Barbara Fitzgerald, age $, of Bridgeport Conn., or her question:
Where did the idea of the totem pole come from?
The Ojibwa tribe of the great Algonquins used the word ototeman. The early settlers gathered that it meant relatives or a badge of kinship. And it was certainly something full of powerful magic. The word was adopted and changed to totem. Many tribes were found to have their totems. But explorers did not find totem poles until they met the Indians of Alaska and the far northwest. '
These Indians lived in well made wooden houses. The strange, garish totem poles stood guard before certain houses. Actually they were straight tree trunks carved with humanlike animal faces one above another and painted ¬with colored earths. But the proud owners were sure their totem poles were full of powerful magic.
The Indians amazed the settlers from the Old World, But most of them were living as all mankind lived before the dawn of written history, Most likely, all mankind once believed in totems. For a long period of pre history, totem ideas were useful and were stepping stones on the road to civilization. They were buried and forgotten as better ideas came along.
Early mankind was a wanderer in search of food and shelter, die waa always a good parent in need of strong family ties. Wherever he went, his tribal, family ,went with him. Together they learned to cope with Nature, to build shelters and make weapons. They flourished and grew in numbers.
With success came desires for more success. Human beings love company they wanted bigger tribes. To succeed, the tribe must be orderly. Its members must give and take like brothers, And to cope with Nature, they sensed they must understand her more. The totem idea arose from the need to unite the tribe and get along with the world of nature.
To early mankind, Nature was two faced and mighty powerful, the sent storms and sunshine, famine and plenty, with no consideration fox people She seemed like a person. It was natural to try and keep on the good side of this trick, powerful personage. Far scattered tribes had the same problems. They tried to solve them the same way with the idea of the totem.
A tribe chose an animal or plant as its totem, or badge. This bound the members together under one symbol. It also gave them a chance to pay homage to Nature, mother of all creatures, And, because he was mankind and not an animal, he needed religion to be complete, He never stopped seeking the one God we worship today. His ideas about totems led him astray for a long, long time. For he made them sacred and filled them with power and magic which they do rightfully have.
To a civilized man, a totem pole is just a carved and painted post not even very handsome. Not so to a tribe that still has far to go along the road to civilization. To then, their totems and totem poles are magic symbols of the powerful and tricky Nature that controls their lives.