A thirty-five foot tall red cedar totem pole, the K'alyaan Pole is a memorial to the Tlingit Kiks.ádi clan ancestors who died in 1804 while defending their traditional homeland against invading Russian forces in what is now Sitka National Historical Park.
The carved raven helmet, in a place of honor near the base of the pole, commemorates the Kiks.ádi warrior K'alyaan who led his people in battle while wearing a war helmet carved as Raven, a treasured crest of the Kiks.ádi. Frog, another Kiks.ádi crest, holds the raven helmet at the base of the pole. The beaver, dog salmon, sockeye salmon, and woodworm crests of other Tlingit clans who share the raven crest with the Kiks.ádi appear farther up the pole.
The K'alyaan Pole was commissioned with the initiative of Kiks.ádi Kaa Tlein (Big Man) Al Perkins in 1999, and carved by Tlingit carver Tommy Joseph at the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center. It now stands on the site of the 1804 battle in Sitka National Historical Park, a gift to the National Park Service from the Kiks.ádi in memory of their ancestors.
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