2019-10-16_12-02-51 Longhouse
Carved internal support pole in the longhouse in the Royal British Columbia Museum.
From the RBCM Website:
Jonathan Hunt House
A ceremonial house
In the First Peoples Gallery in the Royal British Columbia Museum, you are privileged to enter the house of Chief Kwakwabalasami, the late Jonathan Hunt, a Kwakwaka‘wakw chief who was born and lived his life in the community of Tsaxis (Fort Rupert) on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island. The house is both a museum installation and a real ceremonial house. In the potlatch system, the Chief formally presents, to an invited audience, crest images, songs, names, and other prerogatives to which he claims inherited rights. The audience’s recognition of the Chief’s claim is its legal validation. Jonathan Hunt potlatched twice for this house, once at Victoria and once at Alert Bay, and spent thousands of dollars in the appropriate manner to confirm his right to display the house and its images. An arrangement between Jonathan Hunt, his descendants and the Royal BC Museum allows the Museum to exhibit the house permanently, while cultural ownership of the house and its images remains in the Hunt family.
2019-10-16_12-02-51 Longhouse
Carved internal support pole in the longhouse in the Royal British Columbia Museum.
From the RBCM Website:
Jonathan Hunt House
A ceremonial house
In the First Peoples Gallery in the Royal British Columbia Museum, you are privileged to enter the house of Chief Kwakwabalasami, the late Jonathan Hunt, a Kwakwaka‘wakw chief who was born and lived his life in the community of Tsaxis (Fort Rupert) on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island. The house is both a museum installation and a real ceremonial house. In the potlatch system, the Chief formally presents, to an invited audience, crest images, songs, names, and other prerogatives to which he claims inherited rights. The audience’s recognition of the Chief’s claim is its legal validation. Jonathan Hunt potlatched twice for this house, once at Victoria and once at Alert Bay, and spent thousands of dollars in the appropriate manner to confirm his right to display the house and its images. An arrangement between Jonathan Hunt, his descendants and the Royal BC Museum allows the Museum to exhibit the house permanently, while cultural ownership of the house and its images remains in the Hunt family.