The Totem Pole Is Up!

Yes, the totem pole finally did get raised! After doing my business down town, I went back past the pole site, at about 2:30, and voila, there it was: UP! So, only about 5 hours after the 10:00 sharp start time, it was finally up there!

This was a very historic event for the Nuxalk people. Traditionally, all the houses in a village would have had "house poles" in front of them. Hopefully there will be more poles carved and raised in the future. Bella Coola is currently a virtual "pole-free zone." There is only one other pole around (other than the-one-that-doesn't-count-because-it-was-made-by-a-white-guy pole at the school), downtown on the reserve side, and if you don't know where to look, you miss it. There used to be two more right across from the Co-op, in a very visible location, but they were rotten and they cut them down last year.....and who knows where they are now.

Please feel free, all you readers out there in e-land, to write me some comments on my blog site. It would be nice to know that I'm not firing this stuff off into a total void......though I know that some of you don't read all of what I write......, but hey, that's OK! Do drop me a line!