SEQUIM –– A 30-foot Western red cedar log from the Hoh River valley is in the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe’s House of Myths, waiting to be carved into a new totem pole to adorn the city’s new City Hall.
“We are very excited about this generous donation from the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and feel it is the perfect symbol of the cooperative relationship that the city has long enjoyed with the tribe,” said Sequim Mayor Candace Pratt.
The totem pole has been designed by Dale Faulstich, carver and artist for the tribe.
Faulstich will lead efforts to carve the totem, which tells the myth “Why the Sun Always Shines in Sequim,” over the next eight months.
Jamestown S’Klallam Chairman W. Ron Allen said the totem gift is made as a marker of the tribe’s long-standing partnership with the city.
“The city represents a diverse set of cultures and interests, and the totem pole will recognize and honor the American Indian relations,” Allen said.
The $16 million civic center currently is under construction by Lydig Construction of Seattle and is expected to open late next spring.
The 34,000-square-foot building will house both administration offices and a police station.
The design, by Integrus Architects, also of Seattle, includes a community plaza at the corner of Cedar Street and Sequim Avenue, which is where the totem pole will be placed.
Faulstich adopted the sun origin story from one told by Mrs. Robbie Davis in Erna Gunther’s book Klallam Folk Tales.
It dates back to the early days of the village, when the “Chief of the Land Above” had all the heat and light of the world trapped in the fire pit in his house.
The people of this village were growing weak from hunger, as storms made it impossible to fish, and wind, snow and hail destroyed plants, roots and berries.
A man from the village prayed to the “Chief Above” asking him to take pity on the people.
He then got in his canoe and paddled out into the bay, hoping to catch some fish to feed to his starving family and friends.
The Chief Above answered the young man’s prayers by sending “Northwind” to capsize his canoe, leaving his wife to raise their two young sons named Kweye’cen and Sck’ayec.
As they approached manhood, the brothers felt duty-bound to avenge their father’s cruel death.
So one day, they took their bows and gathered up all their arrows, according to Faulstich’s legend.
The oldest brother, Kweye’cen, was the strongest, so he went first.
He shot an arrow straight up in the air. The arrow went so high that it stuck in the sky.
Then he shot a second arrow. This one stuck in the end of the first arrow.
Then he shot a third arrow, which stuck into the second arrow, and so on, until all his arrows had been shot.
Then the younger brother, Sck’ayec, took his turn and shot all of his arrows, continuing to stick one into the previous shaft until a long rope was formed that reached all the way from the “Sky World” down to the Earth.
The brothers then climbed through the clouds, met a pair of blind girls, whom they healed, and invaded the house, dousing the fire and killing the Chief Above in the clouds of steam.
Kweye’cen then pledged to carry the sun across the sky every day to warm the people of the village while Sck’ayec carried the moon at night.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
