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Although the tribes of the Pacific Northwest became known to the world by names based on language groups, such as Tingit and Nooka, their members referred to themselves by their clan names..Bears or Frogs of Killer Whales or whatever creature was the particular group's principal totem. Belonging to a clan had its privileges. Like an extended family, the individuals within the group were closely connected to one another by their shared identification with the totem. They were also linked spiritually through the totem to a supernatural being in that animal form who, according to the clan's history, bestowed on their early ancestors certain rights--including the right to invoke the totem, perform a ritual dance, and wear a special mask. In addition, they would have better luck than competitors when hunting the totem animal, since as kin it would favour them over others. Not surprisingly, totemism ruled the Indians' ceremonial life and art. The treasured animal myths were acted out by masked dancers at elaborate hospitality festivals called potlatches. And the great totem poles and the family masks representing the totem animals were regularly commissioned and used to exalt a clan's supernatural lineage. Even common utensils might bear totems. All such objects, monumental and mundane, served as reminders of a clan's animal ties and of the debt owed nature for its munificence.
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___________________ A genealogy in wood, this Tsim-shian totem pole in which wolves are the principal totems served as aide-memoire of one family's lore. A the top, with his tail curled around his back, is a world, harking back to the time when the family migrated to its present location and a child was killed by a wolf. ______________________ |
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| Appearing next is a bear-a special crest that belongs to the family. The bear is split down the middle, and the wolf carved below it seems to be biting the trailing end of the bear's spiraling intestines. The creatures symbolize a now-forgotten episode in the family mythology. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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_______________________ Twelve humanlike figures encircle an opening near the
base of the pole, that is large enough for a person to crawl through.
Known as the Hole through the Sky, the opening at one time functioned as
an entrance to the family's house. Ladders led up to the hole from both
the inside and outside of the house. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A Kwakiutl mask of many faces appears outwardly to be a fish known as a bullhead, but open into a raven, and then into a human one ancestral figure into another during a totemic ceremony. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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