TOTEMISMO

TOTEMISM. — Everything within the State, nothing outside the State, from which the designation of t. derives. Just as the expression of Louis XIV: “L’État, c’est moi” may be considered a summary of the characteristics of the absolute State (ancien régime), so the above may be regarded as the essence of the totalitarian conception. The State is everything and penetrates everywhere, so that no aspect of human life escapes its dominion: private activity, family life, births and the education of children, thought and currents of thought, art, literature, philosophy, science, the press—everything, in short, is submerged in the State, to which it belongs in a discretionary manner. It must be said, however, that this monstrous hypertrophy of the State had already been prepared by the social and juridical doctrines elaborated during the period of liberalism and by convinced liberals. The concept of the absolute sovereignty of the State and the monistic concept that served as its support date back to the 19th century: totalitarianism merely took them upon itself and put them into practice, drawing all the consequences therefrom.

Fascist t. was inspired by the nationalist myth, making of the nation an eternal entity that encompasses within itself all past, present, and future generations and has its own distinct ends, to which individuals remain entirely subordinate. National Socialism, instead, placed race as the supreme value, and the biological bond of blood as the bearer of racial elements, in whose preservation and purity it placed the supreme end of man. Russian t. rests, on the other hand, on the concept of class, of which every individual is a totally devoted element to its ends of struggle. A common note to all is the idolatry of the head of State, to whom all capacities have been attributed, so as to transform him into a superman infallible in every decision, whence then the mystic degenerations, with a clear revival of the apotheosis of the living man, which occurred in decadent paganism.

On the international plane, t. distinguished itself by its policy of power and expansionist conquest. Conceiving relations between peoples as relations of pure force, it formulated its own theory on international organization, composed of domineering messianism, arbitrary distinctions between young and old peoples, between peoples destined to serve and peoples by nature destined to lead, between bourgeois and proletarians—all fused within an imperialistic mentality, of which the theory of Lebensraum was an expression. Only Russian imperialism partially achieved its expansionist aims; the others were overwhelmed by the Second World War.

From the moral and juridical point of view, t. is the antithesis of the Christian and Catholic conception of social life, of the State, and of international relations.

Antonio Messineo

TOTEMISM. — I. DEFINITION, DIVISION, ELEMENTS OF T.

The term totem (totam, todaim, ndodem) is derived from the language of the Ojibwa (Algonquins), Indians of southern Canada, and means kinship, the emblem of the family, or even a personal protective spirit. Scholars are not in agreement as to which of the various forms of veneration of animals and natural things is proper to t.; the following definition seems most appropriate: t. consists in special ideological and reverential relations of kinship between a social group or an individual and animals, plants, or even natural phenomena, from which a set of prescriptions and customs derive functionally.

Various types of t. may be distinguished: 1) group or social t., which is subdivided into: a) clan t.; b) family t., proper to small groups of blood relatives and local groups; c) t. of the halves of a tribe. 2) Individual t. in the broad sense; b) the belief in an alter ego, i.e., that an animal or plant is a double of oneself or a bearer of souls. 3) Sex t.

This division has only a classificatory value and does not necessarily imply that these different forms of t. must also be in genetic relation.

The elements and characteristics that may be more or less common to all these kinds of t. are essentially the following: 1) a constant emotional, mystical, reverential, magical, mythical, and kinship relation of an intertribal unit (clan, local group, etc.) or of a person with animals or natural things considered totemic. The group is regularly in relation with an entire species of animals or plants. 2) The totem is considered a protector, helper, companion, or relative, though fear and dread of it are also present. It often possesses superhuman strength. 3) Names and emblems referring to the totem. 4) Identification with the totem. 5) Taboos and laws of separation in relation to the totem (not killing it, not eating it, not touching it). 6) Ritual in relation to the totem.

