The Northern Pacific Coast -Totem Poles & Animals

The native Americans of the Pacific Northwest used totem poles as a means of recording kinship history. The Luiseno Indians of Southern California used totem in another sense. During the Luiseno ritual called the Toloache, adolescent boys that are coming of age use totem animals as spiritual guides to help their journey to adulthood. The hallucinogenic root of the jimsonweed is also incorporated in the ceremony. The Luiseno Indian tribe numbered in the thousands in the Northern San Diego area in the 1870's.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/shoshoni/luisenoindianhist.htm

http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/exhibits/tbird-park/index.html