November 17, 2009 • 20 mins
If you've ever wondered where the expression "low man on the totem pole" comes from, this episode of Stuff You Should Know is a must-listen. Tune in as Josh and Chuck take a look at the origins, symbolism and history of totem poles.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know
from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as
Charles W. Chuckers Bryant, thank you, and Jerry of course
(00:25):
Hi Jerry. She's waving at omni President Jerry and Omniscient.
Scarily enough, Josh, before we get going, can I just
mentioned a little TV show coming up? I thought we were,
as you going, No, we're not quite going. Oh, there's
a TV show that our parent company, Discovery, specifically the
Science Channel has about a great fall tradition in Delaware
(00:46):
where they chunk punkins, punkin chunking, punkin chunking and actually
hurl these things through the air with a catapult and
it's fun and that they've done a TV show on it,
and it's on They did two TV shows, Buddy two, Yeah,
say it's say the names. Well at eight o'clock on
the Science Channel, it's Eastern time. There's going to be
the road to punkin Chunking and where does that road
(01:08):
lead to punkin chunk in itself? At nine and that
is Thanksgiving Night on the Science Channel and Science Channel HD. Yes,
and we just wanted to say watch it, yeah, because
we like Chunking Punkin's Punkin Chunking. And now we're gonna
talk about whatever. You're gonna cleverly set it up as
all right, you ready? Yes, Hey, Chuck, Hey Josh. Have
(01:29):
you have you ever heard the phrase the low man
on the totem pole? I have, and you know what,
go ahead. So it's usually too it's it's usually somebody
who's the grunt. They're at the bottom, they're they're just
it's us. Okay, there you get lowman on the totem pole.
Not true if you're suggesting that you and I are
(01:50):
at the bottom of the heap. True, I had I
know what you mean. It's actually on totem poles, the
lower uh carvings were actually of the most high esteem. Right.
I have no idea. You do now and I do too,
because we read an article called how totem poles will work.
(02:12):
By the way, I think we should start using the
correct version of that, just to confuse people. I get
on the elevator like house work. Oh well, you know,
I'm the lowman on the totem pole Like, sorry, you're like,
what are you talking about? Them? The VP? Right? Yeah?
Things are great? Right? Or when one of the higher
ups walks by, go, there goes the lowman on the
totem pole. Exactly, give me some skin. What happened? Did
they get fired? So? Yeah? Okay, well, Chuck and I
(02:33):
are going to start confusing people after this, But let's
talk about total poles first. Okay, let's do. I learned
a lot of stuff in this one that I didn't know.
Everything I read in here I learned because I knew
nothing about totem poles. Really, have you ever seen him? Well,
I've seen him, but I didn't know anything aside from
you know, to pole. All right, well, let's talk. Let's
share this information that we've we've learned, let's impart it.
So one of the things I learned, besides lowman on
(02:56):
the totem pole being actually important, um, is that the uh,
the natives Native Americans actually had socioeconomic strata. Yeah, stratum.
I didn't know that either, strata one of the two. Yes,
I did, And I know what you're talking about here,
(03:18):
because totem poles were typically commissioned by people of esteem
and people had money, right, people who wanted to show
off basically uh, And what they would do would be
to commission a totem carver who was a person of
very high authority a littlement on the totem pole and
might say uh. And the head carver would basically be
(03:41):
treated with tons of esteem and respect uh and was
housed at the home of the person who had commissioned them. Yeah,
and basically retreated like royalty. Because I guess this guy
could be like, once you've commissioned this, I'm going to
do it, and if you mistreat me or I am
not amused at any point in time him, I'm going
to carve you naked on this and you have to
(04:02):
put it up. Yeah, I got this. That is the
law of the Pacific Northwest. I got this from this
that totem pole carvers were like many temperamental artists. It's
kind of funny how they had that same attitude, like
it's cross culture. If you don't make me happy, I'm
gonna ruin your commission work and shame you right with
a shame pole right, well, not necessarily boiler. So the
(04:25):
other thing I learned is that, um, I'm just gonna
introduce every point with that for this whole podcast. Another
thing I learned is that um totem poles haven't been
around that long. No, I did not know that either,
And I will say that at the end of every
time you mentioned that that I didn't realize that they
have just started in the seventeen hundreds. Late seventeen hundred
and when the Europeans came over is when they really
(04:47):
really started booming. They think the Hida tribe h a
i d a tribe of south eastern Alaska were the
first to start carving totem poles, and I guess it
was kind of slow going at first, but really picked
up once UM settlers colonists started hitting the Pacific Northwest
and more and more numbers because they brought with them tools. Yeah,
(05:09):
but they were a little frightened by them. They were,
which is funny because from what I understand, UM European
settlers were among the most superstitious, easily frightened, and most
suspicious people ever to populate the earth. Seriously. Yeah, so
they saw totem poles and I think Captain James Cook
had a famous quote, right, Yeah, he said that they
were truly monstrous figures, yes, and he was wrong. Um.
