Symbols Of The Totem Pole

In Native American witchcraft, amulets and charms play the central role. Practitioners of one region dress similarly as well as use same kind of totems to have a sense of unity with each other. For them land is considered as deity that provides them with objects necessary for witchcraft and magic. These objects come in many shapes and forms. These may include herbs, stones, feathers, bones etc (world of Wicca, 2014).

A great sense of trust supports this mutual ‘give-take’ relationship. ‘If you take care of country, country will take care of you.’ These beliefs are totemist and animist, which basically means Aboriginals perceive all natural objects to possess a spirit or soul. While totems are quite significant within Aboriginal culture as they act as symbols in a system of beliefs, signifying a relationship between an individual or group and an animal or plant. Thus, creating a link between the human, natural and supernatural worlds. As the word ‘totem’ comes from a Native American language where it represents group membership; and literally means is ‘he/she/it is a relative of mine’.

In King’s short story, the museum workers are continually trying to remove the totem pole from the museum as Walter, one of these workers, states, “” the totem pole is not part of the show, and we need to move it someplace else”” (King 14). This quote demonstrates the controlling nature of the museum workers in their ongoing pursuit to remove the totem pole from the museum, but each attempt is as successful as their last. The totem pole’s ongoing struggle to survive in the museum is paralleled to the Indigenous people’s ongoing struggle to survive under the oppression of Canadian settlers and governments trying to eliminate them. Another example, from the story, that shows the controlling nature of the museum workers is when Walter attempts to find the owner of the totem pole instead of just leaving it in the show. The simple notion of ownership is different in the Indigenous and non–Indigenous cultures. Indigenous cultures believe that everything is to be shared and no one is an owner of anything, while the non-Indigenous cultures believe that every object seemingly belongs to someone.

In the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the theme of escape is presented by the use of three symbols. These three symbols include looking out windows, riding carriages, and the movement of swimming and boat riding. All of these symbols help Mrs. Pontellier realize that she wants an escape from her life. Edna feels inclined to escape throughout the novel and three symbols that prove this are windows, carriages, and movement.

“One general truth that threads throughout the Native American spiritual beliefs is the belief of the Mother Earth spirituality” (Coll). They often called earth their mother and called father the air. The earth to the Natives is very sacred to them and is the most important thing to them. Most of the ceremonies were in some way revolving around the earth and they called earth “home.” Most of the ceremonies were practiced for many years and were passed down through generation to generation. The Native Americans didn’t have a book like the bible or any language that was written. One big thing they had was Totems. These were everywhere in their tribes and it was supposed to represent people and the animals that represented them. The Indians were supposed to have 7 spiritual animals and the many animals on the totems were supposed to represent all the person’s spiritual

Ultimately, the totem pole is symbolic in the story because it represents the Indigenous people in Canada. In King’s short story, the museum workers are constantly trying to remove the totem pole from the museum as Walter states that, “” the totem pole is not part of the show, and we need to move it someplace else”” (King 14). This quote accurately demonstrates the controlling nature of the museum workers because they attempt to remove the totem pole numerous times, but each time is as unsuccessful as the last. This correlates to Canadian history with the settlers trying to eliminate the Indigenous people in Canadian Society which was also unsuccessful. Additionally, another example that proves the controlling nature of the workers is witnessed when Walter attempts to find the owner of the totem pole instead of just leaving it in the show. Considering this, the whole notion of ownership is very different in Indigenous and non–Indigenous cultures. Indigenous culture believes that everything is to be shared and no one is an owner of anything. This concept is complete and total opposite in non-Indigenous culture as everything belongs to someone.

