Crest art
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Crest hat giyaaningaay daajing
Haida, Skidegate, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), northern Northwest Coast, before 1897
Accession Number 9.12.01.2
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Crest art is everywhere on the Northwest Coast – carved on poles and
masks, woven into blankets, painted onto boxes and tattooed onto the body.
Like heraldic crests, images of humans, animals and supernatural beings mark the
rights to inherited privileges. They are displayed during potlatches and other
ceremonies.
‘Today there are many weavers who make this style of hat, using
finely split spruce roots with 2 or 3 strand twining techniques. The weave is
tighter with spruce roots than with cedar bark woven hats. This may be the
reason why there are more painted spruce root hats than cedar bark hats.’
Text by Haida Gwaii Museum at Qay’llnagaay, Skidegate, British Columbia,
Canada
Hats are woven by women and painted by men. The painting on this hat shows a
killer whale crest.
The Northwest
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