(05:33):
And then you also have the superstition or myth that
totem poles were used to ward off or worship evil spirits,
depending on how you felt towards your native neighbors. No,
what is a totem pole, Chuck, Well, a totem pole? Uh?
And totem, by the way, is an ojibwa a word?
Is it really? Josh actually winked at me, by the way.
(05:54):
Just then for reels a totem pole, Josh. Many times
it's used to commemorate an event, like Um, I looked
some of these up. What it might commemorate a funeral,
sometimes childbirth, marriage, and even monarchy. No, yes, no, yes, yes,
I read that that is true. And Uh. They could
(06:16):
range in size initially, and I didn't know this either.
They could be as small as like a walking cane. Yeah,
way smaller than I thought I thought they were. They
were all like extremely large. No, they definitely vary inside
as I've seen some that are like kneehigh to a grasshoppers,
you like to say. And then there's others that are,
you know, a hundred and seventy ft tall, which we'll
(06:36):
get into the world records here shortly too, and not
just any No, no jackass can come along and carve
some wood up and say I just made me a
total pole. There are some very specific, um, I guess
details that have to be followed for a total pole
to truly be considered a total pole. Yeah, to be authentic, Josh,
it needs to be the work of a trained Pacific
(06:57):
Coast carver Pacific Northwest Pacific normally more specific and uh yeah,
no San Diego carvers up there, forget them. Uh. It
must be raised according to the specific American Indian traditions
and ceremonies. There's a ceremony that goes along with it,
which we'll get to. And it must be blessed by
natives of the Northwest specific coast. Plus also, it doesn't
(07:18):
hurt your case if you want to prove that you
have a an authentic totem pole, that it be made
from your redd or yellow cedar. Ah. Well, sure you
can't use you can't use power tools or chainsaws. Well
they do now, but if you really you didn't, You
just wasted your time if you were trying to make
an authentic totem pole. Um. And there are certain colors
(07:39):
they're traditionally followed red, black, yellow, blue, green, white, um,
which I find to be an unappealing color combination. Those
those four or five. Yeah, you know it said they
did not need to be painted. And I've never seen
a natural totem pole, but I think that would be
my preference. Yes, and you can't preserve it in any way.
I didn't know that either, which means that total poles
(08:00):
ain't gonna be around all that long. An authentic total
pole has a lifespan of about a hundred years, especially
in the Pacific Northwest where it's wet, rainy, muggy, not
good on on carved wood. Yeah, that's not bad. Tho
hundred years is pretty good. And did I also say
it has to be from one single piece? Oh no,
you didn't say that. It's important too, Yeah, of course. Okay,
so Chuck, Basically, we've established that totem poles are there's authentic,
(08:25):
and there's an authentic ones. You can't just be some
jackass with a chainsaw. Um. They are the bar or
bob mitzvah of the Native American culture, with the ceremony
and the shore and um that they are commissioned, usually
by a wealthy Native American by a head carver. So
you've got the head carver, he's got a couple of
(08:46):
junior carvers, and they get to work. And here we
reach why the low man on the total pole is
actually the most prominent figure. Why because the head carver
carves the lower parts of the totem pole. Yeah, the
first ten feet. And I would and it's just a guess,
but I would say probably because they don't want to
stand on whatever you need to stand on. That's part
of it. It's also that's also the most visible and scrutinizeable. Yeah, yeah,
(09:08):
good point. Okay, So the carver finishes and and probably
some of the stuff that he's put on there, there's
some uh basically uh, he'll say, tell me about your
family history? Yeah, yeah, what kind of birds are you
fond of? Right? Do you have any ancestor who has
ever shape shifted into an animal? And the the carver
is going to take all this into account. The person
(09:30):
who commissioned it will probably have some ideas and then
they combine them and you have things like eagles, thunderbirds, bears, owls, wolves, ravens, frogs,
and each one kind of has a different meaning in
Native American culture. Sure should we go with those briefly? Uh? Well,
the eagle obviously flies higher than any other bird, and
(09:51):
it can spot trouble, so that's a good thing. And um,
the thunderbird is a mythological creature and it can create
lightning and thunder by beating its wings and blinking, which
is why it's mythological. Yes, bear obviously teaches natives certain
things like, um, how to hunt salmon and how to
forge for barry, So that's probably good luck to have
(10:12):
on your pole. Um. Owls are represent souls of the deceased.
