Quick links
totem pole
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
among certain West Coast Indian tribes, a pole, often a standing tree trunk, which has been carved and painted with the family crests, personal exploits, etc. of the owner.
Quotations
1808
[Upon the boards and posts are carved beasts and birds, in a curious but rude manner, yet pretty well proportioned.]
1890
The rank of the chiefs is denoted by the height of their totem poles, and there are frequent quarrels among them on the subject.
1940
Totem poles are not, as is commonly supposed, pagan gods or demons.
1964
One well-known authority . . . believes that much of what is commonly believed to be aboriginal in coast Indian culture, such as the clan system, the use of crests, and the carving of totem poles, did not exist before the time of contact, but was in a sense a product of the fur trade.