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house-post
Pacific Coast
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
n.
one of several posts supporting the framework of an Indian building, often carved and decorated to symbolize identification with a certain clan or family.
Quotations
1906
Among the Northwest Coast tribes, totem-poles, house-posts, mortuary columns, masks, batons, pipes, and various implements and utensils, represent the forms of beasts, men, and monsters, in relief and in the round.
1964
The two short totems surmounted by Thunderbirds are twin house-posts which supported beams in the home of Kwakiutl Chief Tsa-wee-nox, of Kingcome Inlet.