Totem Board



Of the tenuous objects that form the legacy of the camp in Bánk, the most exciting are the relics of the community’s “totem board”. Originally conceived as a notice board, this fixture served as a depository for objects linked to events regarded as significant or memorable in the life of the camp. Each such token was affixed to the board for all to see, to remind participants of the events in question and serve as a springboard for discussion. The composition of the board changed somewhat over the years: some artefacts (such as the map of Pipecland) were eventually taken down or lost, while others were replaced or even rounded out with additional material. At first, the board was moved around. Later, as the relics it displayed grew increasingly venerated by the camp community, the totem board became immutable and untouchable – in both the figurative, and literal senses. In 1961, a paragraph was added to the camp’s Book of Laws that stated:

“Section 17 (a) Reverence for the valuables posted to THE TOTEM BOARD shall be the moral obligation of every citizen.
(b) Infringement of this statute shall be judged in the harshest possible fashion.”

1. Tomahawk from the 1950s; prop from a game of cowboys and Indians
2. Flag with a silver arrow from the 1960s; prop from a game of cowboys and Indians
3. “The Bánk Bear in Helsinki”; sent by “Papa Zaki” as a gift in 1952, the year of the Helsinki Olympics
4. “English flag”; gift from England during the 1960s
5. Flag of Pipecland; made in 1952; the sun symbolises summer, the colour light green the meadow, brown the forest, red joy and childhood, and light blue the lake
6. Flag of the “revolutionary guard”; game from the early 1960s
7. Polish flag
8. “Esteemed witches of Bánk”: emblem of the girls’ room from the 1950s
9. Aunt Eszter’s scraper: used for delivering a blessing in the hope of a win for the Karancslapujtő football team in the Nógrád County championships
10. Aunt Eszter’s whistle; a symbol of power, used to signal the campers for lunch time, the end of swim time, the end of a game of capture-the-flag, etc.
11. Miner’s badge; given by the Karancslapujtő team to their fans at the camp in Bánk
12. Cook Marcsi’s scarf
13. Flags of the Bánk Olympic Games; categories/events: athletics, running, swimming, the three-legged race, the two-man two-legged race, the backward race, the somersault competition, and floating in the water while reading a newspaper
14. Capture-the-flag banner from the 1950s
15. Pirate campaign flag from the 1950s
16. Weapon used by Mordály, Captain of Shoutherland, from the 1950s
17. Bakó; prop from the opera László Hunyadi
18. The 96-Cannon Ship-of-the-Line of His Majesty, Shoutherland; made by Bear in 1953