As you step onto the shore of SGang Gwaay, you are instantly transported to another world, another time. The forest is alive with light and color. The only sound that can be heard is the call of ravens in the canopy above. Below, spruce and cedar roots elegantly curve around giant rocks; mosses and lichens blanket the ground and fallen trees, the forest’s method of reclaiming itself in that beautiful and never-ending cycle of life.
This is no ordinary forest. It is a sacred place to the Haida, whose history is deeply rooted here. This island served as the southernmost outpost of the Haida culture after the European-introduced epidemics of smallpox, measles, and tuberculosis claimed countless lives of the people of this land. Many people died and were buried on SGang Gwaay before it was abandoned in the late 1800s. Just as the forest is reclaiming fallen trees within, nature is gracefully reclaiming the remains of the village that once stood here, SGang Gwaay Llnagaay.
SGang Gwaay means “Wailing Island,” a name given to it by the sound that the wind makes during certain times of the year through some of the coastal rocks. Along the shore there stand the remains of totem poles and longhouses. These poles, much shorter than others we’ve seen on our journey, also have the distinct difference of having a cube-shaped cavity at the top. Many of the totems here are mortuary poles and served as the final resting places for chiefs and people of high standing. The remains would be placed in bentwood boxes that were eventually put into the top of a mortuary pole carved in their honor. Today, only the cavities where these boxes once were remain at the tops of the intricately carved poles. Forms of ravens, eagles, orcas, bears, and humans have been worn by wind and rain over the last century. There are places where, looking toward the forest, you cannot distinguish between what is a tree and what is a totem. Here, where the line between the human and natural worlds is blurred, it is not difficult to feel the magic of this place. It is no wonder that the Haida hold SGang Gwaay in such high regard, in its sacredness, historical significance, and natural beauty.