So that might be a mortuary pole. Oh, actually, no,
that is when the ashes are actually in the pole, correct, right,
that's the type of poll. There's a there's a entry
way totem pole, which is kind of like a coat
of arms. Um, and that's what that's what A lot
(10:32):
of the early settlers of the Pacific Northwest took these
ass as a coat of arms, like family coat of arms. Um.
So you've got entry way totem poles, mortuary poles, which
actually do have a hollow cavity to put the ashes
of a dead person in. Yeah, it's like an urn basically.
Yet a very cool urn, a very tall urn. Uh.
And then there's ridicular shame poles like you mentioned, right.
That's what I want to bring back, the shame pole. Okay,
(10:53):
So Chuck, talk about the most famous when the Lincoln
Pole in sex Men, Alaska. Yeah, this is when um
and I didn't know to see this. Here's another thing.
I learned Native Americans had slaves. The the the Lincoln
poll was actually uh to shame the US government because
of the Emancipation Proclamation in eighteen sixty three. And many
members of the is that Lingott is that I was
(11:15):
pronounced the Lynott tribe Lingot. I think the team might
be silent, but they're they're slaves were freed. I didn't
know that Native Americans had slaves. I know, That's what
I just said. Neither did I. And so they got
all mad and said, you know what, we're gonna do
a Lincoln poll and it's gonna shame President Lincoln for
the Emancipation proclamation. Actually that's not true. I guess I
(11:36):
did know that they would capture other people in battle
and force him into slavery. I didn't know that. Okay, So, Chuck,
we've got the type of pole established what we know
what's on the pole and it has to be raised. Now, well,
this is when the fund starts, the rowdy fund. Yeah,
we're talking about the potlatch. And a potlatch is basically
a big whopping party that you raise the pole. Obviously,
(11:59):
you put it near the ground and you have the
ropes and you pull it up and sink it into
the ground and then it's it sounds like from what
I researched on potlatches, it's just a big freaking party.
So now we've reached a the Native American equivalent of
a bot mitzvah and an Amish barn raising put together.
How did they do the same thing? Well, the Amish
(12:21):
raised barns is a big communical event. Have you ever
seen witness? Yeah? But they have a big party, yeah,
well an Amish party. Everyone eats sandwiches and drinks lemonade. Sure.
And the reason we can get away with that is
because no Amish person will ever hear this podcast, that's right.
And if you write in and say your finding because
you're Amish, then you're a liar. Liar alright, So chuck um.
(12:41):
They have a great party, and apparently it does get
rowdy as I alluded to before, because the Canadian government
actually banned potlatches at some point in time, UM, and
they that had a really deletrious effect on the number
of totem poles that were carved and raised in North
America and then in the twentieth century, because a totem
(13:03):
pole without a potlatch is like a donut without a hole,
very much so it's like a jelly donut. UM. And
that's not the only reason that that totem pole carving
declined in the twentieth century, and actually it came close,
very close to the point of extinction. UM. The Native
American children were not being educated in traditional means any
(13:26):
longer in the traditional ways, UM, so they were losing
that knowledge of how to carve a decent thunderbird. There
were in a lot of head carvers that were being
trained any longer. UM. Atari is a huge is generally
pointed to is one of the biggest reasons the total
pole raisings declined. UM. And there was also a ton
(13:47):
of theft by museums and private people. I didn't hear
about it, but just go steal totem poles for their
own collections. It's how do you hide a totem pole.
I don't think you're really trying to. You just say
you've been exploited by my people a really long time.
I'll just take this and get away with me. Go.
It was so rampant, in fact, that in President George H. W. Bush,
(14:09):
Herbert Walker, yeah, Herbert Right Bush signed the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and it basically said, if
you've ever stolen a totem pole, take it back. And
people did. And as a result of this kind of
renewed enthusiasm for totem poles, we lost our puritanical fear
of them. People started carving him again. You know what
(14:32):
else is in that bill? What wire tappings? Bad? Total
poles back and talk openly on your phone? Right? Um? So, okay,
So there's a resurgence in totem pole creation, right, in
native and non native. Right. So let's say, Chuck, I'm like,
I want an authentic totem pole to talk about my
(14:53):
daughter's monarchy. Well, then, like anything else, Josh, you would
get on the internet and search totem pole carving, and
you would find some people that do that for a living, right,
some Native and some non native. Yeah, depending on So
if I wanted an authentic one, how much am I
going to show out? Josh? You would have to pay
about grand to a hundred grand rageous? Yes, I won't
(15:14):
pay more than ten thousand dollars you sa, Charlatan Minachia,
No Minachi. Uh so yeah, that's and I think, um, like,
seven hundred and fifty bucks is the low end of
a non authentic three foot pole, right in about fifteen
grand for twenty ft right, non authentic, non authentic? Right?
