Quileute Museum Exhibit Will Tell Tribe’s True Story
Posted on 11. Aug, 2010 by lisa in Movie Related, News, Stephenie Meyer Books
The Twilight books and movies have put the spotlight on the Quileute Tribe, which has both upsides and downsides to it. Because the Twilight Saga is a work of fiction, the tribal legends involving werewolves and vampires contained in them are fictitious as, although they seem so real to the rest of the world.
The true Quileute legends of the tribe’s origins from the wolves of that land are in danger of being lost amid all the incredible popularity of the movies and books in the world today. Thus, in order to help preserve their culture the Quileute Nation will have an amazing exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum beginning Saturday.
The Seattle Times: Wolves that once roamed the wild Olympics, the stories say, were the first Quileute ancestors, transfigured by Kwati, a shape shifter and transformer as old and familiar here as the mist that rolls in from the Pacific.
That creation story, and much more of the Quileute culture, will be shared in a new exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum beginning Saturday.
[...] Tribal elders, teens and council members spent more than a year working with Brotherton to produce the exhibit, which is a first of its kind. It includes many art objects never before seen in public, even by tribal members themselves. Wolf headdresses, rattles, drums, ceremonial objects, historical photographs, videos and more offer a rare glimpse inside Quileute culture.
Quileute elders have mixed feelings about the effects of the books and movies as to how the world sees their culture. Some feel that Twilight is just getting the story all wrong, and others feel that it has revived and reinvigorated their culture in a way that has saved it from the threat of just disappearing altogether.
“Oh, I loved the books, and I’ve seen all the movies,” said Beverly Loudon, a Quileute elder whose handle on the reservation is “Quileute Bella.”
She staffed the tribe’s table at a three-day “Twilight” convention in Seattle last January and says she loves all the attention the saga has brought the tribe: “It’s good to know our little tribe is known all over.”
Her brother Roger Jackson has carved several wolf masks and continues the practice of the wolf dance. He was glad to see more than a dozen wolf masks come out at a recent gathering, as the tribe’s culture revives.
He carries many wolf stories: of the orca whales, which will transform themselves as wolves to come visit the Quileute wolves ashore, then transform again back to orcas, the wolves of the sea. And he remembers his father telling him about lying down to rest once while hunting and awakening to find a wolf watching him.
Read the full Seattle Times article HERE.
Read about the Quileute Exhibit HERE.
Learn all about he Quileute Nation from their website HERE.
