by more Alert Bay
Above: details of just two sections of the World’s Tallest Totem Pole. The Totem Pole is comprised of a 163 Foot and a 10 Foot pole making it 173 feet tall. Unlike most Totem Poles, which are specific to a particular family, the figures on this pole represent some of the tribes of the Kwakwaka’wakw. (from the PDF about Alert Bay’s Totem Poles)
There are several totem poles located around the village and we visited quite a number, thanks to the map. It is fascinating how unique each is. Some are fairly recently created memorials placed in front of homes of the deceased. The above linked PDF document is certainly worth a read.
November 2, 2013 in Anthropology, Canada and BC, Culture, History, Travel by Marja-Leena
I especially like “Pole-Chief holding Copper above his head, D’zunukw̓ a, located at the U’mista Cultural Centre, carved by Stephen Bruce and Shane Salmon in 2003.” They’re all interesting, though–good pictures.
We have a Haida pole in Cooperstown! Bit of a surprise… http://fenimoreartmuseum.blogspot.com/2011/08/haida-totem-pole-one-year-later.html That’s because we have this: http://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/fenimore/exhibitions/eugene_and_clare_thaw_collection_of_indian_art_anniversary
Marly, how interesting that you have a Haida pole there. Was that a commissioned purchase? I noticed the post about its installation ceremony with the carver present. As you probably know, numerous poles had been taken by museums far away in earlier times but many are being repatriated. The U’mista website has the story which you may have read. I’ll be doing a wee post on that later even though we didn’t get to go inside.
Yes, it was–I suppose to add a little something to the Thaw collection, which is pretty marvelous and well worth seeing–and it changes. It’s a better collection than one could expect to find hereabouts, certainly, and we’re lucky to have it.
They really are extraordinary works of art. It would do us all a world of good if the carving and painting of totem poles as remembrances of the people we’ve lost was common practice.
While I’m here, Marja-Leena, I thought I’d let you know that even though I have linked to your new site in my RSS feed your new posts still haven’t appeared. I don’t know what’s wrong (I do have a couple of other WP links that update), but I still simply check your blog most days.
Susan, I have had the same thought – the creation of these totem poles are a wonderful way to remember and commemorate loved ones. Warmer than stone too, and as we said earlier, eventually returning to the earth.
Susan, thanks for letting me know about your problem getting my new blog into your RSS feed. I’ve noticed that some others do too. I had difficulty with re-subscribing in Feedly but NetNewsWire was a breeze. I’ll ask my techie helpers.
I tried your suggestion and deleted you from the blog list thingy, but was unable to go further. I did take the precaution of “bookmarking” you, so I can always get through that way by periodic checking.
Tom, I’m sorry for the trouble this transfer has caused for you. Bookmarks are still a good way, the old way I used to visit blogs, websites and still do for news and certain sites. I keep my bloglist in bookmarks as well, a good backup to have.
I first saw a totem pole in the museum in Edinburgh which we revisited recently. My general interest led me to subscribe to a couple of magazines covering Original Nations art and crafts when we were living in New England. Thank you for these fascinating photos and the information.
By the way, this post and the last were not flagged up on my blog. I was also not able to comment until I had signed onto a WordPress account. I suppose this is the price we pay for having so much at our fingertips!
Olga, I’m glad you are finding these of interest!
And thanks for letting me know what issues you have been facing with my ‘new’ blog – I’m very sorry about that and hope things will improve. I’m still learning the ropes around here myself. Did you try unsubscribing and then resubscribing from the RSS link on the left? It works for some but not everyone. And I didn’t know that you had to sign onto a WordPress account.
Another major irritation for me is that my internal links between older posts (with.php endings) open into the older blog. So, they must be changed to WP standards before I’m fully cut off from MovableType, sigh. I’m hoping my daughter will be able to do that in one swoop with some coding, a foreign language for me. Now you know why I dislike all these updates and changes over nearly 10 years, the last one just over a year ago.
Later: Oops, I just noticed you had commented earlier and it ended up in spam! Go figure! My apologies.