Title: Totem Poles - Enchanted Learning
Headings: Totem Poles
Totem Poles
Introduction
Which Tribes Made Totem Poles?
Totemism and Animal Carvings
Materials
Memorials, Stories, and Legends
Value to Historians

Content: Totem Poles - Enchanted Learning
Totem Poles
▾ Table of Contents
Introduction
Which Tribes Made Totem Poles? Totemism and Animal Carvings
Materials
Memorials, Stories, and Legends
Value to Historians
‘Namgis totem pole in British Columbia, Canada. The eagle is the father’s family crest, and the grizzly bear is the mother’s family crest. Introduction
Totem poles are huge wooden columns which were made by Native Americans along the Pacific coast of North America (in the Pacific Northwest, from what are now Oregon and Washington, and stretching up through modern-day Canada and Alaska ). Traditionally, each totem pole tells the story of a Native American family’s ancestral spirits and family history, pictured in human and animal form. The spirits are shown as people, mythical beasts, and treasured wildlife—often the bald eagle, grizzly bear, moose, beaver, otter, mountain goat, wolf, whale, porpoise, seal, sea lion, or salmon. Which Tribes Made Totem Poles? Though totem poles are now a common symbol of Native American culture, only some tribes actually produced them, including the Haida, the Tlingit, and the Coast Salish tribes. Only those who lived in areas with trees which were at least dozens of feet tall even had the opportunity. Totemism and Animal Carvings
These large art pieces have come to represent an important facet of Native American culture.