Coastal Indian Rituals

Mitch
American Studies
December, 6, 2007

Fishing Rituals,
Fishing was the Coastal Native Americans pride and joy. Fish was one of the coastal Indians main foods. The Indians would find out that the fishing season had begun by sending a party of people out to fish. If the group came back with salmon, they knew the season had begun. The people who found the fish, could only catch one per person on the day that they had found them (because they didn’t want to be greedy, and upset the Ocean god). Once they got to the village they would give the fishes to their wives to clean, and then they would instantly go tell their chief that the run had begun. After the chief heard the news, he would order people into the canoes to go catch more fish. When the fishermen returned, they would give the fish to their wives to clean and cook. After the fishes were cooked, they would put on their best clothes that they had, (usually their best consisted of loin cloths with many beads and stitched fabric) and they would prepare for the feast. The feast was in honor of the ocean god for the fish they caught, and for the fish they would soon catch. The feast was also in honor of the people who found the first fish. The first fish to be caught would be shared with the chief, the person who caught the first fish, and whoever else he wished to share the fish with, (usually family). When the feast was over the Tribe would go and dance around the fire, singing songs that thanked the gods for the beginning of the fishing season. When all was said and done, the people would head back to their longhouses with the extra fish that they didn’t eat. It has been said that after a feast like that, the Indians would dream of the fish that were soon to come. The fish were a strong tie in the Indian culture. Fish is one of the main ways the Indians survived. As you can see fish were a big part of the Indians food group, and provided the Indians with nutrients that berries could not.

Masks,
Masks were how the Indians expressed themselves. The masks were painted with smashed berries and blood. The Indians knew just what type of berries to get, in order for the juice to stain the mask. The Indians would get the blood by killing an animal, (usually deer) and draining the blood out of the animal and in to a bowl. Masks were usually for the gods. The Indians thought that if they showed the gods how much they appreciated and respected them, then the gods would give them more special privileges, (such as more fish, deer and other types of necessities). The same went for wildlife, the Indians would make masks of deer, fish, rabbits, and so on. They made the masks to be formed like animals, so that the animals wouldn’t mind being killed, because of all the respect they were getting from the Indians. For a person’s face to be made into a mask would be an almost unheard of honor. In order for a persons face to be formed into a mask, he or she (the honor would almost always be given to a man) would have had to of done some thing amazing, like save his village from an attack, or catch a record amount of fish. The Indians would use the masks during special occasions, like for celebrating the beginning of the fishing season. They used the masks by putting them on, and by jumping around and singing songs thanking the gods for everything that they have done for them. Even the way they put the masks on was special. They put the masks on the top of their heads, and put their faces down (looking at the dirt). This is a big part of the Indian culture, because this is how the Indians expressed themselves. This is, and was, a big part of Indian culture.

Feasts,
Feasts are how the Indians celebrated big occasions like the beginning of the fishing season. The foods that they used in the feasts were usually fish, (depending on if it was the fishing season or not.) deer and rabbits. The Indians made the fish by either cooking it over the fire, or by smoking it in the smoking hut. Since the Indians didn’t have access to spices or salts, they had to eat it plain which didn’t always taste very good. The Indians would cook the deer by putting the carcass on a stick and turning the stick around and around until the hair burned off, and the meat was tender. The same went with cooking rabbit, rabbit meat was very tough and chewy, (but they ate it because it would fill them up). The Indians cooked rabbit the same way that they cooked deer, (by putting the carcass on a stick and turning the stick around and around until the hair burned off, and the meat was tender). The Indians didn’t really mind the taste of the food that they ate, all they really cared about was that the food would fill them up so that they didn’t starve. Food was one of the most important things in the Indian feasts. The food was important because it symbolized the friendship and the teamwork that it took to put the feast to together. If it weren’t for teamwork the whole feast wouldn’t come together, without teamwork the women wouldn’t be able to clean fish together and set the table, and the men wouldn’t be able to fish together. If weren’t for friendship the women wouldn’t be able to laugh and tell funny stories about their husbands, and the men wouldn’t be able to tell stories about the earth, the wind and the waves. If there wasn’t any friendship in the tribe, each of these situations would be tense and uncomfortable. The Indians didn’t have silverware so they had to use their fingers to eat. Now you may think that eating with your fingers isn’t very nice manners, but to the Indians it was normal and appropriate. As you can plainly see the feasts were all about teamwork, good friendship and good food.

Whaling,
Whaling was an art and a sport to the Indian men. It was an art because you had to
sing to the whales, and you had to stalk the whale. It was a sport because you had to paddle out there and sometimes jump on the whale to kill it, and then paddle all the way home. Whaling was a very strong tradition to the Indians. Whaling has been passed down from father to son for as long as the coastal Indians have been around. Unfortunately, many breeds of whales have trickled into the endangered species list. Because of this turn of events, it is now illegal for the Indians to catch and kill whales any time they want. The Indians would kill a whale by stabbing a harpoon into the whale and waiting until the whale died. The Indians would tow the whale home by having two divers, dive under the whale and slip a rope from one canoe under the whale to another canoe. This technique made it so the whale didn’t sink, and the Indians could tow the whale home. The next thing the Indians would do is they would tie the whales mouth shut so water didn’t seep in and the whale wouldn’t sink. The Indians weren’t always lucky though, sometimes the whale would sink and they wouldn’t be able to retrieve it. When the Indians got the whale home they would take it to the shore, cut it open and salvage the body parts they needed, and they would throw the parts they didn’t need back into the ocean (the parts they didn’t need they thought would go to the ocean god). After the Indian men cleaned the whale, they gave the whale to their wives to cook. The women would usually cook the whale into whale jerky. Again, since the Indians didn’t have salts the whale jerky didn’t taste as good as what we buy in the stores. Whale jerky would usually be eaten when the Indian men were fishing, or when they were on long walks. Whales were a very large part of the Indian history, and still are a large part of the Indian culture.

Cedar Baskets,
Cedar baskets are what the women did when the men were away. Making the cedar baskets was what the women prided themselves on. Making a cedar basket was as important to the come, as catching a whale was important to the men. The baskets were made of cedar strips and a bowl shape figure. Usually the husbands would chop the wood with their adze to get the bowl figure for a basket, but sometimes the wives would have to do it. The Indian husbands got the cedar strips by finding a cedar tree, and using an adze to slowly push down on the tree bark until they get fine little strips. The husbands would then give the strips to their wives. The wives would soak the strips in water over the fire to get the water warm. After about a day of soaking, they would take the strips off the fire, (the strips would be bendable). With the strips, the wives would weave in and out of the bowl until a weaved basket slowly emerges. The cedar baskets were such an important role to the Indian wives that the Indian mothers would send their teenage daughters into the forest to make their own shelter and make baskets for a week and a half. This process was thought of as becoming a woman. The men did the same process, except instead of making baskets they would hunt. If you were a talented basket maker, you could make designs on the basket. You could make these designs by using a different type of wood (this would make it darker in color). You could also change the color by not soaking the strips (this would make it lighter in color). The baskets were used for carrying the freshly caught fish to the house for cooking. The baskets were also used for storage, and for berry picking. Whether it was to pass housewives time or used for picking berries, the baskets always had a purpose.