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Totem poles are carved and painted poles with symbolic figures, originating in northwestern North America. They serve as family crests, tell stories, and mark sites of interest. Totems are not religious icons, and their arrangement does not indicate status. Cedar is the traditional wood used, and totem poles are erected in a potlatch ceremony. Shame poles, designed to mock or humiliate someone, also exist.
A totem pole is a carved and painted pole with an assortment of symbolic figures and is one of the most distinctive and famous forms of Native American artwork. Totem poles appear to have originated in coastal regions of northwestern North America, appearing in places such as British Columbia, Washington, and Alaska. These remarkable works of art attracted great attention among European explorers in North America in the 1800s and a number of misconceptions surround the totem pole and its history.
Numerous tribes have their own versions of totems. In many tribes, specific designs belong to particular families, with the totem pole serving as the family crest. A totem can also be used to tell a story, using representations of characters from mythology, or to provide information about a specific place. Totems can mark houses, graves, entrance passages and other sites of interest. They are not religious icons, contrary to the belief of some early Northwest visitors, although they may contain mythic or religious elements. The arrangement of items on a totem pole is also not necessarily an indicator of status, with some cultures placing high-ranking figures at the bottom, while others stick to the middle or top.
Cedar is the traditional wood for totem poles, and usually the carver uses solid cedar. Some people have suggested that totem poles were built in response to European influences, indicating the relative lack of pre-1800s totem poles. However, older totem poles are more likely to have rotted away in the humid climate of the Pacific Northwest, especially given oral histories that clearly document the existence of totem poles long before the arrival of Europeans. Europeans certainly supplied more tools and pigments to be used in the construction of totem poles, contributing to an explosion of these carved sculptures in North America.
After a totem pole has been carved and painted, it is erected in a ceremony called a potlatch. Potlatches include dancing, singing, and eating to celebrate the construction and establishment of the totem pole. The celebration could also commemorate the event for which the totem pole was commissioned, such as the establishment of a new community lodge or the burial of a well-known tribal elder.
An interesting version of the totem pole is the shame post, a type of totem pole designed to mock or humiliate someone. Shame poles have been erected for a variety of reasons throughout history, ranging from illegal land grabs to embarrassing hunting failures. Native Americans in Alaska even built a shame pole that featured Exxon company leaders after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.
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