Forensic Fashion
(c) 2006-present R. Macaraeg

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ForensicFashion.com

>Costume Studies
>>1885 Tsimshian chief
>>>soul catcher
Subject: chief / shaman
Culture: Tsimshian, Tlingit, other Northwest Coast tribes
Setting: Potlatch, Northwest Coast late 19th - early 20thc
Object: halagim ska mauk soul catcher









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​> event photos





* American Museum of Natural History > Hall of Northwest Coast Indians
"THESE IVORY TUBES are called 'soul catchers.'  They were used by shamans to cure the sick.  Each soul catcher contains the soul of a dead shaman.  The practising [sic] shaman placed one end of the soul catcher in his patient's mouth.  The spirit of the dead shaman then entered the patient and expelled the evil spirit which had been causing the illness."




* American Museum of Natural History > Hall of Northwest Coast Indians
"...'[S]oul catchers' used by shamans."



* American Museum of Natural History > Hall of Northwest Coast Indians
"BONE TUBE used to catch the spirits causing a disease.  It is of Haida origin and workmanship."


* National Museum of the American Museum Heye Center > Listening to Our Ancestors
"halagim ska mauk (soul catcher) with face of a spirit being at both ends."  1850-1890  Bone, abalone shell inlay"