(jazzy piano music)
- [Lauren] We're here at the Totem Heritage Center
looking at a group of totem poles,
and I'm fascinated by one that only has carving
at the top and the bottom.
- [Teresa] This pole here is
from the Haida people and is representing
a clan that is being memorialized.
A long time ago there was a highly respected clan leader
amongst the Haida people and his name was Skowal.
And when his young grandchild passed away
in a very tragic accident, he had a totem pole raised
to memorialize the individual.
At the top of the pole, there's remnants of an eagle.
You just see the wings and the feet
that are sitting at the top,
and unfortunately the rest of it has decayed.
And at the bottom is the clan crest of the beaver,
which we could tell by the ears
on top of its head and the shape of the eyes, the nose,
and you could see the remnants of the paws
that are in front of the beaver,
which at one time was holding a chew stick.
And right below you could see the figure of a baby beaver
that's hanging onto the crosshatched tail.
- [Teresa] This beaver at one time had a face on it,
and it was all in one piece.
You could see the different sections
that look like cylinders that are pieced together.
Some people think that it's forgotten,
that they were going to go back and carve it later,
or they just didn't have to time,
but what actually you're looking at
is something that is very special
when you see on a totem pole.
Some people call them potlatch rings.
When the newcomers came up here
they went through many different tribes as they continued
to explore the indigenous people of this area.
One of the words that they came across
from another tribe was potlatch.
The potlatch translates into a gift-giving ceremony
or a gift-giving event.
Now, when the newcomers came up through here,
they noticed something common
that was amongst the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people
that are cultural events.
There is many gifts given out to your opposite clans
throughout the event.
So the word potlatch is actually describing
totem pole raisings, name-giving ceremonies,
clan houses that were opening
or rededications of clan houses.
It takes anywhere between one to five years
to get ready for an event.
And what goes on during that time,
the clan that's hosting the cultural event
start making things, start handing out gifts
when the time comes.
So they could be creating new paddles
for the men that paddle the canoes.
They could start making dance paddles
for those that dance with paddles
and the clans that will be coming.
There could be new Chilkat blankets being woven,
new button-robe blankets.
It could be bentwood boxes.
There's many different things to be made.
While the year of the event, the clan that's hosting it,
they'll gather enough food, not only for themselves,
but for the entire event.
The event itself could last anywhere
between one or two days, up to one or two weeks.
And during that time, the clan that's hosting it
will take care of all their guests,
their opposite clans that are invited.
Your opposite clan could be of your spouse,
or your father's clan or your mother's father's clan.
It's somebody that balances you out in life
and throughout the culture.
So when they invite them,
they make sure that nothing has gone wanted for.
They'll make sure that they're housed, that they're fed,
that everything is taken care of.
At the event, the guests and the hosting clan
will have a chance to share their clan songs,
their stories, bring out some special items
or in Tlingit we call at.oowu,
something that is precious to the clan.
And when they go back to the original villages
they came from, the hosting clan will then give them
enough food to go to the village
that they're traveling back to.
When you look at a total pole such as is this one
with these potlatch rings, you count them,
like on this one there is six rings,
and we know that this clan is very wealthy,
not wealthy as in having a lot of money, having big houses,
and all these special items, but they're wealthy
within the terms of the clan is able to work together
to accomplish these cultural events
that they have this time to have their clan weavers
weave these special gifts that they might hand out
to different canoes or paddles.
So it's the skills and the respect
that they put into the event that makes them
rich and wealthy.
- [Lauren] And all of that is so beautifully represented
here in this poll.
I'm struck by the ways that the carvers
have used different depths of perception
to show parts of the beaver's body three dimensionally,
other parts details.
For instance, if we're looking at the arms
of the beaver that are held up,
there's a very deep carving that gives a nice play
of light and shadow,
but then if we look at the open mouth, we can see
that the carvers have given us detailed pick out
each individual tooth and the lines there are shallower,
and so demonstrating the expertise
of the different depth of carving.
Originally this pole would've been painted
and we still see some of that paint on this pole.
- [Teresa] You could see underneath the wings of the Eagle
and you could see at the bottom
by the beaver's face underneath the chin,
around the eyes of the beaver,
within the ears of the beaver.
Unfortunately, a lot of these poles
have seen a lot of weatherization
within the over a hundred years of being
out in the open elements.
So this pole is one of the fortunate ones
where it was standing within the village.
Long time ago, we put up the pole and we leave it as is.
We don't repaint it out of respect of the carver
and the person that owned the pole.
Where nowadays, a lot of people that have poles
that stand out in the open air in public,
have a tendency to touch up the paint,
to go wash the poles as needed
and they inspect the top and the bottom.
And that's one of the big differences
that we are looking at today.
(jazzy piano music)