When the world was first created God had help from the four carpenters, they are called the Masmasalanicw; they were like human beings with wings "angels" They carved our first ancestors. Each family has an origin story. Along the walls of heaven hung the cloaks of the grizzly bear, the raven, the eagle, the killer whale all of God's creations. Our first ancestors had a choice of what cloak they would descend to earth with. Once they descended to earth that animals cloak went back to heaven. Today as a Nuxalkmc we know what our crests are, whether we come from the Eagle, Raven or any other of Gods creation., this is our direct tie to Manakays our heavenly father. When we make our regalia we put the crest of our first ancestor on our blankets acknowledging to Manakays that we will never forget the gifts he has given us.
The territory of our people is vast. Today the four major villages that make up the Nuxalk Nation come from South Bentick - Taliyumc, Kimsquit - Sutslmc, Kwatna - Kwalhnmc and the villages in the vicinity of what is known as Bella Coola today - Q'umquots The old people remember when there were over ten thousand Nuxalkmc in this valley alone. Today are population numbers 1500 - 2000.
for more information contact:
House of Smayusta
PO Box 8.
Bella Coola, B.C.
Canada V0T 1C0;
phone: (250) 799-5376
Email:mailto:government@nuxalk.orgFor technical problems, email: warren@nuxalk.org
