Gitanyow Totem Poles, National Historic Site, British Columbia, Canada.

Gitanyow Totem Poles, on the Kitwanga River in British Columbia, Canada. Listed as a National Historic Site of Canada, Gitanyow (formerly Kitwancool) village is a First Nations reserve community of about 400 Gitxsan people. Posted 1967 BC sign: "These stately monuments in cedar proclaim the owner's clan status and inherited family traditions, but were never associated with religion. Clan crests portrayed mythical creatures, sometimes in human form, from the legendary history of the clan." The word totem derives from the Algonquian word odoodem meaning "(his) kinship group". Gitanyow is on a short side loop off the scenic Stewart–Cassiar Highway (Highway 37, aka Dease Lake Highway), just 24 km north of the junction with Yellowhead Highway (Hwy 16).

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Filename: 1906AKH-0846.jpg
Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
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Gitanyow Totem Poles, on the Kitwanga River in British Columbia, Canada. Listed as a National Historic Site of Canada, Gitanyow (formerly Kitwancool) village is a First Nations reserve community of about 400 Gitxsan people. Posted 1967 BC sign: "These stately monuments in cedar proclaim the owner's clan status and inherited family traditions, but were never associated with religion. Clan crests portrayed mythical creatures, sometimes in human form, from the legendary history of the clan." The word totem derives from the Algonquian word odoodem meaning "(his) kinship group". Gitanyow is on a short side loop off the scenic Stewart–Cassiar Highway (Highway 37, aka Dease Lake Highway), just 24 km north of the junction with Yellowhead Highway (Hwy 16).