A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Totem Poles in Canada

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

TOTEM POLES IN CANADA IN EPCOT’S WORLD SHOWCASE

By Jim Korkis

When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, the totem poles in Frontierland were meant to be artistic enhancements like on a movie set and not authentic re-creations. When Epcot opened a decade later, the same was true of the three fiberglass totem poles that decorated the entrance to the Canada pavilion.

Totem poles can recount tribal legends, commemorate people or significant events, represent supernatural powers, mark the territory of a specific tribe and more. Most guests were not troubled by these colorful fakes that added to the atmosphere of the area.

However, over the decades, the world’s attitude to respecting native cultures changed significantly. The Disney Company was sensitive to these changes and so for the Canada pavilion, even though it would not increase attendance or revenue, it was decided to change out the fiberglass totem poles to realistic cedar ones that would more accurately represent an authentic cultural experience.

In April 1998, Disney employed Tsimshian artist David Boxley from Alaska, noted for his decades-long dedication to authentic tribal art, to carve a 30-foot tall totem pole to replace the one near the trading post. Boxley was raised by his grandparents and taught the Tsimshian traditions.

This beautiful hand-carved totem pole tells the well-known tale from the Pacific Northwest Indians of Raven and Sky Chief. The Trickster Raven steals a “golden ball of light” from a hidden box and tosses it up into the sky where it becomes the sun, the moon and the stars.

In 1986, Boxley made a major decision to leave the security of a teaching position and devote all of his energies toward carving and researching the legacy of Northwest Coast Indian art. Boxley has carved over 68 totems in the last twenty-six years for institutions, museums, corporations and more.

He stated, “Carved from mature cedar trees, totem poles are an important part of the coastal First Nations culture. Totem poles were created and raised to represent a family-clan, its kinship system, its dignity, its accomplishments, it prestige, its adventures, its stories, its rights and prerogatives. A totem pole served, in essence, as the emblem of a family or clan and often as a reminder of its ancestry.”

On January 22, 2017 at 11:30 am, two new totem poles carved by Boxley were installed to replace the remaining original fiberglass poles at the Canada Pavilion.

(c) Disney

The Eagle Totem Pole tells one of Boxley’s favorite cultural tales, in which a boy finds an eagle caught in a net on a beach and frees it. Years later, when hunger strikes the boy’s tribe, he walks on the same beach, only to find the eagle there waiting for him with food – paying him back for his kindness years ago. The bottom of this totem pole also tells the story of how a family of beaver taught a human family the importance of treating all creatures – human and animal – with respect.

The Whale Totem Pole depicts the tale of the first potlatch, a ceremonial feast celebrated by the Nagunaks and creatures of the undersea world.

The overnight installation was followed up with a dedication ceremony for the new poles that included a performance by the Git Hoan Dancers (People of the Salmon).

Based in Washington State, Git-Hoan members can trace their ancestral roots to some of the main tribes of Southeast Alaska, the Tsimshian, the Haida and Tlingit. They also performed at the Epcot International Festival of the Arts on January 21 & 22, 2017.

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Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, Secret Stories of Disneyland, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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