Totemism is a belief system linking a social group to a spirit being or emblem. The totem is often an animal or plant, sometimes a natural feature or object. Members of the group treat it as an ancestor, protector, or kin. They may be forbidden to kill or eat it. The totem marks identity. It tells people who they are and who they belong to.

The term comes from the Ojibwe word odoodem, meaning kinship group. Early anthropologists like James Frazer and Émile Durkheim treated totemism as a universal stage of religion. That view is now rejected. Totemism is not one system but many, and it appears in societies with very different structures. What they share is a symbolic link between a social group and a natural kind. The totem is not just a mascot. It is a way of mapping society onto nature.

Common features

• A specific animal, plant, or object as emblem.
• Prohibitions on killing or eating the totem.
• Clan or lineage membership tied to the totem.
• Rituals that honor or invoke the totem.

Totemism persists in modern forms. Sports teams, national animals, and family crests carry traces of the same logic.