven to 350. Following the directions on the Red Mill package, spread some dough with wet hands (makes it way easier) over the bottom and sides of a round, greased cake pan. Par bake until you can touch the dough and it doesn’t stick to your fingers. In a separate bowl, mix four eggs, a handful of whatever shredded cheese you want, chopped spinach, salt and pepper, and if you like, some chopped cooked bacon or chopped cooked sausage…a spoonful of salsa, etc. You can really put anything you want in here.

Pour mixture into par baked crust and return to oven until the center is a little bouncy to the touch. If you wiggle the pan and the filling jiggles like it’s still liquid, cook it for a bit longer. You want the eggs cooked and not runny. Mine took a while (45-50 minutes) but I’m cooking in a boat oven, which isn’t always as consistent (or as hot) as a home oven.

Slice into wedges and serve with hot sauce.

There, that’s my recipe.

p.s. For the individual muffin-sized quiches, do the same thing…they don’t take as long to cook.

We’re Back in Kasaan

Laura Domela — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 02:20:05 +0000

We left Ketchikan this morning after breakfast and headed across Clarence Strait to the village of Kasaan. Shortly after leaving Thomas Basin, we saw a very large humpback in Tongass Narrows, right in front of the airport (just past the airport ferry dock). Kind of weird to see one in that close and that shallow.

Clarence Strait was a little choppy on the beam, but still pleasant. We traded off manning/womanning the helm and got a lot of work done on our way across (30 miles or so to Kasaan from Ketchikan).

There was plenty of room on the Kasaan float, though things will likely change the closer we get to the longhouse re-dedication and celebration on Saturday. We showered and then walked into the village to check out the carving shed and chat with the carvers a bit. They’re working on a HUGE new totem pole that will eventually stand just at the beginning of the Totem Trail that leads to the Chief Son-i-Hat Whale House. We stopped in the cafe to check out the menu…it looked good! We may go over for breakfast or lunch tomorrow. Anyway, then we continued on to the longhouse. The trail from the float takes you along the water’s edge on a boardwalk, and then it winds through the village. They’re either building a new section of boardwalk here or replacing an old section…I can’t remember if this section was here or not last year.

The carving shed, with the bottom of the new totem pole at the entrance:

Stormy Hamar (lead carver) walked us through the design and concept of this new totem pole (past, present, future) and it’s super cool. For one thing, it’s a new design, not a reproduction of another older totem pole…which is rare. Can’t wait to see it standing next summer!

The bridge that crosses over the stream, on the way to the longhouse:

Pretty cool to see the longhouse finished. Here’s what it looked like last year when we were here:

And here it is now (kinda dark in there with the main door closed):

And the exterior last year:

And today:

There are some great details too, like this copper on the edges of the beams:

Joinery:

Door knob:

No camping in the longhouse, folks:

The beach in front of the longhouse:

Note: It’s pretty fun looking at my post from last summer (on September 1, so one year ago tomorrow). I took many of the same photos, but it’s interesting to see the differences: the stream was steady and flowing last year; this year it’s very thin and dry under the bridge. I took some photos of the totems on the trail near the longhouse on our hike today, but I took some last year too and in last year’s post there’s quite a bit of information about them, so instead of reposting, I’ll just link to that post here!

Canoe, heading back to the carving shed after a water test:

Heading back toward Airship:

Quite a few people arrived today (with suitcases) via float planes…the village seems busy for sure, and that’ll just increase as we get closer to Saturday. I looked at the weather for Dixon this morning and it was calm calm calm today! (Wind variable, 5-15 knots, seas 1 metre). The Central Dixon Entrance buoy this afternoon was reporting waves of 1 foot, 8 seconds apart, and the Green Island light station said “seas: rippled.” So…I hope that lasts until after this weekend!! I’m glad we decided to come over for this though…I think it’s going to be pretty cool. (I need to find out if it’s cool or lame to go out in the dinghy and take photos of the canoes landing on the beach in front of the longhouse on Saturday morning, because that’d be fantastic!)

