What are Totem Poles

Totem Poles
Totem poles are an ancient tradition of the Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast--Washington state in the USA, British Columbia in Canada--and some of the Athabaskan tribes of southern Alaska. Contrary to popular belief, the Southwest Indians, Plains Indians, and Inuit never carved totem poles (use your common sense--there are no trees that size in the Sonoran desert or the Arctic tundra!) Now and then, though, you will hear an anthropologist claim that there was never any such thing as totem poles at all before Europeans came to the New World.

Since totems are made of wood and decay over time, there is no way to prove to anthropologists that this assertion is false, but the oral histories of Northwestern Indians and their neighbors are unanimous about totem poles existing in those cultures long before European arrival, and the form and designs of totem poles are so stylized and distinctive it is hard to believe they sprang up recently. They have definitely grown in size since the acquisition of European woodcarving tools, though.

The totem poles in Haida, Tlingit, Kwakiutl, and other Northwest Coast folklore were carried by men or stood inside a room. Neither was possible for the majestic totem poles made during the 1800's, which were made of single pieces of cedar up to forty feet high. Today, both short and tall totem poles are still enthusiastically made by North-western and Alaskan Indian artists, and they can be purchased--for a price.

This is probably the single most expensive native art form there is, no surprise given the cost of a full-grown cedar tree and the amount of hand-carving and painting required to turn it into a totem pole. I hate to put things in purely financial terms, but frankly, if you find a large totem pole being sold for less than $500 a foot, it is probably not hand-carved, not made by a native artist, and/or not carved from a single tree trunk. Even imitation totems are pricy, and spending $2000 on a cheaply made fake is in many ways less affordable than spending $8000 on an authentic one.

The meanings of the designs on totem poles are as varied as the cultures which produce them. Totem poles may recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events. Some poles are erected to celebrate cultural beliefs, but others are intended mostly as artistic presentations.

Certain types of totem poles are part of mortuary structures incorporating grave boxes with carved supporting poles, or recessed backs in which grave boxes were placed. Poles are also carved to illustrate stories, to commemorate historic persons, to represent shamanic powers, and to provide objects of public ridicule. "Some of the figures on the poles constitute symbolic reminders of quarrels, murders, debts, and other unpleasant occurrences about which the Indians prefer to remain silent...

The most widely known tales, like those of the exploits of Raven and of Kats who married the bear woman, are familiar to almost every native of the area. Carvings which symbolize these tales are sufficiently conventionalized to be readily recognizable even by persons whose lineage did not recount them as their own legendary history." (Reed 2003). House-front poles were meant to show the success of the families.

Totem poles were never objects of worship. The association with "idol worship" was an idea from local Christian missionaries, who would have seen their association with Shamanism as being an occult practise. The same assumption was made by very early European explorers, but later explorers such as Jean-François de La Pérouse noted that totem poles were never treated reverently; they seemed only occasionally to generate allusions or illustrate stories and were usually left to rot in place when people abandoned a village.

The vertical order of images is widely believed to be a significant representation of importance. This idea is so pervasive that it has entered into common parlance with the phrase "low man on the totem pole". This phrase is indicative of the most common belief of ordering importance, that the higher figures on the pole are more important or prestigious. A counterargument frequently heard is that figures are arranged in a "reverse hierarchy" style, with the most important representations being on the bottom, and the least important being on top. Actually there have never been any restrictions on vertical order, many poles have significant figures on the top, others on the bottom, and some in the middle. Other poles have no vertical arrangement at all, consisting of a lone figure atop an undecorated column.

Shame poles
The poles used for public ridicule are usually called "shame poles", and were erected to shame individuals or groups for unpaid debts. Shame poles are today rarely discussed, and their meanings have in many places been forgotten. However, they formed an important subset of poles carved throughout the 19th century.
One famous shame pole is the Lincoln Pole in Saxman, Alaska; it was apparently created to shame the U.S. government into repaying the Tlingit people for the value of slaves which were freed after the Emancipation Proclamation. Other explanations for it have arisen as the original reason was forgotten or suppressed, however this meaning is still clearly recounted by a number of Tlingit elders today.

Shakes Island in Wrangell. The Three Frogs pole is visible on the far right.
Another example of the shame pole is the Three Frogs Pole in Wrangell, Alaska. This pole was erected by Chief Shakes to shame the Kiks.ádi clan into repaying a debt incurred by three of their slaves who impregnated some young women in Shakes's clan. When the Kiks.ádi leaders refused to pay support for the illegitimate children Shakes had the pole commissioned to represent the three slaves as frogs, the frog being the primary crest of the Kiks.ádi clan. This debt was never repaid, and thus the pole still stands next to the Chief Shakes Tribal House in Wrangell. This particular pole's unique crossbar shape has become popularly associated with the town of Wrangell. It was thus used, without recognizing the meaning of the pole, as part of the title design of the Wrangell Sentinel newspaper, where it is still seen today.

The construction of shame poles has essentially ceased within the last century. This is attributable to a decline in interclan rivalries and clan relationships in general, and to a desire for solidarity among most native tribes. However, as feelings of independence and nationalism increase among Northwest coast people, erecting shame poles against the American and Canadian governments has been occasionally proposed, though usually in a facetious manner. If outrage against some political decision is strong enough among the people of a particular Northwest coast tribe the erection of a new shame pole may again become a possibility, although the cost of construction will likely be a major inhibition.