Alert Bay totem poles

Alert Bay is a good place to see Indian totem poles. There is a graveyard there where totem poles serve as tomb markers. They are erected there but not forever, they are supposed to decay and fall in time. Consequently not all of them are in perfect condition. There are also other poles inside their ceremonial big house. They are in better condition.

There are several styles of totem pole sculpture, the poles in Alert Bay are good examples of what anthropologists call “Kwakiutl style” (although the Alert Bay people protest that they should not be called Kwakiutl because they are Namgis).

Alert Bay Indian dancers

It was pure luck that I was in Alert Bay when the boats came (see the previous post). This is the reservation where the sacred dance tradition has been kept alive throughout the period when potlatches were banned in Canada and they still keep it alive today. When the boats came and the paddlers stayed for the night, their Alert Bay hosts threw a party which was in the style of potlatches of old, with the sacred dances and all. I was there and I took some pictures. Here they are.

Indian Boats at Alert Bay

In the old days the Indians of British Columbia built boats from huge cedar trunks. This was their main means of transport amid thousands of islands of the coast. They paddled the boats to hunt whales or make war on another island or to accept an invitation from another island to a potlatch – great feast with a lot of food and dances. These days modern boats made of modern materials are much easier to purchase and operate. Also making war on another island is illegal and so is whaling. Potlatch was also illegal for some time in Canada, although this ban was revoked recently. Anyway paddling the great canoes came out of use

However, in 1986 Bill Reid, a Haida Indian who revived the totem carving tradition, made a brand new cedar trunk canoe using the old traditional methods. This triggered a revival of paddling Indian canoes in the sea, not as a means of transport but as a sport. Every so often there is a big rally and many reservations sent their boats with young people paddling. I bumped into such a rally when I was at Alert Bay in summer 2014. It was pretty spectacular I must say.

Kava preparation in Vanuatu

Kava is a narcotic used on some Pacific islands from roots of a plant of the same name. Supposedly the best kava comes from the Vanuatu archipelago. In most Western countries it is not legal but in Vanuatu it is and probably is also more popular than beer. Possibly this is the reason why Vanuatu is one of the safest countries in the world; kava has calming influence, as opposed to alcohol.

There are numerous taboos connected with the preparation and consumption of kava. Only men can drink kava, it is taboo for women. On the island of Tanna there is a forest clearing near every village where kava is prepared and consumed; for women it is a taboo even to approach this place. The drink is prepared by young men who chew the roots and spit it out and then squeeze the juice with fabric made with coconut fibre. Older men are not allowed to prepare the drink, they wait and make speeches like the Greeks on Areopagus. 

The drink is served to the men starting with the most senior. The drink looks like coffee with milk but tastes more like toothpaste solution. Men sometimes shout some incomprehensible words after drinking a bowlful, they say the kava speaks through them. One bowlful brings a feeling of inner peace, three bowlfuls make it impossible to walk.

These pictures were taken in 2015 in Vanuatu, on the island of Tanna in a village at the foot of Yasur volcano.

Leaves of the kava plant.

Roots of kava.

Chewing kava.

Squeezing the juice of kava.

Squeezing the juice of kava.

Kava in a coconut shell.

Making speeches while waiting for kava.

Drinking kava.