Home » Interests » Travel » Where do totem poles come from?

Welcome!


FunAdvice is a social question & answer site where you can make friends, share photos and meet people near you.
FunAdvice RSS for this page:
Rss_feed

Where do totem poles come from?

Jeremy Goodrich yep, that's me Asked by thedude about 1 year ago, 1 answer.
Send me Fun Mail

Where do totem poles come from? They are pretty fascinating, but my history is a little fuzzy.

Send this to a friend

Answered by brighteyez on Nov 17, 2006, 06:19PM
Send me Fun Mail | 409 answers.

While Totem Poles are thought by many to be a symbol of Native People culture generally, their production
was limited to six tribes in British Columbia and southeastern Alaska.
The tribes which carved Totem Poles were the
Bella Coola, Haida, Kwakiutl, Tlingit, Tsimshian and West Coast. Pole carving flourished in the
19th century. The Poles told stories or commemorated historical events. The figures were not gods or
demons, but rather were symbolic like the figures in European Heraldry.

Totem Poles were not worshipped, but the stories
they told often inspired respect or veneration.
Each tribe had its own distinctive style.

The Kwakiutls used high-relief carvings and carefully smoothed surfaces. Haida Poles can be recognized by their bold carvings and massive style. The Tsimshian and Bella Coola were noted for ornate carvings of supernatural beings, while the West Coast people carved human figures on their house posts.
The full flowering of Totem Pole carving did not take place until European tools such as steel axes, adzes and curved knives became more and more easily available. Previously the carvers' art was mainly seen in much smaller household crests, graveyard carvings, masks,
staffs and charms.

Most Totem Poles were carved from red cedar using knives and adzes, and early Poles were painted using local materials.
White was obtained from clay, yellow came from ochres, red from
iron ore, blue from copper ore, and black from charcoal.
Later Poles were colored using pigments and paints obtained by
trading with the white settlers.

| 1 of 1 thought this was helpful
Answer this Question: "Where do totem poles come from?"

Your Answer: HTML is not allowed.


Back to top




 

Related Photos

Ana Again Mandi Hamlin Nipple Ring Episode, Example LOVE abhi mm fan Honeymoon