A natural object, usually an animal, taken by a tribe, a family, or a single individual, as a patron or guarding spirit. the word comes from the Chippewa ototeman, meaning "his brother-sister kin." The totem was the Indian's Coat-of-arms.
Most Indians believed they had an animal human ancestor. Such an ancestor usually was a bear, wolf, beaver, fox, or perhaps an owl, eagle, or raven. A trader among the Chippewa in the late 1700's wrote:
"One part of the religious superstition of the Savages, consists in each having his totam, or favorite spirit, which he believes watches over him. This totam they conceive assumes the shape of some beast or other, and therefore they never kill, hunt or eat the animal whose form they think this totam bears."
Indians had various ways of finding their totem. Among the Omaha, for instance, a youth acquired his totem through a vision after a fast. He might have seen a bear or something having to do with a bear. In such a case his individual totem was the bear. Thus he might become a member of the Bear Society of the tribe, which consisted of others who had the bear as their totem.
Related Information within this Site
[ Bear ][ Clan
][ Dreams ][ Fasting ][ Food
][ Medicine ][ Totem
Poles ][ Tribe ]