Cedar bark to be used in the Tseyka, the Kwakwaka'wakw Winter Ceremonial, was dyed an orange-red with the inner bark of the red alder. This dyed bark was used alone or mixed with undyed bark to form red and pale buff stripes or patterns according to the traditional arrangement for each Tseyka participant. Principal participants wore cedar bark neck rings as part of their insignia: some of them simple lengths of shredded bark tied into a loop and hung with bark tassels, some plied into red or candy-striped ropes, and others of varying degrees of elaboration in twisted, wrapped, and plaited work. This triple neck ring is one of the most elaborate. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The pigment is red. The cord is cotton. The down is bird.

Red-dyed cedar bark is distributed at the start of the Tseyka dances and is the symbol of that important ceremony. Cedar bark head rings are worn by the participants. In the above poster, notice the Kwakwaka'wakw women wearing cedar bark head rings and button blankets.

CEDAR BARK CAPE Kwakwaka'wakw Skilled weavers soak yellow cedar bark in salt water and pound it until it is soft enough for capes and robes. This cape, from Alert Bay, British Columbia, originally had a comfortable fur neckline. 1800s; Gift of Young Naturalists' Society; No. 4794

The stories of seafarers are often peopled by monsters of the deep: bringers of bad weather, capsizers, devourers of men. The Yagim is all of those. Described as a destroyer of whole tribes, a shark-like monster who lurks behind canoes, or the source of storms, his name literally means badness. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The paint is red, green, black, and white.