Totem pole

Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from great trees, typically Western Redcedar, by a number of Native American cultures along the Pacific northwest coast of North America. The word "totem" is derived from the Algonkian word Dodem, originally meaning "to be related to someone" (i.e. someone who shares a family crest, or totem).

Style

Poles of all types share a common graphic style with carved and painted containers, housefronts, canoes, masks, intricately-woven blankets, ceremonial dress, weapons, armor, and many other tools and implements (Malin 1986). Two distinct systems of art were developed for two-dimensional and three-dimensional figures, but both were maintained within the common graphic style. This style was developed by Northwest Coast Native Peoples (see Native Americans) over many thousands of years, as evinced by stone and bone artifacts uncovered in archeological studies which display clear examples of the same design motifs.

Meaning and purpose

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 pole 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).

Totem poles were never objects of worship; the association with "idol worship" was an idea from local Christian missionaries. 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.

Totem poles at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

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.

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.

Construction and maintenance

Dancing at a pole-raising celebration in Klawock, Alaska.

Erection of a totem pole is almost never done using modern methods, even for poles installed in modern settings on the outside of public and private buildings. Instead the traditional ceremony and process of erection is still followed scrupulously by most artists, in that a great wooden scaffold is built and hundreds of strong men haul the pole upright into its footing while others steady the pole from side ropes and brace it with cross beams. Once the pole is erected a potlatch is typically held where the carver is formally paid and other traditional activities are conducted. The carver will usually, once the pole is freestanding, perform a celebratory and propitiary dance next to the pole while wielding the tools used to carve it. Also, the base of the pole is burnt before erection to provide a sort of rot resistance, and the fire is made with chips carved from the pole.

Totem poles are typically not well maintained after their erection. Traditionally once the wood rots so badly that it begins to lean and pose a threat to passersby, the pole is either destroyed or pushed over and removed. Older poles typically fall over during the winter storms that batter the coast. A totem pole rarely lasts over 100 years. A collapsed pole may be replaced by a new one carved more or less the same as the original, with the same subject matter, but this requires a new payment and potlatch and is thus not always done. The beliefs behind the lack of maintenance vary among individuals, but generally it is believed that the deterioration of the pole is representative of natural processes of decay and death that occur with all living things, and attempts to prevent this are seen as somehow denying or ignoring the nature of the world.

This has not, however, prevented many people from occasionally renewing the paint on poles or performing further restorations, mostly because the expense of a new pole is beyond feasibility for the owner. Also, owners of poles who are not familiar with cultural traditions may see upkeep as a necessary investment for property, and ignore the philosophical implications. It is best to treat the question of totem pole maintenance on a case by case basis, especially asking the artist for their opinion on the matter during or just after the production process.

Property

Each culture typically has complex rules and customs regarding the designs which are represented on poles. The designs themselves are generally considered the property of a particular clan or family group, and this ownership may not be transferred to the owner of a pole (See also Heraldry). As such, pictures, paintings, and other copies of the designs may be an infringement of posessory rights of a certain family or cultural group. Thus it is important that the ownership of the artistic designs represented on a pole are respected as private property to the same extent that the pole itself is property. Public display and sale of pictures and other representations of totem pole designs should be cleared with both the owners of the pole and the cultural group or tribal government associated with the designs on the pole.

However totem poles in general are not the exclusive cultural property of a single culture, so the designs are not easily protected. The art and tourist trinket worlds have become inundated by cheap imitations of totem poles executed with little or no knowledge of the complex stylistic conventions demanded by Northwest Coast art. This proliferation of "totem junk" has diluted the public interest and respect for the artistic skill and deep cultural knowledge required to produce a pole.

In the early 1990s, the Haisla First Nation of the Pacific Northwest began a lengthy struggle to repatriate a sacred totem from from Sweden's Museum of Ethnography[1]. Their successful efforts were documented in an NFB documentary by Gil Cardinal, Totem: The Return of the G'psgolox Pole. [2]

Totem poles of note

The title of "The World's Largest Totem Pole" is or has been claimed by several towns along the coast:

Alert Bay, British Columbia — 173 ft (56.4 m), Kwakiutl
Vancouver, British Columbia (Maritime Museum) — 100 ft (30.5 m), Kwakiutl, carved by Mungo Martin with Henry Hunt and David Martin
Victoria, British Columbia (Beacon Hill Park) — 127.5 ft (38.9 m), Kwakiutl, carved by Mungo Martin with Henry Hunt and David Martin
Kalama, Washington — 140 ft (42.6 m), carved by Chief Lelooska
Kake, Alaska — 137.5 ft (41.9 m), Tlingit

There are disputes over which is genuinely the tallest, depending on constraints such as construction from a single log or the affiliation of the carver. Competition for making the tallest pole is still prevalent, although it is becoming more difficult to procure trees of such heights.

The thickest totem pole ever carved to date is in Duncan, British Columbia, carved by Richard Hunt in 1988, and measures over 6 ft (1.8 m) in diameter. It is carved in the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw) style, and represents Cedar Man transforming into his human form.

Standing a total of 173 feet tall, the world's tallest totem pole is comprised of two pieces of 168 and 5 feet. This one is in Alert Bay, British Columbia.

Totem poles outside North America

Poles similar to totem poles are also found elsewhere in the world. Due to their similarities to totem poles, they are often described as being totem poles. Two most notable cultures with such example of having a totem pole-like objects are those by the Māori and the Ainu.

Sources

Barbeau, Marius (1950) Totem Poles. 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada.it is bigtime gay
Garfield, Viola E., and Forrest, Linn A. (1961) The Wolf and the Raven: Totem Poles of Southeastern Alaska. Revised edition. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-73998-3.
Malin, Edward (1986) Totem Poles of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-295-1.
Reed, Ishmael (ed.) (2003) From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry across the Americas, 1900-2002. ISBN 1560254580.

External links

Yale.edu Totem Poles of the North American Northwest Coast Indians
Native online.com
Royal BC Museum
Thunderbird Park – A Place of Cultural Sharing An interpretive tour with detailed information on the poles in Thunderbird Park. URL accessed 2006-06-27
Watch Haida artist Bill Reid work on a totem pole