(15:35):
But you know who knows? No one knows. Yeah, Josh,
you want to talk about the records. Yes, this is
that heavy, Chuck, and that heavy each Everything that comes
out of Chuck's mouth right now is a statistic, right,
Chuck Richard and South Korea, Good luck here, buddy, um
Albert Babe British Columbia had a has a hundred and
seventy ft tall, hundred seventy three foot tall totem. It's
(15:55):
got to be the world's tallest totem pole. Right, No
think again, sir, because uh there was one that the
Guinness Book certified at one hundred and eighty five ft.
It's got to be the world's tallest totem Victoria, British Columbia.
But you know what, it was torn down because of controversy.
The town evidently got really upset about all the grief
(16:18):
about the Guinness Book record and was it authentic and
was it the really the tallest one. So an angry mob,
from what I gather, led by motabatd tear down this
totem pole and cut it up into pieces and burn it. Yeah,
the record holder. There goes the grief. I mean, how
much grief could it have caused? I don't I don't know. Yeah,
(16:39):
I mean that's gotta be Um. I've been to Victoria.
It's not exactly like a rough and tumble town. It's
pretty peaceful. Um, so I imagine there must have been
a tremendous amount of grief. I guess so, or they
hadn't put their chainsaws to you slately and we're looking.
You know, Betty was hungry, right. But the thickest pole
Josh is not disputed. That is in British Columbia as well,
(17:02):
and that was carved by Richard hunt In and it
has a diameter of six feet. That is one thick pole. Yeah,
and I'd like to say Richard hunt. If you listen
to this podcast, I would like to see a picture
of your totem pole. Yeah, seriously, so email, it's conture.
We'll give the email address at the end. Right now,
(17:24):
Is that the end? I think? So you got any
more on totem poles and I got nothing else. I
like the ones with the wings. I'll just say that.
I like at the top, like a thunderbird with the
wings coming off the side. It makes sense to have
them at the top. But that's at least important. So yeah, yeah,
So well, if you want to know more about totem poles,
and I kid you not, Chuck and I learned a
lot of surprising facts that we're just kind of in
(17:45):
between the lines of this article. It happens a lot
on how stuff works dot com. You can type totem
poles into the handy search bar of our venerated site.
And uh, I guess it's time for a listener mail,
right Yes, Josh, I'm just gonna call this. I like
(18:07):
to read these um funny emails from time to time. Okay,
this guy is really funny. He's a good writer, he's clever,
so he gets on the air. This is uh, this
says Hey, guys, I've been traveling backwards in time, and
I'm writing you from February two thousand nine, where Haiku
Theater ends abruptly with refrigerator and sayings like the Germans
(18:28):
compass head and it's a poncy scheme haven't even been
uttered yet by some strange quirk. When I load your
podcasts into my iPod, they play back in reverse chronological order,
giving me side effects like hearing listener mail for episodes
that haven't even mentioned or haven't happened yet. However, unless
I start tattooing myself like the guy Memento, I'll probably
(18:49):
just keep things the same, as it makes listening even
more fun. And we've heard this before. The people listen
out of order and they liked that better. I'm no
stranger to self imposed odd circumstance. For instance, I've purposely
used my mouse left handed, even though I'm right handed.
I sometimes reason things out while I'm dreaming. I often
balance on one leg while brushing my teeth. Like this guy,
(19:10):
I learned to read things upside down, and he has
also run into some groovy things, like when I was
in the army, I knew a guy who saw things
upside down and backwards, and he learned to cope by
writing things upside down and forwards, or I guess right
side up upside down. I once dated a girl whose
mother would eat the same thing for every meal for
(19:31):
a period of time. Two weeks of hard boiled eggs
for every meal, black licorice for three days straight, et cetera.
And I once worked with a guy who owned a
car that wouldn't make left hand turns. He's my favorite dude,
uh and basically he's leading up to a request. All
of this makes me wonder if you should do a
podcast on something like how living Strangely works, an explanation
(19:52):
of odd things that people choose to do which may
or may not actually provide tangible benefit to their lives.
We'll get Fuller to pitch it. Maybe. So so that
is from Michael Mack. You're not gonna say my last
name on the air anyway. Cracking from Colorado. Nice, thank you, Michael. Yeah,
very funny. Yeah. If you have a funny email you'd
like to send Chuck and I, there are a favorite
(20:14):
you can send it to. Oh wait, or if your
name is Richard Hunt and you've created the world's thickest
totem pole. You can send it to stuff podcast at
how stuff works dot com For more on this and
thousands of other topics. Does it how stuff works dot com.
