Totem

We visited the British Museum to go to the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition and had an hour or so after to look around and suddenly, wow, there were a couple of totem poles pointing skywards. I had never seen a real one before and didn’t realise how enormous they are. They originate from the Pacific coast of North America, and are made from very, very tall trees, particularly the red cedar, by the indigenous peoples of the area. There are many, many different styles, probably as many as there are tribes and clans within the tribes; the meaning, purpose and use also varies but unfortunately I didn’t properly take note of where this particular pole came from, nor the tribe which made it… the British Museum needs another visit!