The Gispwudwada (variously spelled) is the name for the Killerwhale (or "Blackfish") "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the Gisgahaast (variously spelled; also Gisk'aast) clan in British Columbia's Nisga'a and Gitksan nations. The Nisga'a also call this group the Killerwhale clan, though the Gitksan use the term Fireweed clan; Gisgahaast means literally "people of the fireweed. Members of the Tsimshian tribe enjoying a tea party near Fort Simpson, British Columbia, c. ... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Official languages none stated in law; English is de facto Flower Pacific dogwood Tree Western Redcedar Bird Stellers Jay Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 36 6... Official language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  Ranked 1st  - Total 663,267 sq mi (1,717,854 km²)  - Width 808 miles (1,300 km)  - Length 1,479 miles (2,380 km)  - % water 13. ... Nisgaa flag Mask with open eyes, worn during winter halait ceremonies, 18th–early 19th century The Nisaa (pronounced Nis-gah) are of the First Nations of Canada. ... (pronounced GIT-san) also spelled as Gitxsan pronounced the same. ...

The name Gispwudwada is of unknown etymology.

The chief crests of the Gispwudwada are the Killerwhale (a.k.a. orca) ('neexł in Tsimshian) and Grizzly Bear (midiik). Binomial name Orcinus orca Linnaeus, 1758 Orca range (in blue) The Orca or Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) is not a whale, but the largest species of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae). ... Trinomial name Ursus arctos horribilis (Ord, 1815) Current and historical range of the Grizzly Bear in North America The Grizzly Bear, sometimes called the Silvertip Bear, has traditionally been treated as a subspecies, Ursus arctos horribilis, of the brown bear living in North America. ...

Tsimshian matrilineal houses belonging to the Gispwudwada tend to belong to one of two groups, the Git'mlaxam and the Gitnagwinaks.

Git'mlaxam

The Git'mlaxam trace their origins to the legendary Temlaxam (a.k.a. Temlaham, Dimlahamid, etc.) or "Prairie Town" on the Skeena River in what is now Gitksan territory. The Git'mlaxam can be further subdivided. The Skeena River is on the north coast of British Columbia, passing through Terrace. ...

Git'mlaxam house-groups among the Tsimshian include the royal House of Ts'ibasaa in the Gitkxaała (Kitkatla) tribe. The Kitkatla are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and inhabit a village, also called Kitkatla (sometimes called Laxklan), on Dolphin Island, a small island just by Porcher Island off the coast of northern B.C. Because of this they have sometimes been...

Gitnagwinaks

The Gitnagwinaks (sometimes spelled Nagunaks) trace their migrations southward, to the vicinity of the Kitasoo Tsimshians at Klemtu, B.C. In a discussion of the Bear Mother myth, the anthropologist Marius Barbeau in 1950 published information recorded by the Tsimshian ethnologist William Beynon from his fellow Gitlaan Tsimshian E. Maxwell which describes a dispute among the Kitasoo Gispwudwada house-heads Wuts'iint, Dzagmsagisk, and T'amks as to ownership of certain crest privileges, resulting in migration to Kitkatla, Gitwilgyoots, and Gitlaan tribes of Tsimshians. Klemtu is a village in the coastal fjords of British Columbia, Canada. ... Charles Marius Barbeau (March 5, 1883 – February 27, 1969) was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist. ... The Kitkatla are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and inhabit a village, also called Kitkatla (sometimes called Laxklan), on Dolphin Island, a small island just by Porcher Island off the coast of northern B.C. Because of this they have sometimes been...

The following Gitnagwinaks crests are listed:

• Grizzly Bear of the Sea (midiigm ts'm 'aks)
• Double-Finned Killerwhale (wüsngoopskinm nee'x 'neexł)
• Killerwhale with Fins All Around (txatkunee'xs)
• Ligidadools, wife of the monster chief of the Nagwinaks

Bibliography

• Barbeau, Marius (1928) The Downfall of Temlaham. Toronto: MacMillan.

• Barbeau, Marius (1929) Totem Poles of the Gitksan, Upper Skeena River, British Columbia. (Anthropological Series 12, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 61.) Ottawa: Canada, Department of Mines.

• Barbeau, Marius (1950) Totem Poles. (2 vols.) (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. Reprinted, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec, 1990.

• Glavin, Terry (1990) A Death Feast in Dimlahamid. Vancouver: New Star Books

• Harris, Kenneth B., and Frances M. P. Robinson (1974) Visitors Who Never Left: The Origin of the People of Damelahamid. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press

• Robinson, Will (1962) Men of Medeek. As told by Walter Wright. Kitimat, B.C.: Northern Sentinel Press.