Salish peoples

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Salish Peoples
Séliš
Squamish003Squamish Pole Raising Ceremony - North Vancouver - 002.jpg
Squamish elder Audrey Rivers wearing wool regalia at a Pole Raising Ceremony (July 2012).
Regions with significant populations
British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana
Languages
Salishan languages
Related ethnic groups
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast

The Salish peoples are indigenous peoples of the American and Canadian Pacific Northwest, identified by their use of the Salish languages which diversified out of Proto-Salish between 3,000 and 6,000 years ago.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The term "Salish" originated in the modern era as an exonym created for linguistic research. Salish is an anglicization of Séliš, the endonym for the Salish Tribes of the Flathead Reservation. The Séliš were the easternmost Salish people and the first to have a diplomatic relationship with the United States so their name was applied broadly to all peoples speaking a related language.

Salish language

The Salish (or Salishan) people are in four major groups: Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Coast Salish, Interior Salish, and Tsamosan, who each speak one of the Salishan languages. The Tsamosan group is usually considered a subset of the broader Coast Salish peoples.

Among the four major groups of the Salish people, there are twenty-three documented languages. At least five of these are no longer in use, while the rest are seriously endangered. The majority of fluent Salish-speakers are elderly, and younger speakers are quite rare. In spite of this, there are ongoing efforts to keep the languages alive through revitalization programs planned and conducted by various tribal organisations. Currently, a team of scholars is conducting research on the languages in order to create reference material and educational resources. [1] [2]

Salish languages, especially those of the Coast peoples, are threatened primarily by assimilation. State programs such as the Canadian residential schools (where indigenous languages were prohibited) have been a major factor in reducing the number of fluent Salish speakers. Schools today, however, from the secondary to the university level, are actively promoting knowledge and use of the Salish languages. [3]

Language and cultural revitalization

In 1988, the Self Governance Demonstration Project of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (the CSKT) was successful, and the U.S. government returned full autonomy to their tribal leadership in 1993. Over the following decades the CSKT has reverted to traditional governance in which Elders provide counsel, to the chief, on tribal policies, culture and education, and in turn tribal policies have grown out of a desire to strengthen the community's ties to their cultural heritage. [4]

In a move to self-identify and push back against the effects of the Indian Termination policy, namely assimilation, in 2016 the tribe chose to change their name from the anglicized "Salish-Prend d'Oreille" to Séliš-Ql̓ispé. The change was part of a wider movement to include more Salishan in the community's daily lives.

For the Séliš-Ql̓ispé, language and culture are entwined — through oral histories, food practices, horticulture, environment, and spirituality. By reviving the language, they hope to also reclaim their identity, their health, and their culture. [5]

Community efforts to revitalize the Salishan language and culture, aside from efforts to teach classes on language (in some cases, full-immersion into the language with no falling back onto English), include such things as virtual tours and museums, such as the Sq'éwlets, which is a Stó:lō-Coast Salish Community in the Fraser River Valley. [6] There is also the People's Center Museum [7] that opened in 1994 and hosts a rotating exhibition of Salish and Kootenai cultural artifacts. The museum is supplemented with an oral tradition of story-telling that explains the significance of the pieces on display and shares the stories of the people who lived in the time before and during the European invasion. [7]

There have also been calls for repatriation of artifacts across all indigenous tribes of the Americas as additional efforts to reclaim history and culture.

Dancers at the 2012 Arlee Celebration Arlee Powwow2.JPG
Dancers at the 2012 Arlee Celebration

Powwows

The Arlee Espapqeyni Celebration is a yearly July 4 powwow hosted by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and is located in Arlee, Montana. It runs for a period of several days and involves dance competitions and singing competitions (and non-competitive singing and drum performances). [8]

In 1884 the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) made it illegal for any Indian dances to be performed, and so the tribes danced in secret. [8] A new, religiously-influenced dance called the Ghost Dance began spreading from tribe to tribe at a rate that the U.S. government was wary of, and in 1890 a military unit was dispatched to Wounded Knee to interrupt a ceremony of the Ghost Dance among the Sioux. Roughly 200 Sioux were gunned down in what is now known as the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Modern powwows came about after the armistice of World War 1, when Native American veterans returned home from war; celebrations were held for their homecoming and included traditional dances. A new sense of community also came into being with the end of the war, along with the proximity of reservations to one another, and the celebrations began to include neighboring tribes rather than remain exclusive to individual tribes. [9]

When Plains Indians were resettled in urban areas following World War II, per the policy of the U.S. government, their culture and traditions went with them and became widely spread—which is why many powwow dances and songs are from the Plains tradition. This dispersal of people and culture into large community centers also tightened the inter-tribal networks that had come into existence after the first World War. [9]

Art and material culture

Salish weaving

Detail of a woven Salish cloak Salish cloak detail, cataloged 1828 - Museum of Cultures (Helsinki) - DSC04960.JPG
Detail of a woven Salish cloak

