totem-clan

Each totem-clan has a number of such totem-centres scattered over the country.

Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning 1920

And from the Indian analogy it is therefore legitimate to presume that the totem-clan may have been the original unit of society among several European races as well as in America, Africa, Australia and

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894

Generally in the relations between the totem-clan and its totem-animal, and in all the fables about animals, one animal is taken as representing the species, and it is tacitly assumed that all the animals of the species have the same knowledge and qualities and would behave in the same manner as the typical one.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894

The Australians say that the good spirit or the wise men prescribed to them the rule that the members of each totem-clan should not marry with each other.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894

Nor would man have been regarded as a distinct species in the early totem-stage, and there would be no word for man; but each totem-clan would regard itself as having the same life as its totem-species.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894

Perhaps also the Australians consider that the members of the totem-clan should abstain from eating the totem for fear of injuring the common life, as more advanced communities abstained from eating the flesh of domestic animals.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894

The belief in a common life could not possibly arise in the totem-clan towards any animal or plant which they did not eat or otherwise use.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894

[149] This clearly shows that one common life is held to bind together all the animals of the totem-species and all the members of the totem-clan, and the belief seems to be inexplicable on any other hypothesis.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894

And since identification of individuals would be extremely difficult before the introduction of personal names, there would be danger that when two clans met, men and women belonging to the same totem-clan would have sexual intercourse.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894

In the totemic stage of society the totem-clan was the vital organism, and the individual scarcely realised his own separate existence, but regarded himself as a member of his totem-clan, being

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894