The Totem Pole Nesting Doll has representations of the northwest North American native clans. The name of totem poles comes from "totem," meaning an object, species of animal, plant, or natural phenomenon symbolizing a clan or family. When westerners first saw totem poles, they thought they were religious symbols and objects of worship, but actually each symbols on totem poles are primarily the symbols of the clans they belong to. At the highest level, everyone is either of the eagle or raven clan, with sub-clans such as beaver, fox, bear, and frog. The raven has a straight beak, while the eagle has a curved one. The human figure on top is the village watchman, who warned of approaching danger or a thief in the village. The original carvers of totem poles lived in the area now known as Alaska's Inside Passage, members of the Tlingit, Haida and other clans. This doll would make an unique gift for anyone that collects nesting dolls. These images have hand painted backgrounds and highlights, and for certain elements, Golden Cockerel reproduces the original hand-painted artwork on printed vinyl and artfully applies them to the dolls. The artist paints and blends the two forms of artwork together into a unified piece. Then the dolls have multiple layers of non-toxic water-based lacquer applied. This doll was carved in the Upper Volga region, then delivered to the Golden Cockerel workshop in St. Petersburg, Russia. The bottom of the largest doll gets stamped with Golden Cockerel’s “Made in Russia” mark of quality, initialed by the artist, and dated like a true collectible. Size of the Largest Piece: 8 inches in height The Nesting Set Includes: Five Totem Pole Images Please note that the smaller pieces can be very small. Please make sure your recipient is old enough and wise enough not to swallow the characters (around three and older).