(20:34):
Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on
the house. Stuff works dot Com home page brought to
you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,
are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know
from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as
Charles W. Chuckers Bryant, thank you, and Jerry of course
(00:25):
Hi Jerry. She's waving at omni President Jerry and Omniscient.
Scarily enough, Josh, before we get going, can I just
mentioned a little TV show coming up? I thought we were,
as you going, No, we're not quite going. Oh, there's
a TV show that our parent company, Discovery, specifically the
Science Channel has about a great fall tradition in Delaware
(00:46):
where they chunk punkins, punkin chunking, punkin chunking and actually
hurl these things through the air with a catapult and
it's fun and that they've done a TV show on it,
and it's on They did two TV shows, Buddy two, Yeah,
say it's say the names. Well at eight o'clock on
the Science Channel, it's Eastern time. There's going to be
the road to punkin Chunking and where does that road
(01:08):
lead to punkin chunk in itself? At nine and that
is Thanksgiving Night on the Science Channel and Science Channel HD. Yes,
and we just wanted to say watch it, yeah, because
we like Chunking Punkin's Punkin Chunking. And now we're gonna
talk about whatever. You're gonna cleverly set it up as
all right, you ready? Yes, Hey, Chuck, Hey Josh. Have
(01:29):
you have you ever heard the phrase the low man
on the totem pole? I have, and you know what,
go ahead. So it's usually too it's it's usually somebody
who's the grunt. They're at the bottom, they're they're just
it's us. Okay, there you get lowman on the totem pole.
Not true if you're suggesting that you and I are
(01:50):
at the bottom of the heap. True, I had I
know what you mean. It's actually on totem poles, the
lower uh carvings were actually of the most high esteem. Right.
I have no idea. You do now and I do too,
because we read an article called how totem poles will work.
(02:12):
By the way, I think we should start using the
correct version of that, just to confuse people. I get
on the elevator like house work. Oh well, you know,
I'm the lowman on the totem pole Like, sorry, you're like,
what are you talking about? Them? The VP? Right? Yeah?
Things are great? Right? Or when one of the higher
ups walks by, go, there goes the lowman on the
totem pole. Exactly, give me some skin. What happened? Did
they get fired? So? Yeah? Okay, well, Chuck and I
(02:33):
are going to start confusing people after this, But let's
talk about total poles first. Okay, let's do. I learned
a lot of stuff in this one that I didn't know.
Everything I read in here I learned because I knew
nothing about totem poles. Really, have you ever seen him? Well,
I've seen him, but I didn't know anything aside from
you know, to pole. All right, well, let's talk. Let's
share this information that we've we've learned, let's impart it.
So one of the things I learned, besides lowman on
(02:56):
the totem pole being actually important, um, is that the uh,
the natives Native Americans actually had socioeconomic strata. Yeah, stratum.
I didn't know that either, strata one of the two. Yes,
I did, And I know what you're talking about here,
(03:18):
because totem poles were typically commissioned by people of esteem
and people had money, right, people who wanted to show
off basically uh, And what they would do would be
to commission a totem carver who was a person of
very high authority a littlement on the totem pole and
might say uh. And the head carver would basically be
(03:41):
treated with tons of esteem and respect uh and was
housed at the home of the person who had commissioned them. Yeah,
and basically retreated like royalty. Because I guess this guy
could be like, once you've commissioned this, I'm going to
do it, and if you mistreat me or I am
not amused at any point in time him, I'm going
to carve you naked on this and you have to
(04:02):
put it up. Yeah, I got this. That is the
law of the Pacific Northwest. I got this from this
that totem pole carvers were like many temperamental artists. It's
kind of funny how they had that same attitude, like
it's cross culture. If you don't make me happy, I'm
gonna ruin your commission work and shame you right with
a shame pole right, well, not necessarily boiler. So the
(04:25):
other thing I learned is that, um, I'm just gonna
introduce every point with that for this whole podcast. Another
thing I learned is that um totem poles haven't been
around that long. No, I did not know that either,
And I will say that at the end of every
time you mentioned that that I didn't realize that they
have just started in the seventeen hundreds. Late seventeen hundred
and when the Europeans came over is when they really
(04:47):
really started booming. They think the Hida tribe h a
i d a tribe of south eastern Alaska were the
first to start carving totem poles, and I guess it
was kind of slow going at first, but really picked
up once UM settlers colonists started hitting the Pacific Northwest
and more and more numbers because they brought with them tools. Yeah,
(05:09):
but they were a little frightened by them. They were,
which is funny because from what I understand, UM European
settlers were among the most superstitious, easily frightened, and most
suspicious people ever to populate the earth. Seriously. Yeah, so
they saw totem poles and I think Captain James Cook
had a famous quote, right, Yeah, he said that they
were truly monstrous figures, yes, and he was wrong. Um.
