Location of totems and old Haida villages, Haida Gwaii<\/p><\/div>\n

Skedans is also known variously as Koona<\/b>, Q’una<\/b>, Koona LLnaagay<\/b>, and K’uuna Llnagaay<\/b> and several other names, all variants of its original name in the traditional Haida language.  The name Skedans was given to the village by Anglo captains of the maritime fur trade who tended to refer to a village by its chief’s name.  In recent years the original native names have become popular and replaced the Anglicized titles.  That’s quite reasonable, but I find this grouping of names hard to pronounce so we’ll stick with Skedans in this blog.<\/p>\n

Skedans village is located at sea level on a small peninsula framed by a sheer mountainous cliff.   It was a good location for the Haida, a seafaring people who moved about in massive cedar canoes.   In the summer they headed to temporary camps to hunt and fish, but in the winter they returned to their established villages, like Skedans.  Fish and food were so plentiful that gathering sustenance didn’t take that long.  So with time on their hands, the Haida turned their talents to wood-working and crafted some of the most beautiful and unique art in the world (note: the author is a huge fan of northwestern native art).<\/p>\n