CARRIER
BAL-HATS
Luksilyou:
Tse Kal Keyah
DeneYaz
Grand Trunk
Kwun Ba Whut'en
Dulhts'ehyou:
Yah Whut Dut'an
Tsay Ba'yah
Yah Tsa hol'gus
Tsumusyo:
Tsayoo
Dunee
Atah'
Dumdenyoo: Shas
Sus
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
- The Origin of the Bal-Hats
- The Bal-Hats Today
- The Funeral Bal-Hats
- The Tombstone Payout
- Paying For A Chair
- Crossing The Table
- Other Business Of Respect
- Taking A Name
- Hiring Workers
- Shame
The
Origin of the Bal-Hats
The bahlats has its roots in the
distant past. A time when our Carrier ancestors lived in large family
groupings, scattered throughout the winter or summer fish camps and
hunting territories, where they could survive.
Our ancestors saw that when two
or more families together " There were problems, sometimes they
did not get along.."
If there was a dispute between
families, it didn't take much, if one or two people talk about each
other. Then there was a problem, if that happens, where were they going
to go?
The people felt the need of a system
whereby they could settle disputes and reconcile antagonistic families.
In particular, they wished to avoid
the customary practice of exiling those who had broken rules and had
hurt other families.
According to the Elders, the
very first Bal-hats was called by the culture hero Ustas.
Ustas wanted to help settle the
people on their land. The families were scattered across the Carrier
territory, they established their homes at rivers, lakeshore and creek
sides.
Each family was given a fair portion
of the land and each family was told to look after it and to work on
the land, the land included hunting land.
They were told to take care the
fish and the animals; to always leave enough of each species to provide
for the next generation to come.
They did not allow fires, if they
burned their land, and the animals went elsewhere, what would they do?
So they were careful to prevent forest fires, as it will kill all the
inhabitants for one whole generation. People cannot survive on burned
areas.
In the beginning, at the time of
Ustas, the Bal-hats was not yet known by this name.
Instead, the people spoke of a
"big gathering" du'ghe'hu'telh-dulh, to describe the congregation
of several families at an important meeting. Where you were given food
and afterwards they would have talks to settle problems in the village.
The du'ghe'hu'telh-dulh became
the way to settle important disputes between the families. That's how
they governed the people and the land.
If there was any dispute with one another in that group, this head person
settles it.
If someone commit murder then.
this spokesman was the one to deal with it. It was up to this head person
to find out why it happened.
Even how poor we were, we take
care of whatever belongs to us. Whatever we lost, we could not replace
right away, things were scarce.
That is the sentence they received,
just to leaver everything behind and walk away in any direction. Not
to come back and not be amongst people anymore.
Whatever was left behind was distributed
to the family he had hurt. That person had to suffer hard to make up
for what he left behind, to suffer, and to start all over again.
Stealing is next to murder, so
they got a big penalty for it. The whole family could starve during
the winter, stealing winter food is worse than killing one person.
As well as the "government
for it was the time for the leaders to make plans for the people as
well as to "put up a big give away."
The leaders were known as the "first
persons." However, a "first persons" de tso'shu dilh
zulh-un. was not a chief in the way, one can be a hereditary or elected
chief today.
Rather, the detso'whudilhzulh-un.
was a spokesperson or headman of a small settlement or village.
How the first person came to be
selected for this position is not clear, beyond the knowledge that each
de tso'shu dilh zulh-un would be the head of the family, which was in
charge of each settlement.
However, it is also said that each
family had two "bosses," the clan mother and the clan father.
There is no clear history of how
the Du'ghe'hu'telh-dulh became the Bal-hats. as it is known to have
been practiced in the recent past and as it is carried on today.
What is clear is that the Bal-hats
and before it the Deghedu'telh-dulh. was the "government of the
people.
A system from the far distant past
when the first people settled in this area and established the du ghe
hu'telh-dulh, it seems that the clan system may be more recent.
