A catch-all phrase used to describe the many different types of myths, phantasmic visions, and totems across multiple cultures and languages across the world, such as the Alebrijes of Mexico, or the Chiwara of African tribes in
Mali. The Spirit Animals across all cultures share a common theme of embodying various animals, or
animal-like creatures, that represent or help educate a human being through characteristics of that
animal or mythical creature. The term has been a curious flashpoint in recent years due to an erroneous belief that the phrase belongs solely to Native Americans, who although they have their own mythology surrounding
animal-like entities, are not the only culture to document or claim these types of beings. In fact, there is no such term as "Spirit
Animal" actually found in any historical Native American language -- the phrase was only applied generically in more recent, modern language, and adapted. Though, perhaps we can all agree the world needs fewer every
day morons tweeting that a certain celebrity or pop icon is their 'Spirit
Animal'.
In the Pixar movie COCO, Imelda's Spirit
Animal was an alebrije named Pepita. After helping save the
day, Dante the street dog became
Miguel's Spirit Animal as well.