In a reading done in class, “Farmers of the Woodlands,” written by Peter Nabokov and Dean Snow, there is discussion of the religious and spiritual beliefs of the people who lived in the Eastern Woodlands. For the Penobscot bands, they had the spiritual belief of totems. These totems were animals. They believed the totems were the ancestors to the people of the band. These totems linked them to the lands they lived, hunted, and fished

The Tlingit Community House is an example of the totem of Tlingit (Frank, 2014). A symbolic of animal form that is laid out in a two-dimensional abstract pattern, with an extensive gently slanted roof, attractively painted façade (Frank, 2014). The flat surfaces of the Tlingit Community House show geometric shapes of beavers, bears, also whales, and ravens. Furthermore, the totem pole in the center contains stacked images that help a family are a clan to reminisce about their history back to mythological periods (Frank, 2014). Also, the Tlingit community house is characteristic of the art and style of that region (Frank, 2014). However, a totem is an object such as an animal or plant that operates as a symbol of a family or tribe (Frank,

The Inuit don’t normally use wood for carving. Instead, they use materials like whalebone, stone, soapstone, bone, and ivory. Also, the Inuit live in the northern part of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. The Haida and Iroquois live in the southern part of Canada. Since the Inuit live in such a cold climate, they layer up and wear tons of clothing to protect them from the harsh environment and cold of the Arctic, but the Iroquois and Haida don’t layer up a ton. In fact, the Haida men wear no clothing during the summer months! See? The Inuit are different from the Haida and Iroquois in many ways.

Even through it was briefly discussed that part to me was very interesting. It’s amazing to how they have such amazing art work on each and every hollow tree. Each design has a meaning, some of the meaning of the artwork could insist of celebration of life, respect for the dead, and also people’s connections with the ancestors. The aboriginal people also put the ashes of the fallen in the hollow tree, by doing this the ashes will eventually grow into their lands and be a part of

Myths play a large role in Native American totem poles, this is not really a surprise because Native people believed in more superstitious things. They believed that many living beings in nature had either spirits or gods. With these outlooks on nature and life, those beliefs came back to their carvings on totem poles. Respecting spirits and gods of the land was huge for Native Americans, such as showing

“There is a totem pole in the corner, and it’s grunting.”” (King, 121). In this story the totem pole represents the First Nations people of the area. The staff of the gallery are like white settlers trying to settle on the First Nations land. In this case the totem

In this essay I am going compare and contrast the rituals/ practices parts of sikhism and judaism. As we discussed in class, Sikhism is Monotheistic religion that was found in Punjab Pakistan in 1469 AD by Guru Nanak Dv Ji. The worship place for this religion is the Gurdwara. In my site visit to the Gurdwara I learned that this place open 24 hour and anyone may enter it no matter their faith, caste or skin color. I also learned that There are daily prayers and the three pillars of sikhism are to remember god at all time, to live your life honestly/with integrity and to share what you have with those less fortunate. In addition, Every day Sikhs worship the one God at their homes, even with or without a Gurdwara service. As we learned in class that in sikhism statues and pictures are not allowed. Furthermore, there is no prophets in Sikhism, only direct relation with god without mediator. The three jewels in Sikhism are Naam Japna,Kirat Karni and Vand chakna (Living Religions page . Additionally, Skishis do not drink intoxicating drinks and most of them are vegetarian. Also, sikhs wear the 5 KS which are Kangha,Kara,Kachera,Kirpan and Kesh. According to the book Living Religion in Skisham , Men should wear turbans and

Sikhs believe that you reap what you sew. If you do something bad then eventually that bad deed will catch up to you and you will pay for it. Such ideas are expressed through karma, much like the Hindu belief in karma, Sikhs belief in many lives after death as a result of the karma in the life you just lived. Sikhs disagree with Hinduism when it comes to karma in that they do not believe that people are defenseless beings. In Sikhism the cycle of life and death is regarded as the ultimate punishment and can only be overcome if they conduct themselves in line with the teachings of the Gurus by being Guru-oriented as opposed to being self-oriented (Kalsi,225). In Hinduism there are many gods that are worshiped and many pictures of these gods which is not accepted in Sikhism. The Gurus in Sikhism are considered to be disciples of god but not god himself therefore is not to be worshiped. They were not to be considered divine but enlightened teachers (“History of Sikhism”,

These myths and rituals were also a source of inspiration for much aboriginal art, including paintings, carved objects, symbolic weapons and poetic chants. The forms of art varied according to region, with differences in the decoration of objects and weapons depending on local myths and traditions.