However, today it's through the
clans that the business of the bal-hats are conducted.
The
Bal-Hats Today
Today the bal-hats is known as
the potlatch, giveaway, payout, or party. It is held on two occasions,
several months following a funeral to pay the funeral expenses and a
year following the death to raise the tombstone. It could be held as
well to allow someone to take an important name.
The Bal-hats is planned by the
clan leader with the help of other notable members in discussion with
the bereaved family.
The clans are matrilineal, that
is everyone belongs to her/his mother's clan, unless she/he pays a large
sum of money to "cross the table to the opposite clan."
When in trouble or when a death
has occurred in the person's clan she/he turns to the opposite clan,
the father's clan for help.
Also, it is the father's clan,
which "buys the seat a person takes when initiated into clan membership.
All money and
goods paid out by the opposite clan must be returned with interest.
It is the duty of the person's own clan to help raise the return payment.
This help has "no return" that is, it is not repaid.
The
Funeral Bal-Hats
The funeral bal-hats is the most
common payout. It is held right after the burial or a few months after
the funeral, as soon as the bereaved family and clan can pay the funeral
expenses, which includes paying the funeral workers.
These workers are selected from
the opposite clan at the time of the death to carry out the necessary
work during the wake and burial.
Workers are selected by the dead
person's family with the help of the clan leader and other prominent
members of the clan. When the necessary goods have been raised the family
approaches the clan leader and asks her to arrange the payout.
A date is decided and notices are
posted through out the village informing every one of the time and place.
If there has been more than one death in the recent months. Two or more
payouts may be held at one time.
The payouts are held in the community
hall, after the funeral or late in the afternoon. Early in the day a
chosen member of the host clan. that is of the dead person's clan, goes
throughout the village stopping at every house to invite everyone.
The invitation is given with solemn
formality. A cane is carried and is tapped on the ground at the door
as the announcement is made. When the guests arrive at the hall they
remain at the door until invited in by the clan leader. The clan leader
announces each guest as she or he arrives and takes each person to the
correct seat.
The guest sits on one side of the
hall, on the bench, according to the status. Important persons or those
known as duneza', tse'keza' and skeza', sit in the centre of the bench
while less important persons are seated at the ends. Occasionally the
omen and men of the guest clan are separated, but this is not always
the case.
The workers sit on individual chairs
at the front of the hall and to their left the members of the host clan
gather. In front of the workers and other visitors a white sheet of
paper is placed and on this the food and payout goods will be placed
before the guests.
From a table at the centre of the
hall the host family conducts the business of the Bal-hats.
The clan leader acts as the speaker
for the family. She or he announces the contributions of the host clan
members to the payout as members of the family record the money. While
this takes place, the other clan members distribute the payout goods
to the guest. Distribution involves clan members of all ages.
The Elders guide the younger clan
members in the protocol of the distribution and young children are also
taught, how to serve the soup and tea. To carefully distribute the goods
and it is important to serve without spilling the soup or tea and to
distribute without any error.
Should food be spilt on a person
or a visitor be missed from the food distribution, the host clan could
be required to raise money to pay for the mistake. While children are
told of the consequences of these mistakes, in fact paying money for
them is not common.
As the distribution process the
host clan come to the speaker with their contribution of money to pay
the funeral expenses. The name of each contributor and amount paid the
speaker announces out.
The family then counts the money
and allots it first to the workers, then lo other funeral expenses leaving
smaller sums to cover the cost of using the hall and small items. When
the counting is finished, the money is passed to the speaker who calls
out the amount, the name of the worker to be paid and the type of work
done.
In honor of their work,. the workers
receive the money, the goods given to the other guests and as well other
gifts which are commonly household items such as linens or personal
items including luggage and clothing.
Following the funeral payout other
clan and personal business takes place. Personal debts for services
are paid. These services might include work done on a gravestone, the
placing of photographs or other items to honor a dead person, as well
as a wide range of other services.
