Winter Ceremonials

When food was abundant the people enriched their lives with ceremony, ritual dancing, drumming, singing and story-telling. They enhanced their material lives with sumptuous feasts, drama, gambling, games and gift giving. Canoe sized wooden bowls and enormous ladles were used on special occasions to serve quantities of food to great numbers of visiting guests in huge houses and the feasting often lasted for days or weeks.

Gambling Games

Gambling games were popular with the Gitxsan. Most gambling was a variation of the bone game - which used marked sticks and was accompanied by special gambling songs and drumming. A gambler would shuffle and divide a number of gambling sticks (or bones), and hold them in his hands for his opponent to guess which one held a specially marked piece. Needless to say, sleight-of-hand played a part in the skill of the game. There were frequent shouts of jubilation and verbal comments by onlookers who took sides and encouraged their favorites by fair means or foul. Such games were an enjoyable part of the entertainment at ceremonial gatherings.

Dances and Drama

Dances and dramatics, staged with all manner of masks, costumes and theatrical props and tricks to enhance the telling of the legends,impressed spectators. Family histories and stories were re-enacted through the use of masks depicting birds, animals, supernatural beings and family ancestors. Some masks had lengthy beaks that the dancer opened and snapped shut; some appeared to magically transform from bird to human form in a split second, a feat accomplished by the two halves of an outer mask swinging open to reveal a second mask inside. Seeing the masks in a museum setting is a poor substitute for experiencing the carved image in its proper context - by firelight, on a costumed dancer circling the center of the longhouse. To witness the dramatic and characteristic movements of the bird or animal portrayed, and to hear the pounding of the drums and the chant-like songs is to sense the mystic power of the mask and feel the heartbeat of a great culture.

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