Of Totems and Spirit Places

The Kermode Spirit Bear

source

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

source

*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

source

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

source

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

source

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