Dancing Collar

Item number E206535-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

From card: "Roll of straw bound in cotton print cloth. Over this roll is laid well twisted cord of cedar bark sewed on. Around the circle are fringes of frayed cedar bark and twisted cord."Karen Anderson (Nuxalk elder) and Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th - 24th, 2013. These are used in winter dancing and are made from red cedar bark. The collar protects your spirit. If you have a near accident where you capsize in a boat, drifting down the river, or you get into a car accident, your spirit can leave, so what you do is you go back to the place where it happens. If the men drift down the river, they have to go up the river and come back down. They have to do it right away so their spirit comes back, they call it back and then they have to feast and call the people who saved them or helped them get through what they went through. That's still practiced a lot today. There are many styles of dancing collars that determine your rank, if you're a senior dancer or novice dancer. Each dance has its own style of neck rings.