Contrary to popular belief, totems are not, and never have been religious symbols to the Indians along the Northwest Coast of the United States and Canada. Although the carvings had deep significance, totems displayed a man's family tree and crest, illustrated a legend about his ancestry, and maintained the traditions of his clan. They were more like a genealogical record, memorial, or advertisement for his riches. In general, totem poles could be divided into six major categorise:
(1)Memorial or heraldic poles which illustrated the past of a clan.
(2)House posts that held up the roof and at the same time displayed a family's protector spirits.
(3)House-front or portal poles whose illustrations made a home more attractive.
(4)Mortuary poles that contained the ashes of a great chief.
In the case of this type of pole, a hole was cut in the back of the pole where the ashes were placed, and a box and a cross plank were used to cover up the opening.
(5)Welcoming poles at a waterfront; placed at some distance from the residence, these poles indicated who owned the waterfront.
(6)Grave figures that honored a deceased chief.
The Haida and the Tlingit also used totems to expose a scandal or to ridicule someone. This type of public display of a man's deeds was a way to shame and to bring community attention to the culprit.
In all cases strict symbolism was observed in totem pole carvings, but in order to understand the full significance of totem poles, the stories they told and their role in Indian society, one must first learn about the world in which the "totem-pole people" lived.
Not all Indians carved totem poles. The geographic area of those who did comprises the land from the northwest corner of Washington State to the Malaspina Glacier in Alaska and includes the Olympic Peninsula, the area immediately surrounding Puget sound, southwestern British Columbia, and Vancouver Island, along with the Alaskan panhandle. The best-known "totem-pole people" are the Nootka and Makah around Cape Flattery, Washington, the Kwakiutl, and the Coast Salish of British Columbia, the Nuxalk and Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the Tsimshian and Tlingit people in southeastern Alaska.
Although these people are divided into six ethnographically distinct groups, the Coast Salish, the Nootka, the Kwakiutl, the Tsimshian, the Haida, and the Tlingit, their environmental, economic, and cultural backgrounds are similar. Before the white man came, they lived in a territory that was abundant in wildlife and berries. They were hunters and gatherers, who shared resources with their own clans and traded with others for goods that their territory did not produce. The physical and spiritual worldview of these various tribes was similar.
Human hierarchies in inheritance and social rank
Each clan had its own territory for hunting, fishing, and gathering seeds and berries. They knew the time of year that was the appropriate season for any activity and worked in unison to provide
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