Totem Pole

Item number A50038 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Pole of T’st’entsit. Carved in high relief out of cedar wood. Crest figures from top to bottom: mythical woman; Kulus (related to Thunderbird); sisiyutl (double-headed serpent), its horns now missing; human form of sisiyutl, holding a copper; Gwa’wina (raven). The large protruding beak of the raven has been attached. The entire surface is painted in black, white, green and red.

History Of Use

Poles such as this were usually memorial or commemorative poles. The beings represented on Kwakwaka'wakw poles are those beings from mythical times who became, or were encountered by, the ancestors of those who are being commemorated, whose family claimed the figures as crests. Crests could also be claimed as marriage gifts.

Cultural Context

status; ceremonial

Iconographic Meaning

Thunderbird and Kulus are supernatural birds identifiable by the presence of ear-like projections or horns on the head. Sisiutl is a serpent often represented with two heads, and associated with wealth and power. Raven is represented with a long, straight beak, sometimes slightly squared or rounded at the tip.

Narrative

According to its collector, Marius Barbeau, this pole was raised for, or by, a man named T’st’entsit on the occasion of a large potlatch. It stood in front of the owner’s house in Tsaxis (Fort Rupert), and was damaged when the house burned down. Because of the fire damage, Mungo Martin, whose teacher and stepfather was Charlie James, re-carved the raven figure at the base before the pole was shipped to Vancouver in 1947. Once here, it was further repainted and repaired, first by Charlie James’ granddaughter, the carver Ellen Neel (1916 – 1966), and then again by her uncle Mungo. It once stood outside at UBC's Totem Pole Park. It was re-located inside to the Museum's Great Hall c. 1975.