Other elements that may be found accessorily in group t. are: 1) the interpretations and legends of groups regarding the origins of totems: a) the origin of the totem, i.e., the kinship group is considered to be directly or indirectly present in the totem. If the human group and the animal species have the same ancestors, the t. is called twin t. b) The events and experiences of the group’s ancestor with the totem, who was its helper or friend, or from whom it suffered. 2) Exogamy and certain marital relations of the groups. 3) The hereditary tradition of the totem in the group, which may be patrilineal or matrilineal. 4) The totemic groups with names (directly or indirectly referring to the totem), with emblems or totemic symbols, and with common totemic taboos. 5) The associations and coordinations of totems on the basis of real or fictitious analogies or for other reasons. Hence one speaks of “multiple totems” (more totems in one group) and of “articulated totems,” i.e., principal and secondary.

These various elements and characteristics of the totemic complex do not always exist together among individual peoples, nor does the absence of certain characteristic elements always signify a decline of t. The veneration of certain animals or natural things existing throughout a tribe, such as the cult of the bear, the ox, etc., does not fall within the scope of t., because forms of cult and beliefs of another nature may be based on certain figures of ancestors and mythical beings in animal form, on deities and superior beings with animal characteristics, on astral, ethnic, and sacred animals. The designation of “tribal t.” is at most justified only when it is demonstrated that the formation of tribal groups derives from totemic clans of past times. In any case, the essential of social t. lies in the division of the tribe into tribal subgroups.

I. Forms of Totemism

a) Clan totemism. — This is the most widespread form of group totemism. The religious or ideological aspect is sometimes much reduced compared to the social aspect. This totemism represents mostly something purely secular-social, a rigid system in which only names, emblems, and formal taboos give the clan a totemic veneer. The sense of kinship and the clan exogamy that derives from it are not always determined by belief in descent from the totem, but are often based merely on real or fictitious blood ties that, in themselves, have nothing to do with totemism. However, the totem that unites the group can give the sense of kinship or the solidarity of the group a special sanction. Clan totemism is only one of the possible ways of coordinating the ideas of belief and social groups.

Non-totemic clans or sippen (large economic families) can be ideologically determined by the common possession of cult objects, sanctuaries, traditions, and the belief in ancestors and heroes. Among individual tribes, totemic clans have also become complex ritual units that, according to their totems and natural symbols, perform magical actions for the benefit of the entire tribe. Clan totemism can be associated with various forms of religion and ceremony, such as ancestor cults, representations of the dead and souls, belief in magical power, fertility festivals, etc., which contribute to a transformation of the totemic system. Clan totemism in its various forms is found mainly among the agricultural peoples of East Africa, the Sudan, the Congo forests, and peninsular India; sporadically in the Deccan and Indonesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, eastern and southwestern North America; weakly represented in South America; it is rare among pastoral tribes and hunting peoples (African Pygmies, Australians, those of western Siberia, southern Canada, Venezuela, and others). A special form is the cult totemism of Australian tribes, which, because of its relation to ancestors and heroes of ancient times, its characteristic myths and songs, sacred places, cult objects, sand and rock paintings, dramatization of the actions of totemic ancestors, rites for the multiplication and magical control of animals and plants, and the places of the spirits of children (the belief in the preternatural origin of children from totemic ancestors), represents an exceedingly complex but secondary phenomenon. A similar cult totemism exists also in Melanesia.

b) Totemism of the halves of a tribe. — Often the totemic clans of the two halves of a tribe or village, which are mostly exogamous and antagonistic and of matrilineal descent, can have totemic characteristics (animal dualism). The dualistic totemic system can exist even without the division of the clan. The totemic character of these halves is mostly weakly formed. The connection of half-systems with totemic clans often led to an expansion of the tendency already inherent in clan totemism to coordinate animals and natural things according to certain points of view, which in this form of totemism is directed mainly toward the dual principle. Thus, according to the halves and clans, all things and forces of nature, celestial bodies, and important regions of the sky are symbolically divided, so that the organization of the tribe represents a figure of the cosmos and each clan is considered symbolically and magically a part of nature.

c) Totemism of families and local groups. — This is rarer and exists mainly among Australian tribes and in some regions of Africa and North America. In most cases, these are the oldest forms of group totemism or local and particular forms whose components are sometimes clearly distinguishable. They can provide points of support for the question of the origin of clan totemism.

