Saturday, August 18, 2018

Of Totems and Spirit Places


The Kermode Spirit Bear


On the misty islands of Haida Gwaii,
the spirits walk
and sometimes sing.
I have been told they also wail.

The ancient totems of SGaang Gwaay*
lean and topple onto the land
where the Haida thrived 
for 17,000 years.
If one is reverent, and listens 
with her heart,
she might sometimes hear 
the wailing of those ancient spirits,
the thousands who died
after the settlers came,
a desolate, inconsolable grieving
that the land remembers,
carried on the ocean breeze.

The cedars stand tall today
along protected shores,
where the white Spirit Bear
and grey wolf families
move peacefully through their
days and nights.
Mother Orca eats well here,
in this remote archipelago,
where it is more difficult
for our grasping machines
to reach and to destroy.

The Haida fought for forest,
and for sea,
cast off the settlers’ name
for the land they loved,
claimed it back as Haida Gwaii,
the Islands of the People,
strong and free.

My soul walks there
each time I think of it,
(a home where I have never lived),
padding softly through the forest
with mother wolf.
It walks along the shore 

with Spirit Bear.
I hear the whisper of spirit voices
in the trees,
the song of an ancient people,
my footsteps gentle
on this wild
and ancient land.


Totems from the 1890's


*SGaang Gwaay is the Haida name for the World Heritage site formerly known as Ninstints, where the ancient totem poles are now protected, and where it is said the spirits of the dead can sometimes be heard wailing, by those with heart enough to hear.
  
Haida Gwaii has always called to me, for its pristine wilderness, remoteness and wild beauty. Its people are hardy and self-sufficient, having survived its untamed landscape and stormy winters for thousands of years.



Haida Village in the 1890's



Called the Queen Charlotte Islands during the colonial era, it was reclaimed, appropriately, as Haida Gwaii, “the Islands of the People”, in 2010.



The Haida are culturally strong. Because of the archipelago’s remoteness, off the north-west coast of British Columbia,  it has been more difficult for development to decimate it, although it tried. The Haida fought hard for decades to protect the old growth, which was being clearcut.

In 1985, the Haida Nation designated Gwai Hanaas a “Haida Heritage Site", blockading successfully to stop logging in some areas. However, logging continued in others, while the Haida fought on. Finally, in 1993, Haida and government signed the Gwai Hanaas Agreement, designating it a national park preserve.

In 2010 the marine waters were protected also, by the establishing of the Gwaii Hanaas National Marine Conservation Area.

The Great Bear rainforest is the largest coastal temperate rainforest in the world, comprising over six million hectares. The B.C. government recognized it in 2016, protecting 85% of its forest. The white Spirit Bear lives in this forest, a mythical and revered animal.

The Haida are a matrilineal society, divided into two groups, the Raven and the Eagle. When it comes time to marry, a person must marry someone from the other group.

Property, title, crests, masks, and songs are passed down through the mother’s side.

SGaang Gwaay today


Totem poles tell the story of each First Nations family, reflecting their clan history. Each animal on the totem, as well as its placement, has significance.

Upon contact in the late 1800's, the population of 8000 was decimated, only 589 surviving by 1915. The Haida have rebounded to 5,000 people now. Declining fish stocks and forest resources have led to the development of new approaches to financial survival, including tourism, secondary wood manufacturing and the arts.

For Brendan’s prompt at Real Toads: Totems. Since totem poles are a part of the landscape I live in, I thought I would write about real, rather than personal, totems. I know a woman who recently visited SGaang Gwaii, among the toppling ancient poles. I asked her if she felt the ancient energy there. She said she could hear wailing, the grieving of thousands of ghosts, those who died from smallpox, as she stood on that sacred land.

Sources:

discoveringourstory.wisdomoftheelders.org

thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

fngovernance.org


12 comments:

  1. Wow, this is fascinating! I am so glad you decided to include all the back story. I am so glad that most of the land is protected, now.

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  2. Such an enchanted heartfelt totem island song. The backstory makes it also so true. I'm happy it is protected, and it has singers like you.

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  3. I too have always been called by Haida Gwaii; my heart literally skips beats .... I feel both a sense of longing in mourning and a deep reverence ... in great humility; it is a most special place, truly, sacred.

    Wonderful poem Sherry, and I like the direction you went with this, in the prompt - focusing on Totem Poles and the rich history and culture of this most incredible place (after all, for some, personal totems are truly intimate and shouldn't be disclosed).

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  4. What a wonderful, wonderful piece!! Thank you Sherry!!

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  5. What knew deals the cardpoem has she poem wonderfulbreakthrough

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  6. I love your poem. The place sounds positively mythic! You told the story well and fully in verse, and I was also glad to read the detailed prose explanation.

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  7. Fascinating - {Poem and follow-up). We are truly lucky to be able to "travel" through the internet and all the documentaries and information we can gather never ceases to amaze me.

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  8. This is amazing, Sherry, but then I expected an excellent totem poem from you! Thank you for the enlightening background information, too.

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  9. I do hope the spirit of the white bear still walks the land - but for how much longer? So many devastating tales of human and animal suffering, with only dire predictions of mass extinction.

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  10. You bring out the voices of the ancients in a spectacular haunting fashion! I almost hear them myself!

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  11. Loved reading the poem, and the history. I enjoyed the pictures also.

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  12. Thanks so much for sharing this history of a place unfamiliar to me. I have such a strong desire to go there now. Beautifully written poem, Sherry!

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