Patty, Shane, Eli, and I were able to go to the totem pole raising in Klawock, AK (next town over) this week. They have a small native totem park and after several years the hand carved poles deteriorate and need to be replaced. This year they replaced 6 poles. Each pole is hand carved by a master carver and represents a specific clan (Eagle, Raven, ect) and are from a certain family line. There is a lot of interesting history associated with it, and it was really cool to watch them bring up the pole traditionally without any modern technology.
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| They were buddies for the day |
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| This is a hand woven native hat- they were gorgeous |
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| Each line of people were the ones heaving on the rope to raise the pole |
this is such a beautiful thing to be able to share a history and heritage with many old customs and traditions. it is nice that you 'outsiders' were welcomed to share such a special event. it looks like the perfect weather for such a party too. hopefully next year when you are in alaska there will be another totem pole raising.
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