Story Poles

Story poles, such as the ones located at VanDusen Garden, were carved to preserve knowledge, history and stories of the people. Story poles do carry a lot of spiritual values but they are not the same as religious values, therefore, calling them totem poles is inaccurate. First Nation people did not worship or pray to the poles. The pole on the left tells The Mosquito Story, an origin story of where the mosquitos came from. This pole tells the origin story of mosquitos, which came from the ashes of the funeral pyre of Baboudina (top), chief of the blood-suck Mosquito People. Below him is the young woman (middle) who killed the Chief and save her husband (bottom) and baby. The pole on the right, Al of the Gispudwad, is the origin story of the black bear crest. A long time ago a man was transformed into a bear and lived among the bears for a while. When he returned to his people, a kind elderly healer helped him become human again. The black bears remained friends with the man and would help him if he was in trouble. To honor the black bear he had his descendants use the bear as their crest.