Complex of ideas and practices based on the belief in kinship or mystical relationship between a group (or individual) and a natural object, such as an animal or plant.
The term derives from the Ojibwa word ototeman , signifying a blood relationship. A society exhibits totemism if it is divided into an apparently fixed number of clan s, each of which has a specific relationship to an animate or inanimate species (totem). A totem may be a feared or respected hunted animal or an edible plant. Very commonly connected with origin myth s and with instituted morality, the totem is almost always hedged about with taboo s of avoidance or of strictly ritualized contact. Totem, taboo, and exogamy seem to be inextricably intertwined. See also totem pole.