Ksan Performing Arts Group 24_35

• Other Authors: G.F. MacDonald Collection
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1972
• Subjects: Tsimshian > Gitxsan > Dance Regalia >; Tsimshian > Gitxsan > Ksan > Dance Regalia >; Tsimshian; Tsimshian*
• Online Access: https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/billreid-773/ksan-performing-arts-group-2435

Sadie Mowatt performs healing ceremony on Barlow Green. Among the Tsimshian, a shaman could be a man or a woman endowed with special powers. Shamans specialized in healing the sick, attracting fish or game, influencing the outcome of warfare, or predicting the weather. The shaman's rattle, seen here, was used to call up power from other worlds. The rattle is round and usually plain. Carvings or decorations make the world of supernatural beings visible. During the late sixties and early seventies the 'Ksan Performing Arts Group was created. These images are from the group's first national performance, Breath of Our Grandfathers, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The regalia and props used in the performance by the group were all designed and crafted by local Gitxsan artists.