Background

Indians of the Pacific Northwest told stories orally and by carving human and animal forms on large totem poles and displaying these poles for all to see. The Indians usually carved the totems into red cedar poles with a hand tool called an “adze.” They painted the totem poles blue, black, red, and green with a material made from minerals, fish eggs, and saliva. Totem poles today are still made of red cedar; however, the Indians purchase paint to color them now. Totems were carved for various reasons. To read the story of the totem, you must start at the bottom and read to the top.

House posts were support structure in longhouses. The story carved on house poles was often continued onto others house posts in the longhouse. Poles that framed the entrance of a longhouse honored the family who lived inside.

Mortuary poles had an animal or several animals carved on them. A box was carved into a mortuary pole, and the ashes of someone who had died were placed in the box.

Memorial poles honored chiefs or high-ranking tribal members who had died. The carvings told ancient legends about the person.

Ridicule or shame poles were carved when a person believed he had been wronged. The wronged person made the pole to ridicule or shame another tribal member.

Make a Totem Pole—Method 1

Materials

• Animal patterns
• Crayons, paint, or colored markers
• Poster board, approximately 11 by 18 inches
• Scissors
• Tape

Directions

• Find the middle of the poster board and draw a light line down the center.
• Trace an animal pattern at the bottom of the poster board on the center line.
• Trace another animal, in the same way, directly above the first animal.
• Continue tracing animal patterns until you have the number of animals you want.
• Carefully cut around the animal parts that extend beyond the center line. Do not cut all around the body.
• Color the animals.
• Roll the cardboard into a cylinder. Tape together the edges that meet. The animals will stick out to create a three-dimensional look.

Make a Totem Pole—Method 2

Materials

• Round pieces of wood, approximately 8 inches in diameter
• Sandpaper
• Acrylic paints—brown and blue, black, red and green
• Animal patterns
• Carbon paper
• Pencil

Directions

• Peel off the outer bark.
• Sand the wood smooth.
• Paint the piece of wood completely with brown acrylic paint. Let the wood dry.
• Choose an animal pattern and trace it onto the piece of wood. Carbon paper and a pencil work well for tracing.
• Fill in the pattern with different colors of acrylic paint.
• Build a totem pole by stacking several pieces of wood of the same size.