According to Urban Dictionary, the word totem means “An item that only you know of that helps you determine whether you are in the dream world or in reality. Only you should know it’s characteristics, anybody else knowing would defeat the purpose.” Perhaps this is the reason that so many festival goers choose to have a totem to assemble their Squad.
From August 11- August 14, thousands of festies gathered on Salmo River Ranch in British Columbia, Canada. Despite the smoke from the wildfires, attendees chose to dance their weekend away to celebrate the 20 years that Shambhala has been running. During our stay in Salmo, we noticed that the level of creativity was abundant in costumes and in totems. We gathered some of the best and most awesome totems in the crowd below. Check it out!
13. Nothing Says Happy Like Being at Shambhala
Good vibes, good food, and good music is all you need to enjoy yourself at Shambhala Music Festival. And everywhere you turn you find happy and inviting people. Its no question why Mr. Happy Shambs could be found dancing his way thorough the crowds over the weekend.
12. Shambhala is 420 Friendly
Its nice to know that our friends across the border feel good about marijuana. And enough to don their totem in the name of all things weed.
11. Lure Friends In With Candy
Big shout out to this girl who was rocking out with her sign, willing to make new friends and pass out gum to those needing it. Did we mention she had a full supply of multiple types of gum ready for distribution? Clutch.
10. Nothing Says Festing Like Jersey Shore
RIP Angelina. Enough said.
9. Friendly Faces
Lure your best friends in by posting an extra large picture of their most beautiful face to a stick. Let us know how many new friends you make!
8. Get Political
Enough of everyone discrediting the most important political issue out there…. is ranch illegal somewhere?! If so, its time to legalize it.
7. Food Or Cartoons?
Its a little unclear whether this person is letting the crowds know that they love a tasty chowder… or if they’re a fan of the cartoon. Either way, we know they fucking love it.
6. And the newly created signs once Shambhala Music Festival was declared cancelled on Sunday, and then the decision was reversed.
Those shambha-pranksters!
5. When You Want to Get Sexual With the Overturned Decision
4. Luckily, the Smokey Park Rangers were there Sunday to keep everything in order.
Or wait a second… Smokey looks like hes about light a joint. Can he smoke on the job?
3. When You Need The Bass Gods To Rock You Out
And it was sent. Every damn day.
2. Let Them Know You Have the Healthy Kind of Hugs
Who knew hugs could be gluten free?
And the number one best totem found at Shambhala Music Festival was this one…
Because this girl is jobless, but she must have had one hell of a time heading from Shambhala to Eclipse.
8 Comments
My friends made numbers 13 and 11!!! So awesome!
There was one with LOTR’s Aragorn wearing shutter shades while smoking a joint on it. It read “The beacons are LIT”. I feel that one should have been mentioned. I can provide a photo if needed (it was not my totem).
Photo Credit for #5
Miriam Menzies
Going to have to burst this bubble, but maybe 2 totems actually deserved to be on this list (including Smoky Bear).
Totally agree. Kind of feels like they had 13 pictures of signs and decided it was enough to to write an article about. My buddy has one of if not the best totem out there.
Yeah i definitely saw some amazing Totems with crazy lights and all kinds of fun. I still don’t have photo credit for #5 as well. I think more should be added 😉
Little jaded I didn’t even crack the list with my good sign/don’t panic combination