totem poles
Carved cedar monuments
Totem poles are tall carved wooden posts made by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, featuring stacked figures of animals, humans, and spiritual beings that represent family lineages, histories, or cultural stories.
The phrase low man on the totem pole means the person with least status or seniority in a hierarchy, though this inverts the original symbolism—figures at the bottom of actual totem poles often held greater significance.
- potlatchCeremonial wealth distribution gathering
- thunderbirdSpirit bird causing tempests
- carvingShaping by cutting away
- First NationsCanada's non-Inuit indigenous peoples
- native artCreative works by original inhabitants
raising ceremony · crests · oral traditions · cedar · indigenous · coastal tribes · clans · symbols · storytelling · tribes · masks · culture · Pacific Northwest · artifacts · ancestor · salmon · painted · tall
- AlaskaFairbanks, Juneau, Denali, Sitka, Kodiak
- BC CoastVancouver Island, Victoria, Nanaimo, Duncan, Sidney
- Coastal AlaskaSitka, Juneau, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, fjords
- Native American artNavajo rugs, dreamcatchers, featherwork, wampum, ceremonial masks
- Native culturetribal traditions, sacred ceremonies, powwow, native languages, tribal dances
- Northwest Folkloresasquatch, thunderbird, raven, spirit animals, trickster
totem polesrelief sculpture
Carving projecting from background
bas-relief · wall carvings · petroglyphs · cave paintings · friezes
pole, totem, poles, polemic, totem pole, totems, totemic, polemically