On a calm day in October and with no cruise ships at sea, Noah Boos stood looking at a sign that was near a kooteeyaa also known as a totem pole along the waterfront of Juneau. The sign explains the details of what the figures carved on it is such as a bear with curving teeth and big eyes that are formline and an eagle sporting faces painted rouge on the back and a killer whale that has an eel in its mouth and on top the Kaagwaantaan clan’s member.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I am in love with these signs,”” he added. “(They) give you something about the totems represent. .”
Boos admitted that he’s been to Juneau previously however, not until the Kooteeyaa appeared. Boos said he enjoys the fact that passengers on cruise ships can gain so much knowledge after getting off their vessels.
“First that you’d notice most likely would be totems and warning signs” the man said.
In the spring of this year, Sealaska Heritage Institute installed 12 kooteeyaa on Juneau’s waterfront. They were created from Lingit, Haida and Tsimshian artists from clans in the region.
The group has put up storyboards this week to inform visitors about the poles and to protect them from being mistreated.
The span style=”font-weight font-weight: 400 ;”>”These are items that are sacred to Lingit individuals,” said SHI’s Ricardo Worl. “And we believe that the storyboards will aid people in understanding our past and how sacred the kooteeyaas are to us. .”
Each storyboard includes a drawing of the pole, along with an explanation of the symbol and the story that the Kooteeyaa is telling. The storyboard also includes the artist of the story, their clan, and stories of the clan.
At the beginning of this cruise season images appeared of children being put in the massive brass hands of the Shangukeidi Kooteeyaa. People in the community were angry about this and other instances of people being mistreated and touching poles.
Worl stated that SHI was considering erecting barriers in order to stop the gang but they opted not to.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We contemplated this, and put words on the storyboards: “Please do not touch, these are sacred objects. The more we pondered it and thought about it, the more convinced we are that every person in our community is accountable to inform our visitors about the importance of this,” he said.
Worl believes that the mistreatment of Kooteeyaa is likely due to an inability to comprehend what they are in the eyes of Alaska Native people. He said he’d like people from non-Native communities and those working involved in tourism to voice their concerns when they see individuals behave in a way that is not appropriate with the Kooteeyaa.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”For our guests it’s a fantastic chance to understand that this is much more than an art form,” he said.
The 12 poles form included in the Kooteeyaa Deiyi, or Totem Pole Trail. In the near future, SHI plans to install 30 poles around the docks. with many are representing clans.
The kooteeyaa gives Indigenous people with the ability to understand their identity and the ancestors they inherited from He said.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”They are our stories of the past. They tell stories about clans. They establish connections between our ancestors and our current generation,” Worl said. “Our grandchildren will be able see the Kooteeyaa and prove their identities to their ancestors as well as to their crests that .”
Worl told us that SHI has the funds to purchase a second Kooteeyaa. The company is also seeking funds to commission 17 additional.
