DCHP-2

button blanket DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Aboriginal, especially First Nations

  a cape ornamented with family crests, using white buttons in the design, worn as regalia at feasts and other important events by First Nations peoples of the West Coast.

  Type: 4. Culturally Significant — Button blankets are worn at potlatches and feasts by members of West Coast First Nations. At traditional naming ceremonies, a button blanket with the individual's family crest is presented to the recipient (see the Canadian Museum of History reference).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "button blanket", which mentions "Aboriginal peoples of the Pacific Coast of North America", Gage-5, s.v. "button blanket", which is marked "Cdn.", ITP Nelson, s.v. "button blanket", which mentions "Aboriginal peoples of the Pacific Coast".

  See also: potlatch ((n.))  thunderbird cape  

  • 1935  Early the next morning four messengers went all round the village dressed in button blankets [...]
  • 1960  The old chief in his button blanket spoke in his native language.
  • 1996  (1997)  Bill Reid won every major award given to an artist by Native people or whites, but would still be seen, a button blanket over his shoulders, his frail body standing in the rain along with Native people protesting the careless destruction of their old forest land by the noisy resource-extraction companies.
  • 2010  The button blanket, which came into use after European contact, has now become the most popular piece of contemporary feast attire among the people of the north coast - the Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit and Nisga'a. At first, crest designs decorated with dentalium shells were sewn onto wool blankets acquired from maritime fur traders and later the Hudson's Bay company. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the favoured blanket was made of blue duffle, with the designs appliquéd in red stroud. Squares of abalone shell were sewn to the eyes and joints of the crest figures to reflect bits of light as the wearer danced around a fire. When pearl buttons obtained from fur traders came into use, they proliferated onto the formlines. Today, buttons are sometimes used to fill entire zones of the design elements and even the whole field of the background. 
  • 2015  As a tribute to her work on the islands, she was adopted into the Raven Clan by one of the elders and given a Haida button blanket bearing the clan crest. "It doesn't make her a Haida but it makes her a member of a clan, and it's an honourable position," Mr. Bellis said.