totem pole

While many think of the Totem Pole as a symbol of native people & their culture, its production was limited to six tribes in British Columbia and southeastern Alaska.

Tribes which carved Totem Poles:
bullet    Bella Coola
bullet    Haida
bullet    Kwakiutl
bullet    Tlingit
bullet    Tsimshian
bullet    West Coast

 Pole carving flourished in the 19th century, to tell stories or commemorate historical events. Each tribe had its own distinctive style. The figures carved weren't gods or demons, but symbolic, like the figures in European Heraldry. Totem Poles were not worshipped, but the stories they told often inspired respect or veneration.


Tags:  bullet figures worshipped