(05:33):
And then you also have the superstition or myth that
totem poles were used to ward off or worship evil spirits,
depending on how you felt towards your native neighbors. No,
what is a totem pole, Chuck, Well, a totem pole? Uh?
And totem, by the way, is an ojibwa a word?
Is it really? Josh actually winked at me, by the way.
(05:54):
Just then for reels a totem pole, Josh. Many times
it's used to commemorate an event, like Um, I looked
some of these up. What it might commemorate a funeral,
sometimes childbirth, marriage, and even monarchy. No, yes, no, yes, yes,
I read that that is true. And Uh. They could
(06:16):
range in size initially, and I didn't know this either.
They could be as small as like a walking cane. Yeah,
way smaller than I thought I thought they were. They
were all like extremely large. No, they definitely vary inside
as I've seen some that are like kneehigh to a grasshoppers,
you like to say. And then there's others that are,
you know, a hundred and seventy ft tall, which we'll
(06:36):
get into the world records here shortly too, and not
just any No, no jackass can come along and carve
some wood up and say I just made me a
total pole. There are some very specific, um, I guess
details that have to be followed for a total pole
to truly be considered a total pole. Yeah, to be authentic, Josh,
it needs to be the work of a trained Pacific
(06:57):
Coast carver Pacific Northwest Pacific normally more specific and uh yeah,
no San Diego carvers up there, forget them. Uh. It
must be raised according to the specific American Indian traditions
and ceremonies. There's a ceremony that goes along with it,
which we'll get to. And it must be blessed by
natives of the Northwest specific coast. Plus also, it doesn't
(07:18):
hurt your case if you want to prove that you
have a an authentic totem pole, that it be made
from your redd or yellow cedar. Ah. Well, sure you
can't use you can't use power tools or chainsaws. Well
they do now, but if you really you didn't, You
just wasted your time if you were trying to make
an authentic totem pole. Um. And there are certain colors
(07:39):
they're traditionally followed red, black, yellow, blue, green, white, um,
which I find to be an unappealing color combination. Those
those four or five. Yeah, you know it said they
did not need to be painted. And I've never seen
a natural totem pole, but I think that would be
my preference. Yes, and you can't preserve it in any way.
I didn't know that either, which means that total poles
(08:00):
ain't gonna be around all that long. An authentic total
pole has a lifespan of about a hundred years, especially
in the Pacific Northwest where it's wet, rainy, muggy, not
good on on carved wood. Yeah, that's not bad. Tho
hundred years is pretty good. And did I also say
it has to be from one single piece? Oh no,
you didn't say that. It's important too, Yeah, of course. Okay,
so Chuck, Basically, we've established that totem poles are there's authentic,
(08:25):
and there's an authentic ones. You can't just be some
jackass with a chainsaw. Um. They are the bar or
bob mitzvah of the Native American culture, with the ceremony
and the shore and um that they are commissioned, usually
by a wealthy Native American by a head carver. So
you've got the head carver, he's got a couple of
(08:46):
junior carvers, and they get to work. And here we
reach why the low man on the total pole is
actually the most prominent figure. Why because the head carver
carves the lower parts of the totem pole. Yeah, the
first ten feet. And I would and it's just a guess,
but I would say probably because they don't want to
stand on whatever you need to stand on. That's part
of it. It's also that's also the most visible and scrutinizeable. Yeah, yeah,
(09:08):
good point. Okay, So the carver finishes and and probably
some of the stuff that he's put on there, there's
some uh basically uh, he'll say, tell me about your
family history? Yeah, yeah, what kind of birds are you
fond of? Right? Do you have any ancestor who has
ever shape shifted into an animal? And the the carver
is going to take all this into account. The person
(09:30):
who commissioned it will probably have some ideas and then
they combine them and you have things like eagles, thunderbirds, bears, owls, wolves, ravens, frogs,
and each one kind of has a different meaning in
Native American culture. Sure should we go with those briefly? Uh? Well,
the eagle obviously flies higher than any other bird, and
(09:51):
it can spot trouble, so that's a good thing. And um,
the thunderbird is a mythological creature and it can create
lightning and thunder by beating its wings and blinking, which
is why it's mythological. Yes, bear obviously teaches natives certain
things like, um, how to hunt salmon and how to
forge for barry, So that's probably good luck to have
(10:12):
on your pole. Um. Owls are represent souls of the deceased.
