Janseung and Totem Poles

Jangseung, sotdae and totem poles are examples of the ancient practice of carving wood or stone with images that clans and communities identify as an ancestral source of connection and protection.

In America, we're familiar with totem poles because they originate on this continent, associated with Native American tribes of the north pacific. Tribes carved images of  icons - for example ravens, eagles, thunderbirds, whales, human-like spirits - on a lodgepole which would stand near the village, both a work of art and a connection to the spirit world. Different tribes followed their own signature artistic techniques that distinguished their totem poles from those of other tribes.

Jangseung and sotdae are both Korean traditions. Janseung are upright rectangles of carved wood or stone, featuring exagerrated human-like faces. Sotdae are thinner, taller poles with carvings of birds such as wild ducks or egrets at the tops. Sotdae are very graceful in appearance, some with a single bird, others with a branch-like perch bearing two or three.

In researching totem poles, it became clear many civilizations around the world have traditions of such carvings in their past. Easter Island's huge works come to mind. European hiking sticks sometimes bore intricate carvings topped by a bird, or a carving of a bear or other animal.

Individuals in many cultures sometimes feel aligned with a personal totem, and in many countries including the USA, we embrace the spirits of archetypal animals and peoples as mascots of sports teams and institutes of learning. Milwaukee Braves baseball team aligns itself with cultures native to the United States. New Orleans Saints football team, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, Texas Longhorns - there's even a college team called the Gueyducks - named after clams.

Carl Jung suggested that in the collective unconscious of all living, that there exists archetypes (templates/icons) of the species. Through the art of totem poles and memorabilia, we are tangibly connected to those forms that are spiritually alive in the collective mind.  Earlier this year, I wrote a bit about Manitou, known as the Great Spirit in some Native American tribes, that gives name to the interconnectedness of all life, the collective soul.