d) Individual totemism. — This generally consists of a stable relationship of friendship and protection between a person and a particular animal or natural object, a relationship strongly accentuated in its emotional, mystical, and magical aspects. The individual totem generally confers special powers and abilities on its possessor. Individual totemism is reinforced by the belief in an alter ego, which consists of a bond between a man and an animal or natural object, a bond of life and destiny so intimate and reciprocal that the illness, disease, or death of one is the illness, disease, or death of the other. Naturally, these totems become especially severe taboos. Personal totems of this kind are mainly the totems of the elders of families and groups, i.e., chiefs, medicine-men, and other socially important persons. A further development of the ideas of individual totemism can be seen in the “royal” totems of the rulers of the kingdoms of East Africa, where the king or prince is mainly linked with notable predatory, carnivorous animals such as the lion, leopard, etc. It is likely that the veneration of animals in the districts of ancient Egypt is connected with an old individual totemism of local princes. In shamanism, individual totemism is often found: the auxiliary spirits of shamans are sometimes personal totems in the sense of an alter ego. Sometimes there is a tendency to transmit the individual totem by inheritance; from this one can have an indication of totems linked to social groups. Individual totemism is widely diffused. It exists both among simple hunting tribes and among agricultural and pastoral peoples. It penetrates here and there even into higher cultures and is found also in popular beliefs of Europe. Personal totemism, in its expression as belief in an alter ego, is based mainly on a special conception of the human soul, which, first as “shadow” or “external soul,” can be mystically linked with animals or natural things; it seems that this underlies the close destiny connection between the individual man and the individual animal. The alter ego perhaps arises in the most hidden meanders of the human soul.

Individual totemism is sometimes connected with the belief in protective spirits found among North American Indians, according to which one can have a personal protective spirit through visions or dreams obtained by fasting or meditation in solitude. But this does not always seem justified, because, although there are often broad analogies between the two phenomena, they must be considered essentially different. The essence of individual totemism lies in an animal or a concrete natural thing, whereas the belief in a protective spirit in the strict sense consists in having a spiritual being that can appear even in the form of an animal or a natural object.

e) Sex totemism. — This is found mainly among the tribes of eastern and southeastern Australia. Men and women have their own different totems, mostly birds, which have significance mainly in initiations and antagonistic games. There is a certain relation to individual totemism and the idea of the spirit of children. A form of sex totemism, perhaps the initial one, is found among the Semang Pygmies of Malacca.

TOTEMISM — Wooden carved owl (totem) from the grave of a Canadian Indian — Rome, Pontifical Missionary Ethnological Museum Lateranense.

### III. THE HISTORICAL-CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL-RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TOTEMS

The historical ethnology has reached the conclusion that the totem does not belong to the cultural heritage of the most ancient humanity and does not constitute a general stage in the cultural development of all peoples (as was believed by evolutionism). The great majority of peoples who are ethnologically most archaic have no typical clan totem. Similarly, the view that totemism was the basis of society (exogamy) and of religion, indeed that the latter derived from it (Robertson-Smith, Durkheim, S. Freud’s “Oedipus complex”), has been thoroughly refuted by research, especially by W. Schmidt, F. Boas, R. Lowie and others.

The first formation of clan totemism certainly occurred at a very remote period, presumably already among those tribes where men were still hunters while women were already practicing simple agriculture. At that time, greater stability arose, creating the conditions under which, from the small family and local groups of archaic hunters and gatherers, there developed unilateral kinship groups (siphi, clans) which later in part received a totemistic imprint. It is certain that the totems of clans were originally animals, and that plant, cosmic and other totems are of later origin.

As to whether clan totemism should be traced to a single origin in the sense of the “totemistic culture circle” of Gräbner and W. Schmidt, or whether it arose independently several times in different places and periods, this is a problem which cannot yet be resolved with certainty. But from recent research (Baumann, Haekel), a good number of indications suggest that the latter possibility is more likely. Clan totemism is found in civilizations that are often fundamentally different, so that it is no longer possible to say what the original cultural elements of totemism were.

The totemistic culture circle constructed by Gräbner and refined by W. Schmidt, according to which totemism first arose in the culture of a single tribe, is today no longer tenable for many reasons. To this culture circle were assigned, among other elements: superior hunting, the spear and edged weapons, the throwing stick, the domed house, preference for artistic works and for artisanal specialization, patriarchy, men’s houses and youth houses, age classes, platform burial (excarnation of the corpse), sun worship, and pronounced magic. The thesis of old historical ethnology, that specific matriarchy is originally independent of totemism, still holds today; yet it remains possible that, given a polygenetic origin of totemism, matrilineal tendencies may also be linked with clans, even without a transformation into matriarchy.

