Richard Malloway

Richard Malloway ( Th'eláchiyatel ; born December 15, 1907 in Sardis , British Columbia , † 1987 ) was a chief of the Stó: lō , a First Nation in British Columbia, Canada on the lower Fraser River .

He learned the skills of a medicine man and healer early on , but also campaigned for the economic, political and cultural rights of the First Nations.

Life

Richard Malloway's parents were Julius and Mary Malloway, and his siblings Vincent and Susan Jimmy. Richard was ailing as a child, so he never went to residential school . These schools for Indigenous Children in Canada were designed to assimilate the students. One of the means to achieve this was the ban on using the mother tongue, but any other form of practicing the traditional culture was also prohibited. In contrast to the students who taught there, Malloway was allowed to use his mother tongue and to deepen his knowledge and skills in it. In addition, he was raised at home and thus grew into the culture of his tribe. The medicine man Catholic Tommy instructed him . From his grandfather - also once a medicine man - he took over a few heirlooms such as a leather suitcase. Richard himself later became a famous healer based on this knowledge and the reputation of his ancestors.

Malloway nevertheless learned English very well. Because of this knowledge of English, the chiefs Billy Sepass of the Skowkale , Albert Douglas of the Tzeachten and Albert Louis of the Yakweakwioose appointed him in 1932 as the spokesman for the bands mentioned , as the house groups, sometimes called tribes, were called in British Columbia. Almost ten years later, Malloway himself was chosen to be the chief of the Yakweakwioose, not simply as an heir to a particular lineage, but because of his skills.

In addition to these skills, he mastered the winter spirit dance , which he was allowed to practice in principle, but at a time when this was forbidden by the Canadian government, this was not without risks. It was not until 1968 that dance was allowed to be practiced in public again. One of the most important of them was the Sxwayxwey dance , which was only allowed to those who had the associated Sxwayxwey story and were allowed to wear the Sxwayxwey mask. This dance and the mask were performed for the first time again in 1988 within the family.

The great-grandfather of Richard's wife Edna Malloway was the first man to wear the mask when dancing. She had saved the life of one of his ancestors while on the run. Originally, two women had brought two masks from the confluence of the Chehalis and Fraser rivers. The great-grandfather's name was Yukpalem, a name shared by Richard's and Edna's son Frank. Today he is the chief of the Yakweakwioose.

Richard was a direct descendant of the four oldest ancestors of the Chilliwacks tribes , i.e. of Th'eláchiyatel, Yexwpílem, Siyemchess and Xwexwayleq. These genealogical connections are significant for the coastal Salish , as the marriage prohibitions extend up to the 5th degree. In addition, hereditary, traditional rights and titles, such as wearing the Sxwayxwey mask, the right to catch fish at a certain point or to bear a certain name, depend exclusively on this family line.

The deep knowledge of the Malloway couple was also known among ethnologists . Richard's wife Edna Malloway had been interviewed by Oliver Wells in the 1960s , then by Claude Lévi-Strauss in the 1970s, and Gordon Mohs , a Sto: lo researcher, had interviewed her in the 80s. Many of these interviews again revealed a fundamental misunderstanding. While Western scholars take care not to “falsify” the narratives with their own contributions by letting the interviewees tell it on their own, for the Salish a narrative is a social act of reciprocity. A “good” listener comments, interprets and provides stimulating information from his or her own horizon of experience.

Richard Malloway, however, was by no means living in the past. He was the first member of a First Nation to successfully set up a dairy farm. Nevertheless, the couple also experienced economic crises. When their house burned down, the $ 150 that the Indian agent in charge gave them for a new house wasn't even enough for a new hut. So they worked in the hop fields and gradually built a new house on their own.

Two years later Richard and Edna got married. After an intensive exchange of letters, they even received a little support. The two established an informal network that extended beyond the borders of the tribe. One of the main reasons for this was that the Cultas Lake Indian Festival also attracted non-Indians. Richard was often active there as a kind of master of ceremonies and led the canoe races, which were revived as an important part of the tribal traditions.

The Sto: lo seem less traditional today than many other coastal Salish tribes. The reason is simple. Their traditional clothes, dances, chants, rituals are not intended for the public, especially not outside the tribe. Malloway not only encouraged the resumption of such rituals, but also traditional names that had often not been in use for many generations again.

In many cases, however, traditions are hidden in other ways. For example, traditional forms of coexistence are not easy to recognize for whites. The distribution of the family in a house, for example, is not random, and also not just according to how far the chief should live from the entrance, for example. Here, too, as in countless places, the locally palpable spiritual powers are decisive, especially the good and bad powers of certain stakes in the house. Often they are marked for the uninitiated, e.g. B. as bad places to sleep with a club.

The Richard Malloway Memorial Big House commemorates Malloway . The tribe of the Yakweakwioose consisted of 63 members in October 2009, 65 in August 2011, 66 in March 2013 and 67 in May 2014.

literature

• Julie Cruikshank: Myth and Tradition as Narrative Framework. Oral Histories from Northern Canada. In: International Journal of Oral History. Volume 9/3, 1987, pp. 198-214
• Wolfgang Jilek and Norman Todd: Witchdoctors Succeed where Doctors Fail. Psychotherapy Among Coast Salish Indians. In: Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal. Volume 19, 1974, pp. 351-356
• Claude Lévi-Strauss: The Way of the Masks. 1982, paperback 1988, ISBN 029596636X (French 1972)
• Richard Malloway: The Chilliwack Story of the Sxwayxwey . Recorded and Transcribed by Dr. Norman Todd. Distributed by the Coqualeetza Cultural Center, Sardis o. J.

Web links

• Brian Thom, Telling Stories: the Life of Chief Richard Malloway Ethnographic Writing. Stories Narrated by Mrs. Edna Malloway, Chief Frank Malloway, Chief Richard Malloway. Prepared for Stó: lo Tribal Council, March 1994 ( Memento of November 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

Remarks

1. ↑ The same applies even to archaeological sites such as the Hatzic Rock or the Scowlitz Burial Mound in the Sto: lo area. Near the latter is the point where the above. Mask was found.
2. ↑ According to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development : Yakweakwioose ( Memento of the original from November 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .