The Easter Totem Pole

A five hundred year old cedar from Ketchikan, Alaska, carved by David K. Fison of the Tsimshian Killer Whale Clan and completed in 2001, presents the Easter story through imagery adapted to ancient Tsimshian culture. Fison, encouraged by Tsimshian elders and drawing on his service as pastor in Metlakatla and at this Methodist church from 1961 to 1966, carved the Christmas and Easter totems as he imagined a carver might have two hundred fifty years ago. In a culture without a written language, totem poles preserved stories and events on carved cedar logs, with figures serving as outlines that allowed listeners to retell them across generations. Because parts of the Biblical account would not have been familiar in the rainforest world of the ancient Northwest Coast Indians, the story was translated into culturally relevant terms and read from bottom to top, using forms such as smoked salmon for bread, berry juice for wine, a wolf howl for the rooster, Raven as messenger of the Great Chief of the Heavens, shell money in place of silver, and a cedar blanket and cave burial. The scenes follow Jesus from the Last Supper and washing of feet, through Gethsamane, Judas's betrayal, Peter's denial, Pilate's judgment, the crucifixion, burial, and the empty cave, to the resurrection, appearance to his followers, the Trinity, and his final blessing and charge to make followers of all tribes. This Easter totem is a replica of the original Ketchikan cedar pole that stands in the sanctuary of Saint John United Methodist Church in Anchorage.

Saxman, Alaska · United States