From the whole body of evidence, however, it appears that in most tribes with clan totemism the position of men is more firmly established than that of women. It is due to clan organization that among totemistic peoples with a richer cultural heritage, artistic and artisanal specializations could develop to a greater extent within individual totemic groups. This tendency is also observed among tribes with clans but without totemism. Clan totemism reaches its richest development mainly in the so-called “middle cultures.” These are civilizations with agriculture and hunting or fishing, sometimes with animal husbandry, which historically stand between the archaic civilizations of individual hunters and gatherers and the emerging higher civilizations. A similar view was expressed by J. G. Frazer, so distinguished for his researches on totemism, as early as 1910. Most pastoral civilizations generally show less tendency toward clan totemism; in other early civilizations, if clan totemism already existed, it either disappears entirely or is profoundly transformed.

Totemic family and local groups may form even within hunting civilizations; yet in agricultural civilizations, too, there sometimes occurs a totemistic transformation of small local and kinship societies. Individual totemism, together with the belief in an alter ego and the idea of a tutelary spirit—which is in part related to it but not identical—seems older than group totemism, since it can exist even among tribes of simple hunters. Individual totemism, however, could continue to exist in all forms of civilization, including the higher ones. Given the marked uniqueness and relative uniformity of the phenomena of individual totemism, one may reasonably suppose a single origin for it, although full evidence is lacking. From various indications it appears that group or clan totemism in some regions developed from individual totemism in that the individual totem of a family or local group leader, or of an ancestor, was inherited by his descendants and the respect for it became obligatory for the whole group. There are, however, other possible origins for clan totemism.

The ideological and religious background of totemism undoubtedly lies in a view of the animal world (Baumann’s “protototemism”), which was and is especially characteristic of markedly hunting peoples. These tribes either have no group totem at all or develop or acquire it only later. The interest of these hunters is entirely directed toward animals, to which they feel bound by manifold ideological and religious relations pervaded by strong emotions.

These relations are manifested chiefly in the following ideas and practices: the animal as helper and companion; kinship between animal and man; the special powers of animals which man seeks to appropriate; transformations of animals; the entry of the totemic soul into the human soul; reincarnation in the soul; the patron of animals; the supervisory spirits of animals; the tribal ancestor regarded as an animal; reconciliation with the slain game; the preservation of animal bones so that new game may arise from them; animal pantomimes; and magic of hunting in various forms.

These ideas and practices are by no means yet systematized and vary in their value and significance among individual tribes. Fundamentally, however, they constitute a unified complex of superior hunters, which can be traced back to the Upper Paleolithic of Eurasia and Africa. It must be noted, however, that this “animism” does not constitute the whole religion of these hunters. It belongs mainly to the “lower” spheres of religious activity, limited to the field of daily hunting, an activity strongly oriented toward magic. There is also, in part as a survival of an older cultural stratum, belief in a High Being, or in a figure of the Lord and distributor of animals as means of sustenance, as well as in a tribal ancestor and bringer of culture. Because of the strong orientation toward lower beings, animals, etc., belief in the High God mostly takes on a character of passivity. There may also be an influence from belief in a universal force or power (dynamism), which is mostly to be regarded as an emanation of the High Being but may be concentrated especially in game and in certain natural things and in men. It would, however, be mistaken—as is sometimes done—to speak in this case of a belief in a “pre-animistic” force, as if the idea of the soul or a simple animation or anthropomorphism of animals and natural things did not already exist. Although a clear distinction between belief in force and belief in spirit cannot always be made, there is no reason to speak of a pre-animistic religion.

Now, these magical and religious ideas of the higher hunters constitute the foundation for the formation of the various forms of totemism. In general it can be said that totemism, in the course of the history of civilization, has not made any noteworthy contribution to the religion of humanity. It remained restricted, in so far as it retained religious elements, only to certain spheres of the preternatural, without exerting a more extensive influence on the world of higher powers.