Totem Poles
Unlike many of the Native Americans on the East Coast, many Native American peoples of the West Coast practiced totemism, including the Tlingit, Haida, and the Tsimshian. Merriam-Webster defines totemism as a belief in kinship with or a mystical relationship between a group or an individual and a totem. Native American totem poles were carved out of large Western Red Cedar trees. These poles would be up to 40 feet tall thanks to the abundance of large amounts of timber. These poles would be hoisted upwards using ropes. The animals, plants and symbols were carved and painted onto these large trees by Native American carvers. Carvers would use the few colors available to them based on surrounding resources, like, for example, black made from graphite or charcoal and red from red ochre. The culmination of these animals, plants, and symbols would create a story. These stories ranged from the story of the carver to family histories and to other histories and stories of the tribe.
Although totem poles are often associated with Native American religion, they were not always used for religious purposes. In these Native American societies, these totem poles were deeply respected and were used for many different reasons. For example, Portal poles were used to show the entrance to a house, Ridicule poles were used to condemn or shame people, and Welcoming poles identified ownership of a body of water. However, importantly Potlatch poles would give respect to someone who financed a Potlatch ceremony. Potlatch ceremonies were ceremonies in which gifts were given to others and could be a display of wealth. Raising a totem pole was an important and celebrated part of Native American society in the Northwest.
As the United States and Canada expanded west, the American and Canadian government as well as Christan missionaries discouraged the carving of new poles. They saw these totem poles as paganistic and unchristian. They believed that ridding the Native Americans of their totem poles would help civilize them. Some totem poles were also stolen and put in the hands of private collectors as well in museums based in the Americas and Europe. Unfortunately, today, many of the totem poles, especially the largest ones, no longer exist due to unintentional decay and rot. However, the tradition of pole carving still exists today and poles still represent an important cultural aspect of Northwestern Native Americans.
https://seamus.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/totempoles/index.html
https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/canadas-complicated-history-with-first-nation-totem-poles
