subject: Essential Information Regarding Totem Poles [print this page] Totem Crafts is religious symbol of the Native American customs. These culturally important pieces of work of art are still created up to the present through similar traditional processes used before; almost one hundred years have passed. Totem crafts are tall pieces of artwork engraved from big, single piece of wood.
Several figures symbolizing people, animals and different figures are engraved in upright arrangement, one over the other. A few crafts contain just one figure above the uncarved pole, although majority symbolizes many figures. Once engraved, the totem is painted brightly. Ancient totem poles frequently show symbol of paint impaired and decaying because they are not maintained normally.
The History
The carving of Totem Crafts started last 1700s as discovered by European explorers. It was confirmed that the people of Haida were the first people who created the crafts. The Haida people are inhabitants of Queen Charlotte Islands found in Northern British Columbia in Canada. From there, the tradition of engraving the crafts scattered to some indigenous inhabitants in the region, who got their individual artistic ancestry and used them in their poles. When Christian Missionaries arrived in the area, they began converting several native inhabitants, so the production of totem crafts decreased, because the missionaries sighted crafts as ungodly or satanic. However, current artists have revitalized the custom recently.
They are made out from a big piece of timber, generally cedar, which is pushed in vertical position by hundreds of male inhabitants and tied so that it will fall over. A ritual is performed before the carving is started, wherein the carver is being paid for the work and a ceremonial dance is performed subsequently to the wood. After that, the engraver uses a customary Native American tool to carve gradually the wood in the form of the design of totem pole. Finally, it is painted over so that the totem pole will look brilliantly. The entire procedure takes from six to twelve months.
Several crafts symbolize the ancestry of particular family unit or tribe of people, although others are merely built to inform stories or some popular myths. A small percentage of towering poles, well known as "shames poles" were made to bring shame to a person or group of persons who did not pay particular obligations to the society.
They can be seen in Pacific Northwest, throughout the state of Washington, Alaska and western coast of Canada. Some have been found also in New Zealand, wherein the Maori people constructed structures which are well-thought of as totem poles, and Kuril Islands in Northwestern Pacific Ocean. Current totem poles were revived in Eastern Canada and Great Britain as tribute artwork, although this is outside of their artistic context.
