TOTEMISM

is a belief prevailing among primitive peoples of blood kinship with or descent from an animal or The word is derived from the Algonquian Indian otem, a totem or guardian spirit, or rather from that form totem, which signifies ‘my otem’ guardian spirit (pronounced odaim todaim). Certain savage peoples the points of the compa as being the dominion of various animal eponyms, which in reality are minor deities, js not impo ible that this might some measure account for T. Still would not account for plant totems. is at the root of nearly every mythology, and accounts for such mythologic nomena as the animal-headed gods Egypt, which were merely anthropomorphic totems in a state of evolution. The system was certainly fn vogue among the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and many European and Asiatic peoples, and fis so among, notably, the N. American Indians and Australian aborigines. several Indian ‘nations’ each individual of a tribe po e es a personal which he receives in a dream by drugs or hunger at the age of The idea of blood-kinship among members of a totem tribe renders incestuous for its members to marry, so that they are compelled find spouses from another community. Hence also it is ‘wrong’ to kill a brother, so the origin of the idea of may be seen imbedded in the system. Family crests are regarded of totemic origin. Indeed the and vestiges of the system may remarked as still existent among modern institutions.