A totem is any entity which watches over or assists a group of people, such as a family, clan or tribe (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary [1] and Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition). A clan is a group of People united by Kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor

Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem. Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin through either biological cultural or historical descent An ancestor is a Parent or ( recursively) the parent of an ancestor (i Normally this belief is accompanied by a totemic myth.

Although the term is of Ojibwa origin, totemistic beliefs are not limited to Native American Indians. The Ojibwa or Chippewa (also Ojibwe, Ojibway, Chippeway) is the largest group of Native Americans - First Nations For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. Similar totemism-like beliefs have been historically found throughout much of the world, including Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, Australia and the Arctic polar region.

In modern times, some single individuals, not otherwise involved in the practice of a tribal religion, have chosen to adopt a personal spirit animal helper, which has special meaning to them, and refer to this as a totem. The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also modern times) is the period of history that followed the Middle Ages between c This non-traditional usage of the term is prevalent in, but not limited to, the New Age movement, and the Mythopoetic men's movement. New Age ( New Age Movement and New Age Spirituality) is a Social Collective Phenomenon and a Spiritual Nature The mythopoetic men's movement (sometimes mistakenly referred to simply as the men's movement refers to a loose collection of organizations active in Men's work since

Totemism

Personal Totem of Mohegan Chief Tantaquidgeon, commemorated on a plaque at Norwich, Connecticut. The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in eastern upper Thames valley Connecticut Norwich known as "The Rose of New England" is a city in and formerly county seat (when there were county seats in the state of New London County, Connecticut

Totemism (derived from the root -oode- in the Ojibwe language, which referred to something kinship-related, c. f. odoodem, "his totem") is a religious belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic religions. The Anishinaabe, like most Algonquian -speaking groups in North America base their system of kinship on Patrilineal Clans or totems A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true The totem is usually an animal or other naturalistic figure that spiritually represents a group of related people such as a clan.

Totemism played an active role in the development of 19th and early 20th century theories of religion, especially for thinkers such as Émile Durkheim, who concentrated their study on primitive societies (which was an acceptable description at the time). Émile Durkheim ( April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French Sociologist whose contributions were instrumental Drawing on the identification of social group with spiritual totem in Australian Aboriginal tribes, Durkheim theorized that all human religious expression was intrinsically founded in the relationship to a group. This is an article about a class of people as identified and defined within Australian law

In his essay Le Totemisme aujourdhui (Totemism Today), Claude Lévi-Strauss shows that human cognition, which is based on analogical thought, is independent of social context. Claude Lévi-Strauss (klod levi stʁos born 28 November 1908 is a French Anthropologist. Human cognition is the study of how the Human brain thinks As a subject of study human cognition tends to be more than only theoretical in that its theories lead to working From this, he excludes mathematical thought, which operates primarily through logic. Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. Totems are chosen arbitrarily for the sole purpose of making the physical world a comprehensive and coherent classificatory system. Lévi-Strauss argues that the use of physical analogies is not an indication of a more primitive mental capacity. Analogy is both the cognitive process of transferring Information from a particular subject (the analogue or source to another particular subject (the target and It is rather, a more efficient way to cope with this particular mode of life in which abstractions are rare, and in which the physical environment is in direct friction with the society. --> Abstraction is the process or result of generalization by reducing the information A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions He also holds that scientific explanation entails the discovery of an arrangement; moreover, since the science of the concrete is a classificatory system enabling individuals to classify the world in a rational fashion, it is neither more nor less a science than any other in the western world. Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings It is important to recognise that in this text the egalitarian nature of Lévi-Strauss and his work is manifested in all its force, and more importantly Lévi-Strauss diverts the interest of anthropology towards the understanding of human cognition. Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/ from Greek grc ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, "human" -λογία -logia) is the study of

Lévi-Strauss looked at the ideas of Firth and Fortes, Durkheim, Malinowski, and Evans-Pritchard to reach his conclusions. Firth and Fortes argued that Totemism was based on physical or psychological similarities between the clan and the totemic animal. Malinowski proposed that it was based on empirical interest or that the totem was 'good to eat. ' In other words there was rational interest in preserving the species. Finally Evans-Pritchard argued that the reason for totems was metaphoric. His work with the Nuer led him to believe that totems are a symbolic representation of the group. The Nuer are a confederation of tribes located in Southern Sudan and western Ethiopia. Lévi-Strauss saw Evan-Pritchard's work as the correct explanation.

North American totem poles

Main article: Totem pole

A totem pole in Totem Park, Victoria, BC

The totem poles of the Pacific Northwest of North America have many different designs (bears, birds, frogs, people, lizards, see pictogram). Totem poles are monumental Sculptures carved from great Trees usually cedar but mostly Western Redcedar, by a number of Indigenous cultures along Victoria (vɪkˈtɔɹiə is the capital city of British Columbia. Totem poles are monumental Sculptures carved from great Trees usually cedar but mostly Western Redcedar, by a number of Indigenous cultures along The Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America (the term refers to the land not the ocean A pictogram ( also spelled pictogramme) or pictograph is a Symbol representing a Concept, object, activity place or event They have arms, wings and legs.

Possibly totemic culture in ancient China

The mysterious Sanxingdui Culture in southern China, dating back more than 5000 years, possibly placed bronze and gold heads on totems. Sanxingdui ( is the name of an Archaeological site in China, now believed to be the site of an ancient Chinese city China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Chinese transliterates totem as tuteng (圖騰), which means "flags embroidered with animal patterns representing the barbarian tribes". Sanxingdui bronze masks and heads (radiocarbon dated circa 1200BCE) appear to have been mounted on wooden poles. It has been suggested by some that that totemic culture spread from ancient Asiatic populations to the rest of the world, although this is unlikely because totemic cultures in North America are estimated to be over 10,000 years old.

See also

• Animal worship
• Anishinaabe clan system
• Aumakua
• Australian Aboriginal kinship
• Charge (heraldry)
• HMS Totem (P352)
• Kinship and descent
• Moiety
• Tamga
• Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud
• Tughra

External links

• Totem Spirit Animals: Discovering Animal Totems, Dictionaries, Feathers
• Historical Wonders of Sanxingdui
• Welcome to Sanxingdui (with history of excavation)
• Totems in Zimbabwe