Haida Religious Traditions
HAIDA RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS. The Xaada Gwaay or Haida Gwaii, the island of the Haida people, is a land of intense natural beauty, a misty archipelago composed of two large islands, Graham and Moresby, and some 150 small islands on the borderlands between southern Alaska and northern British Columbia. The intensity and subtlety of the territory is apparent in its dense rain forests, miles of pristine sandy shores, craggy mountain cliffs, and unpredictable weather patterns.
The elaborate Haida culture is as rich in mythological heritage as it is in natural beauty and resources. This complex mythological landscape parallels and represents the complexity of traditional Haida religious practice and its influences in contemporary Haida society. It is the land and the spirits of the land that inspired Haida stories and myths.
Though their islands were inhabited by many villages in traditional times, there are three remaining Haida villages in the contemporary landscape: Old Massett Village and Skidegate, both on the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, and Hydaberg, on the southeastern tip of Alaska.
Just as the land provides the source of inspiration for myth, traditional mythological elements of the Haida culture are inextricably linked in ancient and modern society to the social, political, and economic lives of the Haida people.
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