Native American Sacred Ceremonies: Birgitta Festival

O wydarzeniu

The Birgitta Festival of the Tallinn Philharmonic Society combines the dark charm of a medieval convent in Tallinn, Estonia with the latest in modern musical theatre in all its variety and richness.

Kwakwakwa’wakw Native Americans (Canada, Fort Rupert) perform
two ceremonies: Tseka and Tla’sala at the Birgitta Festival.

For Native Americans, to dance is to fulfil higher obligations, it is to communicate with mythical beings and to be part of the universe. The ancestors say, “It is a tough law that tells us to dance.”

Tseka is a range of dramatised legends showing how the ancestors of Native Americans met the higher beings at the beginning of all times, and how the world has in the course of time come to be what it is today. The legends are performed as a dance, and it is the most valuable part of the culture of Kwakwakwa’wakw Native Americans. Tseka is a sacred ritual that takes the whole day – from morning till evening – if performed in its original form.

Tla’sala is a peace ritual. If two chiefs were at odds with each other, they would always find a common language through dance. This was due to the guidance given by mythical beings, which directed both their bodies and minds when dancing.

In the Potlatch of today, those two originally individual ceremonies are performed one after the other.