Duncan City of Totems Cowicham Valley First Nations Traditional Aboriginal Indian Culture Vancouver Island BC Canada
This pole is considered a marriage pole. The reason an Eagle was chosen as a symbol is that they mate once and for life and the Coast Salish Peoples believe that marraige is a sacred and eternal union. Here we see how totem poles teach spiritual values. The Eagle is holding a human, which shows protection above an Eagle sitting on a human for support. 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. They are also one of the few peoples on the coast whose traditional territories coincide with major metropolitan areas, namely Victoria, Vancouver, and Seattle.
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, alphonse, area, bird, bold, canute, carved, carving, close, coast, colorful, colourful, cowichan, culture, design, eagle, eternal, eye, flamboyant, harvey, human, kwagulth, marriage, nation, nelson, people, pole, protection, sacred, salish, support, symbolic, totem, traditional, wooden
