Carved in the mid-1800s as an entrance pole to a long house, the Snow family pole was later used as a marker for a family grave but was taken without permission in 1913 and added to a collection of the Royal B.C. Museum.
BELLA COOLA, B.C. — A carved pole that embodies the history and culture of a British Columbia First Nation is being welcomed back to its ancestral home, more than 100 years after it was taken.
Dancing and feasting are among the celebrations expected in the central coast community of Bella Coola as the Nuxalk Nation marks the repatriation of the totem pole. Chief Deric Snow is a descendent of the man who carved the pole and says the return is a good first step because his great-grandfather’s spirit remains inside the totem and cannot be at rest until the pole is returned home.
Snow says other Nuxalk artifacts, including canoes and totems, remain at the Royal B.C. Museum and in other museums around the world, and the First Nation continues to work for their return. Ceremonies were held last week in Victoria as the totem was removed from the museum and loaded onto a truck for the roughly 1,000-kilometre drive back to Bella Coola.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Celebration marks repatriation of B.C. totem to Nuxalk Nation after century-long waitTotem was used as a marker for a family grave but taken without permission in 1913 and added to a collection of the Royal B.C. Museum
Read more »
Celebration marks repatriation of B.C. totem to Nuxalk Nation after century-long waitA carved pole that embodies a BC First Nation\u0027s history is being welcomed back to its ancestral home, more than 100 years after it was taken
Read more »
The Nuxalk Nation's totem pole was stolen and sold to a museum. After waiting 110 years, they finally have it backA totem pole removed from an Indigenous burial site more than a century ago and kept on display in a Canadian museum has been repatriated to the Nuxalk Nation.
Read more »
Barbara Kay: The Last of Us is a celebration of masculinity, despite clear progressive valuesThe show is a salutary reminder that in times of existential threat, it becomes clear that manliness isn’t the problem\u003B it’s the solution
Read more »
Wrestling action hits Sudbury Feb. 20You can catch Canadian Wrestling Elite’s 14th Anniversary celebration stop at the Polish Combatants hall
Read more »
A Manitoba First Nation's outside-the-box solution to its housing crisisNorway House Cree Nation has more people than homes to house them, a problem that an innovative housing company is hoping to solve by making modular homes out of sea cans.
Read more »