Essay On Native American Totems

he symbols of native american culture might differ in meaning from tribe to tribe. These symbols were made and used for a several reasons and were represented by numerous objects. Some of them were specific to individual families and passed down from one generation to another. Others had a practical purpose like indicating a way for good hunting,or providing directions to get home. Let 's talk about one of them. Native American Totems are symbols of tribes or a family. Animal totems usually reflect the origin of a tribe, reminding them of their mythical past. The word" Totem" comes from the Chippewa word meaning "his kinship group".A lot of tribes believed that each of them have animal totems that is spirit which appear in vision or dream in the form of powerful animal. These spirit guides fallow them through the life, protecting and teaching them.Each …show more content…
The traditions differ greatly from tribe to tribe. Native people drawn them from nature. Babies names could be chosen as nicknames ,as "small peas". Names also might be based on the gender of the baby.The name would change with adulthood. Some people could have different names during lifetime. Sometimes names are chosen to get the importance to an events in life.Babies could be called by totem animals. They would not be ever used as an ordinary address. Native Americans names have very sacred and personal meaning . I do not think we still have the same tradition. I dont believe that the day when my parents decided to choose a name to their future daughter, they really had in mind its greek origin.When I try to find the meaning of my name on the Internet, I found this," name Elena is a Greek baby name. In Greek the meaning of the name Elena is: Shining light. The bright one. American Meaning: The name Elena is an American baby name." As we see, American explanation is really simple and has no significance at