Totems

After our trip to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK, it was time to leave Whitehorse and theYukon Territory. As we trekked down through the Yukon and British Columbia we traveled through numerous areas known for the First Nations totem poles. We were surprised to learn that the totem poles are not an ancient tradition, although it is an old part of their culture. We stopped at one small village where they were developing their museum. The totem poles set in the ground are part of the village and represent and honor different people or families. The faces and figures and top symbols represented values or characters of the person or family. The ones outside are the newer ones, and Ken said some looked as if they had been done with a chain saw. The museum wasn't really open, but we wandered under the porch roofs and came upon some really old totem poles. They are always made out of cedar, and it would sometimes take up to 2 years to complete them. The older ones had much less detail left. If a village changed locations, the poles were left to mark the place they left. We also learned that some totem poles were for the interiors, as support poles or at the entrance to lodges. With the appearance of white settlers, paint became available and was used to enhance some of the figures. Wish we had had more time to explore more of these.