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How do myths explain the choice of a group’s totem?
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Totemism
Totem fish mask from the Orokolo Bay area of New Guinea. Painted bark cloth over rattan frame with fringe of dried grass. Height 1.63 m.
Myths play a significant role in explaining the origins of a group’s totem, often grounding the selection in the history and cultural presuppositions of the society. Rather than being chosen for simple utilitarian reasons, such as being good to eat or useful, totems are frequently linked to eventful and decisive moments in a people’s past.12
These traditions typically explain the choice through two primary narrative frameworks:
- Common Ancestry: Some groups believe they are derived directly or indirectly from a given totem. In these myths, the group’s progenitor is often depicted as an animal or plant that possessed the ability to appear as a human being, establishing a shared lineage between the human group and the species.1
- Significant Experiences: Other traditions recount that a human ancestor of a kin group had specific favorable or unfavorable encounters with an animal or natural object. Following these experiences, the ancestor commanded their descendants to respect or honor that entire species, thereby establishing it as the group's totem.1
These myths serve to narrate the origin of the social group and the discovery of its symbol, reinforcing the group's identity and its mystical connection to the natural world.12