Totem poles are more social than religious and share nothing in common with idols, are never worshiped and never figure in religious ceremonies.  For the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Nisga'a, Gitksan, Kwakiutl and other people living along the wooded shores and rivers of the Pacific Northwest, totem poles embody their tribal, clan, family and individual identities, and serve as visible reminders of the past and the present...