A bit about Totem Poles

Compared to other areas of Canada, British Columbia retains quite a lot of its First Nations Heritage, and of course we wanted to find out a bit more about the people and take a look at one of the most iconic aspects of their culture, the totem pole. As we will be seeing a bit about this over the coming posts, I thought I’d drop in a quick background post, to help make sense of the posts to come.

We tend to think of Canada as a relatively new country, and that is true in terms of the white European settlement here. But of course, like so many countries that we British and other Europeans decided to claim as our own, there were already people living here when we arrived. The First Nations people are believed to have settled here at least 12,000 years ago, but it could have been longer ago than that. They lived in numerous tribal communities, with those in this British Columbia area known generically as the Pacific Coastal group.

The First Nations people did not have a written language, and totem poles form an important part of their culture, history and storytelling. They are all made of cedar wood, but can vary considerably, depending on the tribe, the carver, the wealth and status of the family, and the purpose of the pole.

There are three different types of pole. The first is a house pole. This was placed outside the home, and was decorated with family crest at the top, followed by other crests or symbols that are meaningful about the owner. A post could only show the crests that the owner was entitled to use, be that the symbol of their own tribe, or a crest that had been gifted to them through friendship, trade or other means.

The house pole therefore shows the story of the family, and can be viewed as a kind of address, as if you were visiting, you could look at a pole, and see information about the person that lived there and whether or not you would receive a warm welcome.

This type of pole was often taken by settlers and tourists, so is often found in museums around the world.

The second type is the memorial pole. These would predominantly have been put up by the Chief, and would have been created to commemorate a special event, and the carvings would represent the event that had occurred. These poles would also have had rings carved around it to record the potlatches that had been hosted by the Chief, as these were a symbol of his generosity and therefore his importance.

The third type is a mortuary pole. The First Nations people did not bury their dead. The bodies of those of a lower standing would be placed in a tree or cave to decompose, and allow their spirit to rise, and then their bones would be placed in a mortuary house behind the home. However, those of sufficient importance or wealth, would have their body put into a bentwood box, which would be placed on top of a mortuary pole, which would have carvings that represented the individual who had passed away.

The First Nations people generally believe that these posts should not be maintained, as when they fall, it is because the spirit of the person is now free, so the posts are left and allowed to gradually decay where they drop. It is these posts that are most likely to be the type that can still be found in old villages, as they were less likely to be removed.

While the carvings on totems are very symbolic, there is surprisingly little information about what they mean. Because the symbolism was personal to the owner, and the storytelling and nuances were created by the carver, each is very individual, and so similar images may in fact represent quite different meanings. Some of the stories of the totem would have been ‘told’ through dances and storytelling at the potlatch that would have been held to celebrate and witness the raising of the pole. I’ll talk more about potlatches in another post.

Stories of the totems may have been passed down through families, but they often get distorted, intentionally or otherwise, and when the colonial governments banned the language and the traditions of the First Nations people, much of their history, culture and stories were lost.

The crests and images are often steeped in supernatural beliefs, like the belief that many ancestors had the ability to change between human form and that of a particular animal or bird. Some of the beings were in themselves supernatural too, such as the Thunderbird, that controls the upper world and came down from the sky, took off its bird regalia, and became human, or the Dzunuk’wa, a wild woman, who smelled bad and was wicked, but a little stupid. She would capture children, but they would usually be able to escape.

Popular tribal crests include both these beings, plus more familiar creatures such as the eagle, raven, grizzly bear, killer whale and mountain goat. Some images are pretty recognisable, others might require a little imagination, or simply a bit of knowledge, like the fact that the depictions of the eagle and raven may look similar, (especially when the post is old and worn,) but the raven will always have a straight beak, while the tip of the eagle’s will be hooked over. The Thunderbird’s upper beak often will curve right under it’s lower beak .

That is just a quick introduction to some aspects of a totem pole, which I hope will be useful as we carry on our trip around British Columbia.