Cecelia Leo Alphonse
qwulsimtunaat | Cecelia Leo Alphonse
July 25, 1892 – November 26, 1975
qwulsimtunaat Cecelia Leo Alphonse (née Leo) was a respected Elder, Spiritual Healer, and Knowledge Keeper from quw’utsun1. She was a fluent speaker of the Hul’q’umi’num’ language and generously shared her knowledge of the language, history, culture and traditions of her people with linguists and scholars. She was a valued member of her community and was often called on for advice and cultural work.
She was born July 25, 1892 to hwuneem2 Leo Peter and qwulsimtunaat Annie Kalatza, both of Duncan. As a child, Cecelia held the name wuswasulwut. Although both of her parents were from quw’utsun, her mother’s family had ancestral roots in Squamish. Her mother’s grandmother was Squamish and had come to quw’utsun when she married the s’amun’a chief Ben qixuletse’3. It was from this Squamish lineage that the name sti’tum’atul’wut came to Cecelia. The name was held by Cecelia’s daughter, Ruby Peter, during her lifetime (1932-2021) and is now held by Ruby’s own daughter.
In 1929, soon after both of her parents had passed away, she married xitsulenuhw Basil Alphonse of kw’amutsun4. The couple lived together for many years at kw’amutsun. They had six children, Leo (1931), Ruby (1932), Theresa (1933), Alphonse (1935), Delores (1940), and Muriel (Molly) (1942). Her husband Basil worked as a faller in the logging industry and also farmed the family property.
Throughout her lifetime Cecelia engaged in a number of activities to earn money for her family. She was a skilled weaver and knitter and traded her knitted sweaters to stores for goods or sold them privately. She also taught her children how to knit. In addition, Cecelia frequently worked as a domestic labourer. She would do a variety of domestic tasks for settler families in the Cowichan Valley. And, during the summer months, Cecelia often earned money by berry picking. Like many Coast Salish people, she traveled with her children to Washington where they worked together to pick berries over the summer season.
Both Cecelia and her husband were prominent members of their community and were known as experts in language and culture. They shared their language and their traditions with their children, training them in longhouse culture, canoe pulling, language, Indigenous protocols and other snuw’uyulh. Both Cecelia and Basil traveled to dances when their children were young. According to their daughter, Ruby Peter, both were very busy people, always going somewhere and working or participating in cultural activities.
Cecelia’s family had the right to the Rattler and a sxwuyxwi Mask and she taught her children the traditions, stories, protocols and songs associated with these rights. The Rattler that the family holds can be used for memorials, for names, for bringing Elders in to receive a blessing from the Masked Dancers and more. It is very powerful. Cecelia made sure that her children knew these traditions and could pass the knowledge on to their own children. Cecelia was a thi’tha, a spiritual healer, and she was careful to teach her children about the power and responsibilities of this role.
qwulsimtunaat Cecelia Leo Alphonse worked for many years sharing her language and culture with her children and her community. Throughout her lifetime she was a valued member of her community and was often called on for advice or to carry out cultural and spiritual work. She died on November 26, 1975 aged 83. We are thankful for the important work she carried out, and are grateful for the knowledge repository her sharing created.
- Cowichan, Cowichan First Nation. ↩︎
- Also spelled Whinam. ↩︎
- Also spelled quyxuletse’ and qihuletse’. ↩︎
- Quamichan. ↩︎