Totem poles can be categorized into 7 groups based on their functions. Native Americans use them for many different reasons. “The carving on totem poles separates and emphasizes the flat, painted surfaces of the symbolic animals and spirits depicted on them” (“Totem Pole”). Memorial poles, or heraldic poles, are made to show when a house changes owners. Grave marker poles remember people, but don’t necessarily contain the people. On the other hand, mortuary poles hold the remains of the dead for very rich people who died. Roof poles are decorative and used to help support the roof of a building, but they are still used for religion. Each totem pole tells a story such as the ridicule pole which puts an upside down face of a person who failed