totemism

Totem poles in Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada. Among the Amerindians of the NW coast of America, images of totems – the animals with which a tribe or group within a tribe felt a special affinity – were often carved out of tall trees. In declaring the totem animal, totem poles often also announced the status, wealth, and family history of the owners.

Totem pole in Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada. Totem poles are carved and painted logs, placed upright, made by Indians of northwest USA and Canada. The poles are decorated according to the function of the pole – for instance, it can serve as a grave marker, or depict a family legend – and each pole generally has from one to many animal images on it.

The belief in individual or clan kinship with an animal, plant, or object. This totem is sacred to those concerned, and they are forbidden to eat or desecrate it; marriage within the clan is usually forbidden. Totemism occurs among Pacific Islanders and Australian Aborigines, and was formerly prevalent throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. Most American Indian societies had totems as well.

Totem poles are carved by indigenous peoples of the northwest coast of North America and incorporate totem objects (carved and painted) as a symbol of the people or to commemorate the dead.

For some North American peoples the totem is an individual concern: the totem is received in a dream after ritual consumption of a drug or in a vision induced by ascetic practices. In Australia, parts of Africa and elsewhere, totems are passed on to the children by the father or the mother.