Totem pole
A totem pole rarely also called totem pole, is a monumental sculpture that is carved out of a large tree trunk and then painted. Totem Poles were particularly common among the Indians of the American Northwest Coast. The establishment of a totem pole was connected with the orientation of a potlatches, in which the position of the family was confirmed in the social hierarchy of their respective tribe. Unlike suggested by the first missionaries in British Columbia, totem poles have no religious significance. They were neither holy nor were they worshiped, but had a social and political function. They are not to be confused with the stake, which was used by indigenous peoples of other regions of North America to torture prisoners.
Totem poles are seen as symbols of identity of the indigenous peoples of North America and are in high demand as works of art again. However, they were viewed towards the end of the 19th century by settlers of European descent as a symbol of the Northwest of North America as the example of Seattle totem pole occupied. Public institutions in the north- western North America are often decorated with contemporary examples of totem poles. One such example, is located at the Vancouver airport.
Totem poles that stand in the open air, are rarely older than 100 years, but rot over time. The vast majority of totem poles, which can be seen along the coast of the Inside Passage, was built after 1930. The oldest works shown in museums totem poles are from the late 18th century. One of the tallest totem poles in the world is located in Alert Bay, British Columbia. The plant color garishly colorful painted pile consists of three parts and is 56.4 m high.
Word origin
The term " totem " comes from the word " odoodeman " from an Algonquian language (probably Ojibwa ) and is called " his clan, his group, his family " or " his family badge ". This means that the terms totem pole totem pole and are not inconsistent. Only those who interpreted the totem - term purely animistic and neglected the term context can reach the wrong conclusion that " totem pole " the erroneous name of " totem pole " is.
Importance
Totem poles were and are built for different reasons. You remember the deceased, sometimes harboring the remains of individuals and tell the story of a family or represent the position of a family within the community. Totem poles contain coded messages in their presentations and are often ambiguous. There are also poles that mock the owner. This happened when the client did not pay the stake or injured rules.
Totem poles are usually read from bottom to top. The animal symbolism is easy to decipher as a rule. So have shown ravens pointed beaks, curved eagle against it. Bears are illustrated with striking ears, sharp counting and large paws with long claws. Beavers are also frequently depicted on totem poles. You have strikingly long incisors and tails with cross-hatching. However, this message, which symbolize these animals, only "read" who was informed by the sculptor or the contracting entity, which is intended to represent a totem pole. An animal representation on two different totem poles is when the totem pole for two different families was made separate entities constitute or tells a different story. If history is forgotten, it can not be deciphered. It can then only the animal figures are interpreted, the link is no longer to decipher.
Only family members have the right to their specific stories that manifest themselves in the totem poles to tell. In recent years, some families have their stories shared with a wider audience, so that they were eventually published in various publications. For example, the totem poles in Saxman, Totem Bight, Ketchikan and Klawock in Southeast Alaska are interpretable. The three stories of the Raven clan, which reflect the views of the Seattle totem pole, are known.
Creation and erection
Totem poles were and are mostly from the wood of giant trees of life (Thuja plicata, Western Red Cedar ) made . A family that wanted to build a totem pole, usually commissioned a carver for this task. These were well into the 20th century only men. The family rejected the Schnitzer exactly what should be shown on the totem pole. The erection of the Totemfpahl was accompanied by a large party, known as a potlatch. At the end of such a potlatch the host gave its guests gifts such as ceilings, wooden crates and sometimes cash. By accepting these gifts, guests confirmed the claim of the host on the coat of arms shown on the totem pole as well as the social position of the family in the hierarchy of the respective tribe. For this reason, emphasizes the art historian Aldona Jonaitis that the most important function of a totem pole is not his presence in the family home, but the orientation of the potlatches, which was necessary for its erection.
History
Totem poles have been erected before the first Europeans reached the northwestern coast of North America in the late 18th century. However, the use of totem poles on the Tsimshian in the north of present-day British Columbia and the Haida on Haida Gwaii and the Southeast Alaska was limited. Beginning with the early 19th century, the use of totem poles spread even when Tlinglits, and later with the Nuxalk, Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu- chah- nulth. On the distribution of totem poles contributed to the increasing availability of iron tools, the production of totem poles and simplified by the fur trade was a source of wealth, which enabled the alignment of the potlatches.
From the 1820s, the Hudson's Bay Company trading posts established in the coastal area of British Columbia. The possibility of skins for sale, meant that the indigenous peoples of the region are increasingly abandoning their small settlements and moved in together in large settlements near these trading posts. The epidemics that broke out as a result of contact with Europeans among indigenous peoples and led to a massive decline in population, contributed to that tribes moved in together that had not previously lived in close proximity to each other. Both were reason that totem poles that were in the old, now abandoned settlements, copied and re- erected at the new place of residence. The reproduction of old totem poles is a practice that has continued throughout the 20th century and is a factor that contributed to the large number of totem poles, which today are located in British Columbia.
The ban on the orientation of potlatches, which had in Canada 1884-1951 validity, with the result that in this time considerably decreased the number of built totem poles. The active approach of missionaries also contributed to the fact that the erection of totem poles was uncommon for several decades. However, part of the Christian convert indigenous people on the North West coast used the typical Bear, Raven and Orca representations among other Christian grave stones on.
The totem poles, which are now displayed in museums in Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan, are partly historic totem poles, which date from the late 19th century and early 20th century. A number of totem poles shown but was also given by the museums commissioned and built in the last 40 years. Among the specimens shown include so-called model totem poles as they were, for example, created by the Haida artist Charles Edenshaw.