Another Visit to Ketchikan, AK

Laura Domela — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 21:56:49 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Last night's sunset in Kasaan:

We left Kasaan early this morning and headed toward Ketchikan. The weather was beautiful.

As we got most of the way across Clarence Strait, we started seeing humpbacks in the distance, off to our right. Pretty soon I heard a very close blow, then another, and what do you know…there are two of them, fairly close to the boat (of course). I put us in neutral and we sat and watched as they paralleled us for a bit and then dove.

Approaching Ketchikan…would you look at this insane weather?!?!

Just put 'er there between those two behemoth cruise ships, thanks:

We're docked at the Casey Moran city dock, right in front of town. It's fun! There are of course a ton of people out because the weather is perfect (not to mention the three giant ships full of tourists), so there's quite a bit of pedestrian action on the boardwalk next to the boat. (It was fun when we came in to the transient dock…there was an older man and his wife standing up on the boardwalk watching me dock the boat, and I heard him say to his wife "She's doing a helluva job there!")

Here we are at the dock. The tide was lowish when we got in, but now that it's getting close to high tide we're almost eye level with the peds on the boardwalk:

We headed over to the Bar Harbor Restaurant for lunch. We both got some killer halibut fish tacos and a beer, and then went wandering around town.

We stopped in at Soho Coho to see if Ray was around (and to buy a few things), and then went into Parnassus Books (a great independent bookstore here in Ketchikan) for a couple more books. Loot, below:

The raven and the humpback are enamel zipper pulls by William Spear.

Another shot of the Chief Johnson totem pole, next door to the book store. The Chief Johnson totem pole is 55 ft. tall and carved out of one single western red cedar log. The original version stood from 1901 to 1982. This replacement was carved by Israel Shotridge, Tlingit carver and member of the Tongass Tribe, and erected in 1989.

Kevin has a conference call in the morning at 8am, then we have to run down to Frontier Shipping to pick up a package, and then our plan is to fuel up and head out to Foggy Bay tomorrow afternoon and then on to Prince Rupert on Friday morning. The weather window for Thursday and Friday to cross Dixon Entrance looks good, so I think we're gonna take advantage of that window and get that crossing behind us.

The cruise ships will all be gone by 6pm, which is good, because this one here would be blocking our sunset:

Here's today's route from Kasaan to Ketchikan, about 30 nautical miles:

The Village of Kasaan

Laura Domela — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 23:22:47 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We left Meyers Chuck this morning and headed out into Clarence Strait and headed for the village of Kasaan, across the Strait and on the east side of Prince of Wales Island about 30 miles northwest of Ketchikan.

Kasaan (population around 53) is one of the only two Haida villages in Alaska, and gets its name from the Tlingit word meaning “beautiful place.” The Haida people migrated north from Haida Gwaii and established the village Gasa’aan, now known as “old Kasaan” on Skowl Arm seven miles from today’s Kasaan.

We tied up on the public float, which is very nice. In many of the reviews about Kasaan, there’s talk of how bad the dock is (things like “awash in anything but fair weather” and “a disaster waiting to happen” etc.) but from what we can see, things have been much improved since those reviews were written. The dock portion we’re on appears like new, and the other sections must have seen some improvements in recent years.

We headed up to explore the village, and find the trail to the once abandoned, now being restored Haida longhouse.

Boardwalk trail along the waterfront:

Cool stuff, this way:

The trail took us through rainforest, along the water, and over streams (with salmon still heading up ’em):

This longhouse is Alaska’s oldest Haida longhouse, called Naay I’waans (“The Great House” — also known as Chief Son-i-Hat Whale House), originally built by Chief Son-i-Hat in 1880. (Although Son-i-Hat is a Tlingit name meaning “well respected,” both the Chief and his wife were of Haida descent.)

There were 32 (I think) clan members who originally lived in the house. After Chief Son-i-Hat’s death in 1912, the family moved out of the longhouse and the structure eventually deteriorated (wood + rainforest = eventual ruin). The Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt it in the late 1930s. (The totem pole in front of the house was carved by James Peele in 1939 during restoration, copied from the original.)