So that might be a mortuary pole. Oh, actually, no,
that is when the ashes are actually in the pole, correct, right,
that's the type of poll. There's a there's a entry
way totem pole, which is kind of like a coat
of arms. Um, and that's what that's what A lot
(10:32):
of the early settlers of the Pacific Northwest took these
ass as a coat of arms, like family coat of arms. Um.
So you've got entry way totem poles, mortuary poles, which
actually do have a hollow cavity to put the ashes
of a dead person in. Yeah, it's like an urn basically.
Yet a very cool urn, a very tall urn. Uh.
And then there's ridicular shame poles like you mentioned, right.
That's what I want to bring back, the shame pole. Okay,
(10:53):
So Chuck, talk about the most famous when the Lincoln
Pole in sex Men, Alaska. Yeah, this is when um
and I didn't know to see this. Here's another thing.
I learned Native Americans had slaves. The the the Lincoln
poll was actually uh to shame the US government because
of the Emancipation Proclamation in eighteen sixty three. And many
members of the is that Lingott is that I was
(11:15):
pronounced the Lynott tribe Lingot. I think the team might
be silent, but they're they're slaves were freed. I didn't
know that Native Americans had slaves. I know, That's what
I just said. Neither did I. And so they got
all mad and said, you know what, we're gonna do
a Lincoln poll and it's gonna shame President Lincoln for
the Emancipation proclamation. Actually that's not true. I guess I
(11:36):
did know that they would capture other people in battle
and force him into slavery. I didn't know that. Okay, So, Chuck,
we've got the type of pole established what we know
what's on the pole and it has to be raised. Now, well,
this is when the fund starts, the rowdy fund. Yeah,
we're talking about the potlatch. And a potlatch is basically
a big whopping party that you raise the pole. Obviously,
(11:59):
you put it near the ground and you have the
ropes and you pull it up and sink it into
the ground and then it's it sounds like from what
I researched on potlatches, it's just a big freaking party.
So now we've reached a the Native American equivalent of
a bot mitzvah and an Amish barn raising put together.
How did they do the same thing? Well, the Amish
(12:21):
raised barns is a big communical event. Have you ever
seen witness? Yeah? But they have a big party, yeah,
well an Amish party. Everyone eats sandwiches and drinks lemonade. Sure.
And the reason we can get away with that is
because no Amish person will ever hear this podcast, that's right.
And if you write in and say your finding because
you're Amish, then you're a liar. Liar alright, So chuck um.
(12:41):
They have a great party, and apparently it does get
rowdy as I alluded to before, because the Canadian government
actually banned potlatches at some point in time, UM, and
they that had a really deletrious effect on the number
of totem poles that were carved and raised in North
America and then in the twentieth century, because a totem
(13:03):
pole without a potlatch is like a donut without a hole,
very much so it's like a jelly donut. UM. And
that's not the only reason that that totem pole carving
declined in the twentieth century, and actually it came close,
very close to the point of extinction. UM. The Native
American children were not being educated in traditional means any
(13:26):
longer in the traditional ways, UM, so they were losing
that knowledge of how to carve a decent thunderbird. There
were in a lot of head carvers that were being
trained any longer. UM. Atari is a huge is generally
pointed to is one of the biggest reasons the total
pole raisings declined. UM. And there was also a ton
(13:47):
of theft by museums and private people. I didn't hear
about it, but just go steal totem poles for their
own collections. It's how do you hide a totem pole.
I don't think you're really trying to. You just say
you've been exploited by my people a really long time.
I'll just take this and get away with me. Go.
It was so rampant, in fact, that in President George H. W. Bush,
(14:09):
Herbert Walker, yeah, Herbert Right Bush signed the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and it basically said, if
you've ever stolen a totem pole, take it back. And
people did. And as a result of this kind of
renewed enthusiasm for totem poles, we lost our puritanical fear
of them. People started carving him again. You know what
(14:32):
else is in that bill? What wire tappings? Bad? Total
poles back and talk openly on your phone? Right? Um? So, okay,
So there's a resurgence in totem pole creation, right, in
native and non native. Right. So let's say, Chuck, I'm like,
I want an authentic totem pole to talk about my
(14:53):
daughter's monarchy. Well, then, like anything else, Josh, you would
get on the internet and search totem pole carving, and
you would find some people that do that for a living, right,
some Native and some non native. Yeah, depending on So
if I wanted an authentic one, how much am I
going to show out? Josh? You would have to pay
about grand to a hundred grand rageous? Yes, I won't
(15:14):
pay more than ten thousand dollars you sa, Charlatan Minachia,
No Minachi. Uh so yeah, that's and I think, um, like,
seven hundred and fifty bucks is the low end of
a non authentic three foot pole, right in about fifteen
grand for twenty ft right, non authentic, non authentic? Right?
