Week Two - Touching Spirit Bear

(I have not been able to access much of the internet lately, and so I had to finally find somewhere I could get a good connection to post this...)

When struggling with nature, man would learn the habits (virtues) and strong features of some animals. They would respect the animal and pride themselves on telling stories of his encounter with this animal.

The Indian would then carve his family history on a giant pole, and then stood it where everyone could see it. The poles usually started with the oldest history at the bottom, and read upward as the family went on. Topping the pole would be the family crest or totem of sorts. Early totems were carved using stone tools. When metals and parts of boats started washing ashore, the carvers had started using metal tools.

Also, the website told of what animals certain trives would normally carve in their totem poles. I found these for the Tlingit tribe: Raven, frog, goose, sea lion, owl, salmon, beaver, codfish, skate, wolf, eagle, bear, killer whale, shark, auk, gull, sparrow hawk, thunder bird.


Sources:

http://www.chainsawsculptors.com/totem_poles.htm