But of course the house would eventually need further restoration and repair, and in November 2013, the restoration project received a $450,000 grant from the Rasmuson Foundation. (The Rasmuson Foundation is an Anchorage-based private foundation to promote better lives for Alaskans, with focus on areas such as arts & culture, health, and social services).

The lead carver on the Whale House restoration project is Stormy Hamar, working with apprentices Eric Hamar (his son), Harley Bell-Holter, and Justin Henricks. We were greeted by Harley Holter who was super nice and from this spot on the roof gave us a thorough rundown on the project and some history of the longhouse and totems:

The totems inside the longhouse with the white faces are the originals from 1880, and the one in the center is much older. (I don’t think we learned where the center one came from, just that it was probably a couple hundred years old.)

They are all in remarkable condition considering their age!

The smoke hole in the center of the roof:

The view from in front of the longhouse, looking out into Kasaan Bay:

Birds on a log:

In the forest surrounding the Whale House are more totems:

Skáwaal Pole (below, aka First Eagle Pole). This pole is about 50-feet high and was one of two poles which stood in front of Chief Skáwaal’s Rib House. When the pole was moved to New Kasaan, the thunderbird figure at the top was replaced and the surface was carved down to solid wood during the CCC restoration. The carved figures below the ring appear the same for each pole: Raven with the moon in its beak; Raven holding his beak bent down in his hands; and at the base, a bear with cubs in its mouth. This pole was removed from the village and restored at New Kasaan:

The 40-foot Spencer Pole (below) was raised by Kate Gamede, a Kasaan woman of Táas Láanas clan, as a memorial to her husband, a photographer from Victoria, BC. The image of Mr. Spencer appears at the top of the pole; below appear scroll patterns; Raven carrying the moon in his mouth; and Black Skin, the strong man, holding the sea lion. The last figure illustrates a story familiar to the Haida and Tlingit; a weak boy who trained and finally overcame all of his stronger relatives. His chief exploit was tearing a sea lion in two to the consternation of his companions. This pole was taken down on December 22, 1938 in Old Kasaan and barged to the new site where it was adzed and re-carved by David Peele. [source]

Killer whale grave figure (a CCC reproduction):

Here are a couple of photos of old Kasaan, for reference:

The goal is to finish the Whale House restoration by December. We told Harley we’d come back next summer to see it, and he said we should come back for the big potlatch on September 3. (He also said to just beach the boat over in front of the longhouse, and that many people would be arriving by canoe.) We’ll definitely come back, but perhaps not beach the boat.

We walked back through the village and stopped at the carving shed and chatted with Justin. He was hand adzing some wall boards, but seemed happy to give it a break to show us some of the projects they’ve got going in there:

The curl on the sides of this canoe is from the tree’s original shape. To do the final shaping (so it’s not just a rollover-machine) they’ll take it out and fill it about half full of salt water and then place hot lava rocks inside, creating hot water and steam that will enable them manipulate the wood.

Paddles:

The carving shed recently hosted a free paddle workshop. So cool!!

After we left the shed we walked up to the school to check out the Unity Pole (raised in 2007) carved by Tsimshian master carver Stan Marsden (1930 to 2015). The pole’s base depicts a bear holding up a healing man with a basket of roses (also referred to as the “uninvited guest” who appears with a rose for everyone — the rose representing love, peace, and beauty–the guest is asked to stay). It also has a killer whale, eagle, raven and thunderbird, with three watchmen at the top.

On the way back to the dock, we saw a giant white slug (two of them, actually):

The weather just keeps improving, which is great because there’s a good chance for more Northern Lights tonight (if the sky is clear enough to see them):

Looking from the trail toward the public dock:

We are back at Airship now doing some work and our plan is to head over to Ketchikan tomorrow to start the watch-and-wait for a good Dixon Entrance crossing (and to do some laundry, and get some mail, and more groceries, but not the stuff we can’t take into Canada, like eggs or potatoes or garlic or lemons).

Not sure what we’ll do for dinner tonight yet, but it’s beautiful out, so we probably should take advantage of that and grill something.

Today’s route from Meyers Chuck to the village of Kasaan (our track in green, about 30 nautical miles):