Ginaxangiik
Encyclopedia
The Ginaxangiik are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...

 nation in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River
Skeena River
The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada . The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the...

 resident at Lax Kw'alaams
Lax Kw'alaams
Lax-Kw'alaams , usually called Port Simpson, is an Indigenous village community in British Columbia, Canada, not far from the city of Prince Rupert. It is the home of the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River, which are nine of the fourteen tribes of the Tsimshian nation...

 (a.k.a. Port Simpson), B.C. The name Ginaxangiik means literally "people of the hemlock." Their traditional territory includes the watershed of the Exchamsiks River, a tributary of the Skeena River. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 fort was established there.

The leadership of the Ginaxangiik resided once in the hereditary name-title 'Alamlaxha and by the early nineteenth century in the hereditary name Txagaaxs. Later, the name 'Wiiseeks, a name belonging to the same royal Gispwudwada
Gispwudwada
The Gispwudwada is the name for the Killerwhale "clan" in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the Gisgahaast clan in British Columbia's Gitksan nation and the Gisk'ahaast/Gisk'aast Tribe of the Nisga'a...

 (Killerwhale clan) house-group (extended matrilineal family) as 'Alamlaxha and Txagaaxs, became the leading name. The anthropologist Viola Garfield
Viola Garfield
Viola E. Garfield was an American anthropologist best known for her work on the social organization and plastic arts of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia and Alaska.-Early life:...

 reported that Albert McMillan held 'Wiiseeks in the 1890s and was thus chief of the Ginaxangiik. McMillan bequeathed the name to a sister's son, who died in 1935 and was succeeded by his brother, a previous holder of 'Alamlaxha. Garfield added in 1938 that in the previous century the Ginaxangiik tribe had had eight tribal chiefs.

Garfield has described how in 1929 a holder of the name 'Alamlaxha held a potlatch
Potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...

 feast at which a flagpole was erected in lieu of a totem pole
Totem pole
Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...

, in an attempt to move away from traditional forms.

In 1935 William Beynon
William Beynon
William Beynon was a hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation and an oral historian who served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists....

 recorded that Ginaxangiik people in Lax Kw'alaams included 41 members of the Gispwudwada
Gispwudwada
The Gispwudwada is the name for the Killerwhale "clan" in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the Gisgahaast clan in British Columbia's Gitksan nation and the Gisk'ahaast/Gisk'aast Tribe of the Nisga'a...

 (Killerwhale clan) (4 house-groups) and 10 members of the Ganhada
Ganhada
The Ganhada is the name for the Raven "clan" in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the Ganada Tribe of the Nisga'a nation in British Columbia and the Frog clan among B.C.'s Gitxsan nation...

 (Raven) (1 house-group).

The one Ginaxangiik Ganhada house-group in the 1930s was the House of Midiiks. It was headed at the time by Mark Luther, who held the name Midiiks and was a key informant during Garfield's fieldwork. In 1938 Garfield described Luther as the sole member of the House of Midiiks, his predecessor, George Henry, having died in January of that year.

A Laxgibuu
Laxgibuu
The Laxgibuu is the name for the Wolf "clan" in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to identically named clans among the neighboring Gitksan and Nisga'a nations.The name Laxgibuu derives from gibuu, which...

 (Wolf clan) house of the Ginaxangiik, the House of Halaaydmgan (meaning "Dancing Wood") was extinct by the 1930s, though a totem pole
Totem pole
Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...

 belonging to this house, representing a shaman, was erected about 1880 and according to Garfield was "one of the finest carved figures still [in 1938] standing in Port Simpson."

Ginaxangiik houses include:
  • House of 'Wiiseeks/Taax Gaaxs -- Gispwudwada (Killerwhale clan) (leading house)
  • House of 'Liyaa'mlaxha -- Gispwudwada (Killerwhale clan)
  • House of Halaaydmgan -- Laxgibuu (Wolf clan)
  • House of Midiiks -- Ganhada (Raven clan)


Prominent Ginaxangiiks

  • Kate Dudoward
    Alfred Dudoward
    Alfred Dudoward was an hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, who was instrumental in establishing a Methodist mission in his community of Port Simpson , B.C.Dudoward was a member of the Gitando tribe, one of the nine Tsimshian tribes based in Lax Kw'alaams. His...

    , hereditary leader
  • Calvin Helin
    Calvin Helin
    Calvin Helin is a Canadian businessman and writer on aboriginal topics who is a member of the Tsimshian First Nation in northwestern British Columbia....

    , businessman and author
  • Fred Dudoward Sr., Hereditary Chief (R.I.P.)
  • Garry Reece Sr., Hereditary Chief

Sources

  • Barbeau, Marius
    Marius Barbeau
    Charles Marius Barbeau, , also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology...

    (1950) Totem Poles. 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada.

  • Garfield, Viola E. (1939) "Tsimshian Clan and Society." University of Washington Publications in Anthropology, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 167-340.

  • Helin, Calvin (2006) Dances with Dependency: Indigenous Success through Self-Reliance. Vancouver: Orca Spirit Publishing and Communications.
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