~~~ TOTEM POLES ~~~ If anyone tries to tell you that the Indians worshipped totem poles you can tell them they are mistaken, for noted authorities state clearly that totemism is not a religion. It is the identification of a man with his totem, whether his totem be an animal, a plant or what not. It is a serious, though apparently common mistake to speak of a totem as a god and to say that it is worshipped by the clan. In pure totemism among the aborigines, the totem is never a god and is never worshipped. A man no more worships his totem and regards it as his god than he worships his father and mother, or brother and sister, and regards them as his gods. He certainly respects his totem and treats it with consideration, but the respect and consideration which he pays to it are the same that he pays to his friends and relatives; hence when his totem is an edible animal or plant, he commonly, but not always, abstains from killing and eating it, just as he abstains from killing his friends and relatives
