5 Totemism

If you’re not familiar with the Chinese Zodiac, follow the link and determine what animal, or mythical creature, you are.  Now, what would your response be if you were asked, “What are you?”  It would likely be something similar to, “I am a goat” or “I am a dragon.”  Statements like these are metaphors whose metaphorical statuses are denied (it’s unlikely you answered with “I am a human” or “I am like a horse”) when people participate in the religious behavior known as totemism.

Totemism can be seen as an extension of ancestor worship as it is the communicated acceptance of the claim that one’s ancestor(s) has a supernatural relationship with a natural category. This relationship with a natural category extends to that ancestor’s descendants (people in the present day) (Steadman and Palmer 2007). Plants, animals, geological features like mountains or rivers, and even star constellations, are all natural categories in this context.

Recall from the introduction of part 3 the example of seeing a stranger in a Boise State Broncos shirt while traveling in a foreign country. The instant camaraderie you’d feel would be similar to the camaraderie two people from different world religions might feel when they discover they have the same astrological sign. This is one of the main functions of totemism, being able to identify more potential cooperation partners outside of one’s ‘ancestral group.’ And, as you are no doubt beginning to see, more cooperation partners means greater descendant-leaving success.