Red Road to DC Totem Pole Journey

The City of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History are honored to welcome the Lummi Nation House of Tears Carvers on their journey to D.C.

During this event, the House of Tears Carvers will hold a blessing for the 24-foot totem pole carved at the Lummi Nation from a 400-year-old red cedar. This is just one stop of many on their 5,000 mile cross-country journey, evoking an urgent call to protect sacred lands and waters of Indigenous people. The journey, called the Red Road to DC Totem Pole Journey to Protect Sacred Sites, will culminate in Washington, D.C.

As the pole travels it draws lines of connection — honoring, uniting and empowering communities working to protect sacred places. It carries the spirit of the lands it visits and the power and prayers of communities along the way.

In this moment of self-reflection across the United States and the acknowledgment of past and present injustices inflicted on Native Peoples and lands without consent, the Lummi Nation House of Tears Carvers invite all peoples to stand united with them to protect sacred places, and fulfill ancestral and historic obligations to the First Peoples of these lands and waters.

This community event will take place in the City of Santa Cruz’s Tyrrell Park behind the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Please wear a mask and keep your distance when possible. All are welcome.

This event will take place in the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.