Extraordinary Urbex Object - The Totem In The Middle Of The Forest
On our urbex map, you can find casual urbex objects like abandoned palaces, mansions or power plants. Last winter, we wanted to find something unique. We looked around the internet to find a perfect trip destination. We were interested in something like an abandoned strawberry. We thought that a similar object may be located nearby and we were right. Actually, it was not as funny as the giant strawberry. On the contrary, this place was so scary. We found a lot of animal skulls hanging on the tree. We guess it was kind of totem. This strange thing looked interesting and it was nice to photograph it. But what was the purpose of the totem?
A Pagan Temple - Our First Suspicion About The Totem
Nobody knows why somebody built the totem there. We asked the people who visited this place before us, but they had no idea either. We tried to find some information on the internet, but previous visitors had only posted the photos without the story (and the purpose) of the totem. We could only guess why somebody hanged animal skulls in the forest. The totem is surrounded by bushes with specially prepared gates or even stairs. Everything together looked like the pagan temple. Maybe some rituals were performed there? It might be a real place for praying or maybe the scenery created for the movie or photos.
A Ritual Place - The Most Probably Scenario
We wanted to learn more about the totem and we had to do our analysis. We compared our photos with older pictures done by other people. We noticed that previously there were other skulls and some of them were just placed on other branches. It means someone cares about this place. If someone had only prepared the totem and the whole temple to take only the pictures there, they would have left this place as soon as they finished their work. Therefore we find someone prepared it for ritual purposes. We are so curious about the rituals performed there. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), we didn’t meet the prayers there.
What Is The Meaning Of Skull?
We have figured out that the totem is for ritual purposes. But what is its meaning? The top meaning of skull is death. That’s why the skull is being used as a warning sign. If you ignore the warning, you will die. A completely different approach to skulls is in Mexican culture. Mexicans believe that the skull is the symbol of life celebration. Día de Los Muertos also known as The Day Of Dead is joyful, hustling with life fest. You probably know a Mexican skull painted in colourful patterns. They do this because they celebrate the lives of their dead who are already in the hereafter. Human skull has a lot of meanings, but on the totem, that we found were only animal skulls. Fortunately. Can you imagine what could have happened with our psyche if we had found the human skulls? So let’s consider why someone created the animal totem?
The Totem Pole In Various Religions - Who Worship The Animal Skulls
Poland is a Slavic country so we expected that the totem is a part of the Slavs religion. Unfortunately, we were wrong. The ancient Slavs worshipped a lot of gods, but the most important was the Svantevit -a god with four faces looking in all directions of the world. They prayed to his totem, but it was wooden or stone. So the skull totem wasn’t part of Slavic religion. We’ve checked information about other pagan European religions, but if they worshipped a totem, it was a wooden pole. Maybe we need to search for the answer overseas?
Is The Animal Totem A Part Of American Beliefs?
Thinking about America we mean Native Americans of course. Probably all of us have seen the cow skull in some western movie. We have also seen Indian totem. A wooden, colourful totem that wasn’t similar to our skull totem. Anyway, the buffalo skull was important for indigenous people. Cows played a significant role in the Indians’ life. They are the source of food, skins for the clothes, materials to build their shelters. To pay tribute to these amazing animals, they hang their skulls on the walls. So maybe someone would like to thank The gods for the delicious meat and created this totem?
Abandoned Totem Photography - Urbex Photos Of Animal Skulls
We didn’t meet the totem shaman who would have given us the answer. We have our suspicions, but you may have a different opinion. What do you think? What is the source of totem? Share your answer in the comments! And in the meantime, of course, enjoy our photos from our urbex trip.
