Duncan City of Totems Cowicham Valley First Nations Traditional Aboriginal Indian Culture BC Canada
This is a story pole. It was carved as a thank you from one chief to an other. The Chief wished to give a thank you to an other chief but did not know what to do. However he had two visions and in the first vision he was walking through the forest beside a river and along came a Beaver who gave him a cedar log to carve. In another vision he saw his son receiving a totem pole from a Raven so he asked his son to carve the pole. When the totem was finished he called on the Raven to deliver the pole to his friends village. The friend was so pleased that he had a potlatch/totem pole raising ceremony in his honour. The Raven is at the very top transporting the pole The eagle near the top shows the power and prestige of the Chief (since he was of the Eagle clan). The figure in the middle is the Chiefs son. In his left hand he is holding a carving tool and in his right we see the sign for "Thank you". We see the Beaver at the bottom because of the incisor theeth and cross hatched tail. Red Ochre and Charcoal mixed with Salmon Eggs and Oil The Blue Green Colour is made from "seed extracted at higher levels" Yellow was made from oregon grape and root and the white from clamshell. The Coast Salish are indigenous of the southern groups. Their territory spans from the northern limit of the Gulf of Georgia on the inside of Vancouver Island and covering most of southern Vancouver Island as well as all of Puget Sound except for the Chemakum territory near Port Townsend, and all of the Olympic Peninsula except the Quileute, who are related to the Chemakum. The Tillamook or Nehalem around Tillamook, Oregon are the southermost of the Coast Salish peoples Within the Coast Salish their are many independent groups and subgroups within that. The Coast Salish cultures differs considerably from their northern neighbours. It is one of the few indigenous cultures along the coast with a patrilineal, not matrilineal, culture.
Size: 3746px × 5596px
Location: Canada Avenue Duncan Vancouver Island British Columbia BC Canada
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: aboriginal, angle, beaver, blue, carved, carving, chief, coast, colors, colours, cultural, doug, duncan, eagle, erect, explore, gift, human, interest, lafortune, learn, nations, people, places, pole, raven, salish, sculpted, sky, story, style, sunshine, tall, totem, traditional, travel, wooden
