This is a branch of animism, which is based on the belief that there is a mystical connection between a person and a certain class of objects of the surrounding nature, such as wild animals. At times, totemism was considered a single integral system, but later they came to the conclusion that such an assumption is true only for some customs.
The word "totem" was introduced into English in a journal publication (1791) by John Long, an English merchant who spent several years among the Ojibwa tribes as a translator. Long identified the totem with the name of the spirit - the guardian of the tribe. This was later recognized as a mistake.
The general concept of "totemism" as a primitive form of religion was introduced by Emile Dukheim in his Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912). His findings are based on observations of the religious life of Australian Aboriginal groups. The aborigines of the Aranda tribe believe that they descend through a series of reincarnations from their totem animal. This gave Dukheim the basis to assert that the concept of totem led to the concept of the soul. Totems are depicted on ritual objects. Hence Dukheim suggests that the meaning of the totem lies in its ability to evoke magical powers called "mana". The connection between totem and "mana" was for Dukheim an explanation of why people do not eat totem animals.
But even during the publication of Durkheim's work, attempts continued to define totemism as an integral interconnected system. The anthropologist Claude Lévy-Strauss, in his work Totemism (1963), analyzed the literature on this subject and showed how different the various objects and practices defined as totemic are. Social groups named after animals, taboos on eating animals in which you "belong" and from which you have descended are common things. However, they do not have to be present at the same time. Moreover, a totem is not necessarily an animal, it can be an object or a natural phenomenon, or even some man-made object. As a result of Levi-Strauss' research, totemism appears to be some kind of heterogeneous, dating back to the fundamental animistic ideas of beliefs, which it unites into one class,since, in essence, they represent the same type of phenomena. For a member of a clan or tribe, the concept of "totemism" has no meaning.
American anthropologist Ralph Linton describes a situation he observed when he served in the 42nd, or "Rainbow", division of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I, and which demonstrates how, even today, it is natural and simple a totemic situation arises. The division had people from different states, and because of this, their regimental insignia were of all colors of the rainbow - hence the name "Rainbow". In the beginning it was just a nickname, but by the time the division arrived in France, it had become common. When asked which division he was from, the man answered: "I am from the Rainbow."
Five or six months after the division received its name, it was widely accepted that the rainbow was its symbol. It was said that when the division was sent to work, regardless of the weather, a rainbow appeared in the sky. Somehow "Rainbow" was next to the 77th division, which had its own symbol "Statue of Liberty". The people from "Rainbow" started wearing rainbow signs, mimicking the people of the "Statue of Liberty". Further more, and by the end of the war, the entire expeditionary corps consisted of clearly defined groups, each with its own insignia and signs.
Linton formulated how the behavior of American military units is similar to the behavior of people of tribal communities:
1) the division of people into groups, realizing their belonging to this group;
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2) the name of each group by the name of an animal, object or natural phenomenon;
3) the use of this name as an address or when communicating with a "stranger";
4) the use of emblems to indicate belonging to a given group;
5) respect for the “patron” depicted on the emblem;
6) the belief that the patron will defend the interests of the group members.