This work commemorates my adoption by Mabel Williams of Skidegate, B.C. at a family feast held for the headstone moving ceremony of Godfrey Collinson-Williams, Mabel's late husband. My adoption was witnessed by the Chiefs and Elders of the village of Skidegate. Skidegate was the birth place of Amos Collinson, my great-grandfather, so I was welcomed into the hometown of my ancestor in a very traditional ceremony.

I carry the name ‘Gatlindie Kuudlan Oolgaiga' which translates to ‘Spirit Painter' in the language of the Skidegate people. The adoption brings me into the Raven clan of Skidegate and I have the rights to use the following crests: Raven, Moon, Rainbow, Mountain Goat, Grizzly Bear, Cummulous Cloud, Double-finned Whale, and ‘Raven with Moon in Mouth'. The evening I left with part of my new family (my sister, Terry-Lynn Williams and even my brother, Robert Davidson), there was a full moon rising over the ocean in front of Skidegate and I was struck by the wonder of it all.

Raven is seen three times in the sky, representing the three generations since Amos Collinson, the fact that my wife, Rhonda and my son William, are Ravens from my Tsimshian village of Kitkatla, and that I am a Haida Raven from Skidegate and the Collinson family.

Other Products Based on This Piece

• Skidegate
  Art Card