Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3     Exposure: 1/250s   f8.0/5mm     Date: 21.08.2017

Totem poles, Skedans, Haida Gwaii, BC

In Haida society, wealth is measured not by what you own, but what you give away. Hosting a potlatch marks important events like marriages or naming a chief’s successor, and witnesses from clans far and wide are given potlatch gifts in exchange for sharing the story. Accepting the gifts is a legally binding contract to share the event accurately, and in this way the oral tradition records history through generations. This leaning pole has a ring carved for every potlatch given. The two broken-off poles to the left are mortuary poles.