What Is a Totem Pole for?
Before people had individual names, the savage people who lived in clans or tribes referred to themselves in the name of some natural object, usually an animal which they assumed as the name or emblem of the clan or tribe. These names never applied to one individual more than another, but only to the clan or tribe, so that everyone in a tribe which had taken the “wolf” for its emblem was known as “Wolf.” Later on they began to distinguish individuals by giving them additional names characteristic of the individual, such as “Lonely Wolf,” “Growling Wolf,” or other names. The name of this animal was then the emblem of one tribe. They, therefore, placed this emblem upon their bodies, their clothes, utensils, etc. Through this, these emblems also became at times idols of worship and so they erected poles upon which their emblems were engraved. The word totem is a North American Indian word meaning “family token.” The tribes called themselves after animals from which they believed themselves descended.