Dance Knife

Item number Nb3.1300 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Warrior dance knife, or baton in the form of Sisiutl. A long thin downward curving wood piece with a central frontal head and a profile head on either side. The profile heads at either side have scales along their backs with long upward curving protruding tongues. The central frontal head has two upward and outward curling horn-like appendage at the top, and each profile head on either side has another upward and backward curling horn-like appendage at the top. Painted black and red.

History Of Use

Assistant to Winalagilis, the war spirit, this mythological creature was dangerous, powerful, and impervious to human weaponry. Sisiutl always appears with two serpent-like heads at each end of the body, which is represented by a face. Carried as a wand by the War dancer. Could also have descended from the ceiling on invisible strings during the War Dance (M. Bronsden).