The red cedar
Totem poles are carved from mature red cedar trees, some as old as 800 years.
These trees are rot resistant because of natural fungicides found in the bark.
Chemicals in the cedar wood known as polyphenols guard against rotting and also
give the wood its distinctive red colour. The tall and broad red cedar is also
insect resistant and has soft, straight-grained wood. These qualities make them
ideal for totem pole carving. A suitable red cedar log is most likely found
in the midst of large sections of forest. In such conditions, the trees compete
for sunlight so that all their branches are in the upper third of the tree. The
bottom two thirds of such a tree provide very good quality wood with few branches
or knots. Without metal axes or power saws, the Pacific Coastal Natives used to
use fire and stone wedges for the dangerous task of felling the giant trees. Once
a tree is down, the back is hollowed out as if in preparing it to make a dugout
canoe. This hollowing process prevents the pole from cracking as it dries out
and makes it lighter and easier to handle. Traditionally, the basic shaping was
done in the woods and then the log was skidded to the beach and towed to the village
where the carving was to take place. | |
The
red cedar is British Columbia's provincial tree. They can be found throughout
the northwest coast of North America, from northern British Columbia to California.
They
grow especially well in the coastal rainforest. A red cedar tree can grow up to
60 metres tall and can live for more than 1000 years.
Source:
B. C. Ministry of Forests
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