a natural object, animal, or symbol that represents a person, family, or group and is treated with special respect or reverence.
From Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) 'ototeman,' meaning 'he is a relative of mine.' European anthropologists borrowed the word in the 18th century while studying Indigenous North American cultures. It originally referred to spiritual kinship systems but now describes any symbol of group identity.
Totemism reveals something beautiful about how humans work: we need symbolic anchors for identity! Just like Indigenous peoples used animal totems to explain kinship, modern groups do the same with logos and mascots—your school spirit animal is literally a totem system.
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