Clan business frequently involves
the payment of seats for recently initiated members. Members buy the
seat of the opposite clan, and the return payout including interest,
is put up at a funeral or tombstone Bal-hats.
A separate potlatch is not held for initiations. In many ways the Bal-hats
of today is similar to those Elders recall from
their childhood and to those the old timers spoke of during the present
elders childhood.
In the past, as today, the food
of a funeral potlatch was simple; soup, tea, biscuits or bannock. The
payout goods used to be fur, moose hides. and moccasins.
Today, household linen and yard
goods have been substituted. Food, was also distributed and that practice
continues today as large amounts of purchased food is the major item
of the giveaway.
The Bal-hats has changed, of course,
over the years because repressive laws were made against it and the
church and government imposed new systems of leadership, often selecting
as leaders, men who would have been prominent in the clans and Bal-hats.
In this way, the church and government
persuaded traditional leaders to speak against the Bal-hats.
The
Tombstone Payout
The tombstone payout is not held
as frequently as the funeral payout. If the tombstone payout is held,
it is usually put up approximately one year following the death. This
is not always the case, however.
The form of the tombstone payout
follows that of the funeral Bal-hats in several respects. The family
arranges it through the clan leaders.
The family and its clan members
raise the money to repay the opposite clan for the tombstone expenses
and the work of putting it up. As with the funeral payout, food is served
although now there may be more food including desserts and dried or
fresh berries.
The ceremony of paying out and
distribution are the same. The differences lie in the inclusion of singing
and dancing. both of which are forbidden at the funeral payout, and
the ceremony of erecting the stone.
The close family members put up
most of the tombstone cost and the payout goods including food, clothes,
cash. And household linens. The clan adds to this and receives no return
for their contributions.
Respect is shown to members of
the opposite clan by asking them if they wish to buy part of the tombstone.
The payback is given with interest to show respect and will include
money, food and a wide range of household and personal items.
The tombstone used to be carried
to the cemetery on a wagon, but now it is put on planks of wood. The
deceased's clan ulls, with ropes from the back of the wagon, while the
opposite party pulls the wagon toward the cemetery.
This process is "like a tug
of war." The family members sit on the wagon to steady the stone.
The atmosphere is one of "high
spiritedness" with the two clans acting as "friendly rivals."
Following the erection of the tombstone,
everyone returns to the community hall for the payout.
Here the rope, which was sectioned
by knots, then cut at the knots, is given as part of the payout, as
a "sort of souvenir"
which is kept to show respect for the dead person and for the payout.
After the payout distribution is
completed, the clan songs are sung. Each clan has its own drum with
clan crest. The drum is tossed from person to person to lead the singing
and dancing.
In the past only a clan member
could use the clan drum. But today "people aren't so fussy"
and a drum is shared across the clans.
Also the drum is no longer just
used on these important clan events but is also used for social occasions
such as workshops and dance practices.
Clan songs are as precious as the
clan drum, but again are no longer just used by clan members. Some are
sung at the dance practices and other social occasions that are not
strictly clan business.
Paying
For A Chair
A person is "seated"
when the opposite party buys her/him the chair
The opposite party, that is the
person's father's clan, announces that they will seat the person and
begin to collect money and goods.
The seating is done with great
respect. The person being seated is seated on a blanket on her/his chair
and is made a formal member of the clan. It is up to this person to
raise the payback with interest.
Her/his clan helps but does not
receive a "return" for the payout. The new clan member will
now be available to help the clan on all its business. When a chair
is paid for there can be singing and dancing except if this takes place
at a funeral payout.
Very young children may be sat
down if they are going to take someone's place, often a grandparent.
When being seated at a payout the
young are seated to the right of the person whose seat they will take.
If someone has not taken a chair
when a child, it is the practice to buy them a chair when they get married.