Annotation 8.3 | Text (477.15)
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2022-03-01T17:02:52+00:00
Annotation
The ’Walasa’ax̱a figures in two of the most important charter narratives of the Kwagu’ł at Fort Rupert. The first of these is the story of Mink and the Wolves, which tells how Raven, Mink, and their relatives stole the Winter Ceremonial from the Wolves (see Ann. X.X [to pp. 538-539]). These events led to the acquisition by human beings of the ceremonial, and to the permanent separation of humans from animals. The 1897 version of the narrative does not name the dance the Wolves are performing in the story, but in a later telling, Hunt wrote that the chief of the Wolves is showing his “great dance, the ᵋwā´lasᵋaxaa´kᵘ (’Walasa’ax̱a)” (CUL 11, 1926:3323-3382, published in Boas 1930, I:57; II:57).
The second narrative is the story of U’maxt’alatłe’, the ancestor of the Giga̱lg̱a̱m ’na̱’mima (see Ann. X.X [to pp. 382-389]). In one episode of the story, U’maxt’alatłe’ travels to the mainland and marries the daughter of Ḵawadiliḵala, an ancestor of another ’na̱’mima who had transformed himself from a wolf into a human being. From his marriage U’maxt’alatłe’ receives the ’Walasa’ax̱a and its forty songs. He builds his dance house near Fort Rupert and Ḵawadiliḵala teaches U’maxt’alatłe’ how to show the dance (APS.A.W3, 1931:4863).