Totem Pole Taken in 19th Century Begins Journey Home After 94 Years in Scottish Museum
- A 36-foot totem pole carved in the 1860s was taken to a Scottish museum almost 100 years ago.
- The pole was carved by the Nisga'a Nation in Canada and is now being returned to them from the Royal Scottish Museum.
- The Nisga'a performed a ceremony before the pole's 4,000 mile journey, seeing it as a living being.
- The repatriation is one of the first from British institutions to indigenous groups.
- The National Museum of Scotland has a different statute allowing returns, unlike the resistant British Museum.
The Messenger 