Cults, Myths, and Religions

THE GENERAL PHENOMENA OF ANIMAL TOTEMISM

At the outset of this article, it may be advisable to recall the fact that the word totem — sign, mark, family — • emanates from America, precisely as tahoo — interdiction, thing interdicted — is native to Polynesia. The two terms, however great their discrepancy of origin, are for the future scientifically inseparable; for totemism, as will appear later, is simply a particular system of taboos.

The totem, as a rule, is an animal; less frequently a vegetable; only in exceptional instances is it an inorganic object. The radical distinction between it and the fetish is this: the fetish is one individual object; the totem is a class of objects, regarded by members of the tribe or clan as tutelar — protective, in the widest sense of the word. Take the case of a clan with a serpent totem: the members will call themselves Serpents, claim descent from a serpent, abstain from killing serpents, raise pet serpents, read the future by the aid of serpents, believe themselves immune from serpent-bites — and so on indefinitely.