[Al Charles Jr.]
The tools we use and make — trying to understand the images, the carvings that are on some of these things. Some people would question why, let's say it's, a wolf. Right? They look at this wolf on this spindle whorl or on this comb and a lot of times it looks like a wolf, but there's a fin on its back.
Growing up, I figured that they just thought it looked cool. I didn't understand why they put that fin on its back. It's because that tool is working with something so sacred, they would put those images on there that were of these supernatural beings.
I've had this conversation with, with different elders from Vancouver and over on Vancouver Island in the Puget Sound, down to the Columbia River, of why they put these, these supernatural images on these, whether it's a tapper or it's, a beater stick or net shuttle or spindle whorl.
The same answers that kept coming out was, it's because of how sacred that material was that tool would be holding. You know, that wool.
The designers would make whatever image they were carving on there relate to that spirit world, the world that we can't see, walking down the street a lot of the times.
They would put those on these to make them that much stronger so they could be used with this sacred material.
