Title: NORTHWEST COAST AMERICAN INDIAN FACTS
Headings: Northwest Indian Facts
Northwest Indian Facts
Introduction - Northwest Indian Tribes
Northwest Coast American Indian Tribes List
List of Facts About the American Indians of the Northwest Coast

Content: The totem poles allowed them to record stories, legends, and myths through images. Impressive. Totem poles, with their vivid colors, are the most recognizable of their arts. Every surface of the poles was carved into highly stylized representations of bears, wolves, eagles, ravens, thunderbirds, beavers and other animals, plus human figures. Totem poles could be huge, providing frontal pieces for homes, grave markers and other decorative purposes. Many represented family crests or told stories from family or tribal history. Beautiful and intricate cedar dance masked were carved out of wood. They were often used in storytelling at ceremonies such as a potlatch. Some masks even had a second carved face inside the first to unmask as a story was told. The Indians developed a social system that was highly stratified.