Amusterer: initiation

2025-12-06T20:28:36Z

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= Colonial Influences on Regalia =
''INITIATION DRAFT — Ayaawx teaching page explaining how colonial contact changed, disrupted, or altered traditional Tsm̱syen regalia practices.''

== Overview ==
Tsm̱syen regalia once followed strict ayaawx:
* who could wear it,
* what materials were allowed,
* what crests could appear,
* and when garments could be displayed.

Colonial contact introduced new materials, new expectations, and new pressures that changed regalia production and use.
Some changes were adaptations for survival; others were imposed or misunderstood.

Understanding these influences protects our youth and our Houses from repeating harmful patterns.

== Impact on Materials ==
Before colonization, regalia was made from:
* mountain goat hair,
* cedar bark,
* sinew,
* abalone,
* tanned hides,
* carved wood and bone,
* and fur.

After trade ships arrived, new materials entered our system:
* Milton cloth (broadcloth),
* embroidery thread,
* metal buttons,
* flannel,
* manufactured dyes,
* shells and beads from global markets.

Some of these became deeply woven into feast culture.
Others created confusion between traditional law and decoration.

== Impact on Meaning ==
Traditionally:
* regalia = law,
* clothing = clothing.

Colonial society encouraged “costuming” Indigenous cultures for:
* church pageants,
* government displays,
* tourism images,
* museums,
* photographs staged by outsiders.

This blurred the distinction between:
* a robe worn under ayaawx, and
* a garment worn for entertainment.

This confusion still affects our communities today.

== Missionary Influence ==
Missionaries discouraged:
* abalone use,
* crest displays,
* transformative masks,
* naxnok dances,
* noble regalia worn by matriarchs.

They attempted to replace regalia with:
* church garments,
* modest clothing requirements,
* bans on feasts,
* bans on masks and dances.

These pressures pushed some families to hide regalia or discontinue certain items.

== Influence on Wealth Distribution ==
Regalia, wealth, and crest rights were traditionally exchanged through:
* [[Gwiikxw]],
* name transmissions,
* territory acknowledgements.

Colonial laws and the potlatch ban disrupted:
* the ability to raise names,
* the production of wealth items,
* the public distribution of regalia.

House economies were damaged when wealth items were confiscated or hidden.

== Commercialization of Indigenous Image ==
The rise of tourism and photography led to:
* “studio regalia,”
* props used by outsiders,
* pan-Indigenous designs mixing nations together,
* garments produced for sale instead of ceremony.

Some modern regalia styles originate from this pressure — not from ayaawx.

== Loss of Specific Weaving Traditions ==
The cedar-bark and mountain-goat-hair robes suffered:
* disruptions due to disease,
* missionary suppression,
* economic hardship,
* loss of skilled weavers,
* forced schooling,
* goat population changes.

This led to a shift toward:
* button blankets,
* flannel robes,
* machine-produced fabrics.

The noble meaning remained, but the materials changed.

== Influence on Crest Usage ==
Colonial society introduced:
* personal identity over House identity,
* “DIY regalia,”
* people choosing crests based on preference rather than lineage,
* garments made without permission,
* crest mixing across Nations.

Under ayaawx, crest misuse is a breach:
* crest = law,
* crest = House authority,
* crest = inherited right.

Colonial individualism disrupted this understanding.

== Vests and School Regalia ==
Modern school programs introduced:
* vests for all children,
* mixed crest patterns,
* simplified clan symbols.

This increased cultural pride — but it also blurred the distinction between:
* vest (clothing), and
* robe (authority).

Ayaawx must be re-taught to correct this confusion.

== Reasserting Ayaawx Today ==
Modern Tsm̱syen artists and Houses are restoring meaning by:
* reviving goat-hair weaving,
* restoring crest protocols,
* teaching robe permissions,
* documenting House histories,
* correcting misuse through [[ha’lidzap]] or gentle teaching,
* rebuilding relationships between matriarchs and regalia makers.

Restoration is not a return to the past —
it is the re-strengthening of ayaawx in a modern world.

== Summary ==
Colonial influence:
* introduced new materials,
* disrupted ancient regalia,
* blurred meaning,
* weakened crest law,
* created confusion between clothing and ceremony.

Ayaawx restores the truth:
* regalia is law,
* crests are inherited,
* permissions matter,
* and House honour guides all decisions.

== Notes ==
INITIATION DRAFT — Will expand with House-specific examples, weaving revival stories, and matriarch teachings.

Colonial Influences on Regalia - Revision history

Amusterer: initiation