(15:35):
But you know who knows? No one knows. Yeah, Josh,
you want to talk about the records. Yes, this is
that heavy, Chuck, and that heavy each Everything that comes
out of Chuck's mouth right now is a statistic, right,
Chuck Richard and South Korea, Good luck here, buddy, um
Albert Babe British Columbia had a has a hundred and
seventy ft tall, hundred seventy three foot tall totem. It's
(15:55):
got to be the world's tallest totem pole. Right, No
think again, sir, because uh there was one that the
Guinness Book certified at one hundred and eighty five ft.
It's got to be the world's tallest totem Victoria, British Columbia.
But you know what, it was torn down because of controversy.
The town evidently got really upset about all the grief
(16:18):
about the Guinness Book record and was it authentic and
was it the really the tallest one. So an angry mob,
from what I gather, led by motabatd tear down this
totem pole and cut it up into pieces and burn it. Yeah,
the record holder. There goes the grief. I mean, how
much grief could it have caused? I don't I don't know. Yeah,
(16:39):
I mean that's gotta be Um. I've been to Victoria.
It's not exactly like a rough and tumble town. It's
pretty peaceful. Um, so I imagine there must have been
a tremendous amount of grief. I guess so, or they
hadn't put their chainsaws to you slately and we're looking.
You know, Betty was hungry, right. But the thickest pole
Josh is not disputed. That is in British Columbia as well,
(17:02):
and that was carved by Richard hunt In and it
has a diameter of six feet. That is one thick pole. Yeah,
and I'd like to say Richard hunt. If you listen
to this podcast, I would like to see a picture
of your totem pole. Yeah, seriously, so email, it's conture.
We'll give the email address at the end. Right now,
(17:24):
Is that the end? I think? So you got any
more on totem poles and I got nothing else. I
like the ones with the wings. I'll just say that.
I like at the top, like a thunderbird with the
wings coming off the side. It makes sense to have
them at the top. But that's at least important. So yeah, yeah,
So well, if you want to know more about totem poles,
and I kid you not, Chuck and I learned a
lot of surprising facts that we're just kind of in
(17:45):
between the lines of this article. It happens a lot
on how stuff works dot com. You can type totem
poles into the handy search bar of our venerated site.
And uh, I guess it's time for a listener mail,
right Yes, Josh, I'm just gonna call this. I like
(18:07):
to read these um funny emails from time to time. Okay,
this guy is really funny. He's a good writer, he's clever,
so he gets on the air. This is uh, this
says Hey, guys, I've been traveling backwards in time, and
I'm writing you from February two thousand nine, where Haiku
Theater ends abruptly with refrigerator and sayings like the Germans
(18:28):
compass head and it's a poncy scheme haven't even been
uttered yet by some strange quirk. When I load your
podcasts into my iPod, they play back in reverse chronological order,
giving me side effects like hearing listener mail for episodes
that haven't even mentioned or haven't happened yet. However, unless
I start tattooing myself like the guy Memento, I'll probably
(18:49):
just keep things the same, as it makes listening even
more fun. And we've heard this before. The people listen
out of order and they liked that better. I'm no
stranger to self imposed odd circumstance. For instance, I've purposely
used my mouse left handed, even though I'm right handed.
I sometimes reason things out while I'm dreaming. I often
balance on one leg while brushing my teeth. Like this guy,
(19:10):
I learned to read things upside down, and he has
also run into some groovy things, like when I was
in the army, I knew a guy who saw things
upside down and backwards, and he learned to cope by
writing things upside down and forwards, or I guess right
side up upside down. I once dated a girl whose
mother would eat the same thing for every meal for
(19:31):
a period of time. Two weeks of hard boiled eggs
for every meal, black licorice for three days straight, et cetera.
And I once worked with a guy who owned a
car that wouldn't make left hand turns. He's my favorite dude,
uh and basically he's leading up to a request. All
of this makes me wonder if you should do a
podcast on something like how living Strangely works, an explanation
(19:52):
of odd things that people choose to do which may
or may not actually provide tangible benefit to their lives.
We'll get Fuller to pitch it. Maybe. So so that
is from Michael Mack. You're not gonna say my last
name on the air anyway. Cracking from Colorado. Nice, thank you, Michael. Yeah,
very funny. Yeah. If you have a funny email you'd
like to send Chuck and I, there are a favorite
(20:14):
you can send it to. Oh wait, or if your
name is Richard Hunt and you've created the world's thickest
totem pole. You can send it to stuff podcast at
how stuff works dot com For more on this and
thousands of other topics. Does it how stuff works dot com.
(20:34):
Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on
the house. Stuff works dot Com home page brought to
you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,
are you
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