Totem
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Historians of religion usually assume that religions developed upwards from some common germ which they call Totemism, Animism, Solar or Astral Myth, Nature Worship in general or Agrarian in particular, or some other name implying a systematic interpretation of the facts."--Cyril Charles Martin |
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A totem is a being, object, or symbol representing an animal or plant that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe, reminding them of their ancestry (or mythic past). In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem. Normally this belief is accompanied by a totemic myth. They have been around for many years. They are usually in the shape of an animal, and every animal has a certain personality, e.g Owl:
The Owl - Wisdom, silent and swift and wise.
Although the term is of Ojibwe origin in North America, totemistic beliefs are not limited to Native Americans and Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Similar totem-like beliefs have been historically present in societies throughout much of the world, including Africa, Arabia, Asia, Australia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Arctic polar region.
In modern times, some single individuals, not otherwise involved in the practice of a tribal religion, have chosen to adopt a personal spirit animal helper, which has special meaning to them, and may refer to this as a totem. This non-traditional usage of the term is prevalent in the New Age movement and the mythopoetic men's movement.
See also
- Animal worship
- Animism
- Anishinaabe clan system
- Aumakua
- Axis Mundi
- Charge (heraldry)
- Devak, a type of family totem in Maratha culture
- Fylgja
- Jangseung
- Moiety
- Nature worship
- Tamga, an abstract seal or device used by Eurasian nomadic peoples
- Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud
- Vahana
- Wildlife totemization
