Chepximiya Siyam Chief Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Buddy Joseph with Sxwelhchaliya Councillor Julie Baker in Canadian Museum of Civilization Collections studying spindle whorls.

During the last few years, we have been travelling to museums around the world to view and photograph blankets from the following collections :
Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University, England
Perth Museum, Perth, Scotland
Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC
Smithsonian Museum, Washington, DC
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Que
Vancouver Museum, Vancouver, BC
Peabody Museum, Boston, MA,
Museum of Natural History, New York, NY

Weavers Guild studying a blanket in the Canadian Museum of Civilization Collections. (2005)

Research

Throughout my life, I have seen photos of our Chiefs in the early 1900’s wearing woven blankets of Mountain Goat, they wove and wore this regalia before contact.

I have always wanted to learn to weave and have heard the history of weaving from conversations with my Grandmother. She lived with her grandmother in our upper territory in a longhouse, the old way of living with and off the land.

In our conversations she spoke about my Grandfather’s naming ceremony in 1927, it was done in the traditional way with my Grandfather wearing woven regalia made especially for this day, the longhouse dirt floor was lined with woven blankets to signify purity and starting a new life with his ancestral name. He was supposed to dance around the house for the guests but he was shy and walked and raised his hands to his guests instead.

Her mother taught her how to weave cedar, and all women who were able to, wove. It was at this time, in the late 1920’s, these women helped carry families through hard times, by selling their baskets.

Squamish Cedar Root and Cherry Bark Burden Basket. c.1950