Editing Totem pole (section)

== Meaning and purpose ==
[[Image:Wrangell totem poles.JPG|thumb|From left to right, the ''One-Legged Fisherman'' pole, the ''Raven'' pole, and the ''Killer Whale'' pole in [[Wrangell, Alaska]]]] 
 
Totem poles can symbolize characters and events in mythology, or convey the experiences of recent ancestors and living people.<ref name="G-F1" /> Some of these characters may appear as stylistic representations of objects in nature, while others are more realistically carved. Pole carvings may include animals, fish, plants, insects, and humans, or they may represent supernatural beings such as the [[Thunderbird (mythology)|Thunderbird]]. Some symbolize beings that can transform themselves into another form, appearing as combinations of animals or part-animal/part-human forms. Consistent use of a specific character over time, with some slight variations in carving style, helped develop similarities among these shared symbols that allowed people to recognize one from another. For example, the raven is symbolized by a long, straight beak, while the eagle's beak is curved, and a beaver is depicted with two large front teeth, a piece of wood held in his front paws, and a paddle-shaped tail.<ref name="Feldman, p. 6">Feldman, p. 6.</ref><ref>Garfield and Forrest, p. 3.</ref> [[File:82296943-SLD-001-050.jpg|thumb|right|Totem pole in [[Vancouver]], British Columbia]]
[[Image:Moa-2.jpg|thumb|right|Totem poles at the [[Museum of Anthropology at UBC|Museum of Anthropology]] at the [[University of British Columbia]]]]

The meanings of the designs on totem poles are as varied as the cultures that make them. Some poles celebrate cultural beliefs that may recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events, while others are mostly artistic. Animals and other characters carved on the pole are typically used as symbols to represent characters or events in a story; however, some may reference the [[Moiety (kinship)|moiety]] of the pole's owner,<ref>The Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian people separate themselves into two or more major divisions called moieties, which are further divided into small family groups called clans. Traditionally, several families within the same a clan lived together in a large communal house. See Feldman, p. 4.</ref> or simply fill up empty space on the pole.<ref name=Feldman1-5>Feldman, pp. 1, 5.</ref> Depictions of thrusting tongues and linked tongues may symbolize [[socio-political power]].<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Kramer
 |first1               = Pat
 |year                 = 2008
 |orig-date            = 1998
 |chapter              = Totem Pole Symbols and ceremonies
 |title                = Totem Poles
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=M637k7_TkMAC
 |edition              = revised
 |publication-place    = Vancouver
 |publisher            = Heritage House Publishing Co
 |page                 = 50
 |isbn                 = 9781894974448
 |access-date          = 23 April 2024
 |quote                = The origin of tongue linking and tongue thrusting on totem figures and in other native art is obscure. Particularly well-represented in the Haida tradition, the meaning is bound up with a transfer of power between two entities. [...] It could also be a variation on [[lip plug]]s (''[[labret]]s'') once worn by upper-class persons to show their rank.
}} 
</ref>

The carved figures interlock one above the other to create the overall design, which may rise to a height of {{convert|60|ft|m|abbr=on}} or more. Smaller carvings may be positioned in vacant spaces, or they may be tucked inside the ears or hang out of the mouths of the pole's larger figures.<ref>Feldman, p. 1.</ref><ref>Garfield and Forrest, p. 4.</ref>
<blockquote>Some of the figures on the poles constitute symbolic reminders of quarrels, murders, debts, and other unpleasant occurrences about which the Native Americans prefer to remain silent... The most widely known tales, like those of the exploits of Raven and of Kats who married the bear woman, are familiar to almost every native of the area. Carvings which symbolize these tales are sufficiently conventionalized to be readily recognizable even by persons whose lineage did not recount them as their own legendary history.<ref>{{cite book| editor-last1 = Reed | editor-first1 = Ishmael | editor-link1 = Ishmael Reed |year=2003|title= From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry across the Americas, 1900–2002|isbn=1-56025-458-0 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Hd5OuAEACAAJ}}</ref></blockquote>

{{anchor|Low on the totem pole}}People from cultures that do not carve totem poles often assume that the linear representation of the figures places the most importance on the highest figure, an idea that became pervasive in the dominant culture after it entered into mainstream parlance by the 1930s with the phrase "low man on the totem pole"<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/491446/ |work=The Morning Herald |location= Hagerstown, Maryland |date= April 18, 1939 |title= Around the Clock |quote= Bob started a few months ago as low man on the totem pole. . . . Today he's the boss.}}</ref> (and as the title of a bestselling 1941 humor book by [[H. Allen Smith]]). However, Native sources either reject the linear component altogether, or reverse the hierarchy, with the most important representations on the bottom, bearing the weight of all the other figures, or at eye-level with the viewer to heighten their significance.<ref>{{cite book | author=Oscar Newman | title = Secret Stories in the Art of the Northwest Indian | publisher = Catskill Press | year = 2004 | location = New York | page = 19 | isbn = 097201196X}}</ref> Many poles have no vertical arrangement at all, consisting of a lone figure atop an undecorated column.