Cleveland High School - Beacon Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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Some effort has been made to preserve these historic relics, and has, so far, proved very successful. This preservation, which is a considerable undertaking because of the enormous size of the poles, is not only being made because they are unique relics but because they are such memorable works of art. Another kind of totem was also found in cemeteries and was called the grave totem. This totem had a place hollowed out in the back at the lower end, in which a box was placed containing the ashes of the deceased. Still another kind were totems that were commemorative to remarkable events in the lives of these Indians. These were historical records whose story was told by symbols carved in wood. Some of the poles were directories to the Indians. A visiting native, though he lived many miles away and spoke an entirely different language, would look for a home with the same totem sign as his own. There, although a stranger, he would be welcomed as a brother. If he belonged to a different family, he thought again before risking an intrusion, so important was the significance of the totem pole. FRANCES REBMANN, JEAN SNODSMITH, VIOLA KOENIG. '0- Gi xi . 'T N N I - xlib 1 J N 1 X. 'Sl Jerome Xickelznzii 16 5.0. ,V

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.fgfcwgah .Zfem 19045 In Southeastern Alaska, there can still be seen the totem poles that date back to the customs of the Hydah Indian tribes. The natives re- garded these poles as tribal crests or coats-of-arms. They knew what each sign on the pole meant and could read them as we read a newspaper. It is said that the totem was invented by these Hydah Indians and that there were three kinds of poles. The most common kind was that which was placed in front of the dwelling places of natives. At Alert Bay, Alaska, there can be found a Raven totem, topped with a huge head with red eyes and a bright blue beak. On this is set a stove- pipe hat! Beneath the raven is an odd man-like figure, hunched-up and almost covered by great wings. Below this is another head with a beak that protrudes at least two feet. The fourth figure on the pole is another man wrapped up in wings while at his side is a horrible looking hawk with large green eyes and a Vermilion streaked beak. The last figure on the totem is an ugly, crouched man holding a spear. The raven was often used on the totems because it was symbolic of something superior. The Indians believed that these figures had jaws that bite and claws that scratch. They also believed that the fabulous, eagle-like Jabberwock bird hurled rocks. Totems were symbols of the ancient belief in human kinship with the animal world. That is, that men and animals can interchange ideas and are on the same footing. To the savages the poles were family trees or registers and they were to those who understood the figures, a history in pictures of the family who lived in the house before which they stood. The Hydah Indians were divided into three classes: the rich, the middle, and the slave classes. The slaves were never allowed to own totems, but the rest of the tribe took great pride in their poles. The higher and more elaborate the pole, the richer and more aristocratic its owner. Some poles were found to be as high as a four-story building, and were valued at several thousand dollars apiece. When the poles were being made, the most perfect cedar trees were chosen and cut down. They were hollowed out by burning out the inside, with a slow and careful process. The artist then worked skillfully and carefully with special tools, carving the various Hgures and symbols. These Indians were once great artists in wood carving, but all this quickly vanishing race left for us to see are the rotting totem poles. I5

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.fgfcwlah Ofcfedlf ,fgidclfic jlflllflf Excavations at Point Hope, two hundred miles north of the Bering Strait, bring to life a town inhabited by a highly cultured people some- time before the time of Christ. This town, sometimes called Ipiutah, had over eight hundred houses. About two hundred are still buried by the beach sand. Until 1940 the extent of the town was not known. The houses were about fifteen feet square and each faced the west. The central heating plant was a hearth in which blubber and driftwood were burned. The floors were made of driftwood. The walls were of sod blocks with a log framework. A cemetery was unearthed with log tombs. The skeletons found in these tombs had large eyes carved from ivory. Since nothing like this was to be found among the Eskimo ruins, it is believed these people mi- grated from some part of the Orient. Objects of ivory and flint were found but none of the natives of Alaska know any possible use for them. The skeletons found in this Arctic region may help to prove whether or not these people came from the Orient, or whether the Eskimos of today are descendants of these ancient people. ANTOINETTE BARTELS. . .. .- 1 ...g :.Q., zz' .1213 :fem if fifvil' stiffer- ,R-'fi' was sal imisa 2 -:aa -as-MQQFEB ll ll f P