Comments on: Totem Poles: Myths Carved In Cedar

By: Trenton

Trenton — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:26:58 +0000

Wow a vary intreaging story indeed, thank you know I can finish, my School prodject.

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:20:05 +0000

Also for the meanings of the animals are they different for each tribe?

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:04:37 +0000

Is this all real? i want to know b/c i going to use this in my project for school. don’t worry there is a bibliography.

By: jannet

jannet — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:16:00 +0000

This makes complete sense, what I am asking for is to show examples of pictures of animals and humans, and some stories explaining them.If you can

By: jannet

jannet — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:14:26 +0000

ugly.

By: Randy Hoyt

Randy Hoyt — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:58:59 +0000

You are absolutely right: the carved columns of the Northwest Pacific coast are not properly called “totem poles” at all — the carved figures are not totemic. (Read more about this in the Wikipedia entry for “totem”.) Some scholars have attempted to use a more accurate label for these columns, but the label “totem poles” is now too deeply entrenched. See Malin 5-6 (available at Google Books) for a brief discussion of this issue.

By: Milton

Milton — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:23:21 +0000

The word totem comes from an Ojibwa word, nintotem, which means “my family mark.” Each family’s pole contained pictures of the symbols of that family. The western poles are really crest poles named by the priest visiting Ojibwa indians and called them that and the name stuck.