Salish weavers used both plant and animal fibers. Coast Salish peoples kept flocks of woolly dogs, bred for their wool, to shear and spin the fibers into yarn. The Coast Salish would also use mountain goat wool, waterfowl down, and various plant fibers including cedar bark, nettle fiber, milkweed and hemp. They would combine these materials in their weaving. A type of white clay was pounded into the fibers, possibly for the purpose of extracting oil from the wool. [10] Not all Salish blankets were made with dog's wool—commoners' blankets were usually made of plant fibers. The designs of Salish weavings commonly featured graphical patterns such as zig-zag, diamond shapes, squares, rectangles, V-shapes and chevrons. [11] [12]

In the early to mid-nineteenth century, the fur trade brought Hudson's Bay blankets to the Pacific Northwest. The influx of these cheaper, machine-made blankets led to the decline of native wool blankets that were expensive and labor-intensive to produce. Salish weaving continued to a lesser extent, but the weavers largely transitioned to using sheep's wool yarn brought to the area by traders, as it was less costly than keeping the salmon-eating woolly dogs. [13]

There was a revival of Salish weaving in the 1960s, and the Salish Weavers Guild was formed in 1971. [14]

Objects made with cedar at Tulalip Tribes Hibulb Cultural Center Hibulb Cultural Center - misc cedar objects 01 (21306650030).jpg
Objects made with cedar at Tulalip Tribes Hibulb Cultural Center

Use of cedar

Plentiful in the Pacific Northwest, the Western Red Cedar was a vital resource in Coast Salish peoples' lives. Canoes, longhouses, totem poles, baskets, mats, clothing, and more were all made using cedar.

Totem poles

Totem poles were less common in Coast Salish culture than with neighboring non-Salish Pacific Northwest Coast peoples such as the Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Kwakiutl tribes. It wasn't until the twentieth century that the totem pole tradition was adopted by the northern Coast Salish peoples including the Cowichan, Comox, Pentlatch, Musqueam, and Lummi tribes. These tribes created fewer free-standing totem poles, but are known for carving house posts in the interior and exterior of longhouses. [15] [16] [17] [18]

Salish peoples located in the Pacific Northwest and parts of Southern Alaska were known to build totem poles that were meant to symbolize a tribe member's spirit animal or family crest. They continue on this legacy today by selling hand carved totem poles formed in the same fashion. [19]

Contemporary Salish artists

Subgroups and territory

Pre-contact distribution of Salishan languages (in red) Salishan langs.png
Pre-contact distribution of Salishan languages (in red)

Salish people groups are subdivided by their respective branches of the Salishan language family: Coast Salish (peoples) speaking the Coast Salish languages, Interior Salish (peoples) speaking the Interior Salish languages, and the Nuxalk (Bella Coola) people speaking the Nuxalk language.

The Nuxalk are the northernmost Salish peoples, located in and around Bella Coola, British Columbia. This area is separated from the main continuous land area known to be populated by Salish peoples.

Below is a list of most, but not all, Salish tribes and bands, listed from north to south.

Coast Salish

scəẁaθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen First Nation)

Interior Salish

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salishan languages</span> Indigenous language family of western Canada and the US

The Salishan languages are a family of languages of the Pacific Northwest in North America. They are characterised by agglutinativity and syllabic consonants. For instance the Nuxalk word clhp’xwlhtlhplhhskwts’, meaning "he had had [in his possession] a bunchberry plant", has twelve obstruent consonants in a row with no phonetic or phonemic vowels.

Nuxalk, also known as Bella Coola, is a Salishan language spoken by the Nuxalk people. Today, it is an endangered language in the vicinity of the Canadian town of Bella Coola, British Columbia. While the language is still sometimes called Bella Coola by linguists, the native name Nuxalk is preferred by some, notably by the Nuxalk Nation's government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flathead Indian Reservation</span> Indian reservation in United States, Confederated Salish and Kootenai

The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes – also known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation. The reservation was created through the July 16, 1855, Treaty of Hellgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast Salish languages</span> Branch of the Salishan languages of western North America

The Coast Salish languages, also known as the Central Salish languages, are a branch of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the Pacific Northwest, in the territory that is now known as the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington State around Puget Sound. The term "Coast Salish" also refers to the cultures in British Columbia and Washington who speak one of these languages or dialects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes</span> Indigenous tribe in Montana, United States

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation are a federally recognized tribe in the U.S. state of Montana. The government includes members of several Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles tribes and is centered on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bitterroot Salish</span> Group of Native Americans of the Flathead Nation in Montana, United States

The Bitterroot Salish are a Salish-speaking group of Native Americans, and one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana. The Flathead Reservation is home to the Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles tribes also. Bitterroot Salish or Flathead originally lived in an area west of Billings, Montana extending to the continental divide in the west and south of Great Falls, Montana extending to the Montana–Wyoming border. From there they later moved west into the Bitterroot Valley. By request, a Catholic mission was built here in 1841. In 1891 they were forcibly moved to the Flathead Reservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pend d'Oreilles</span>

The Pend d'Oreille or Pend d'Oreilles, also known as the Kalispel, are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range as Kaniksu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuxalk Nation</span> First Nation in British Colombia

The Nuxalk Nation is the band government of the Nuxalk people of Bella Coola, British Columbia. It is a member of the Wuikinuxv-Kitasoo-Nuxalk Tribal Council, and until March 2008 was a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. The population is 1,479.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halkomelem</span> Shalishan language

Halkomelem is a language of various First Nations peoples of the British Columbia Coast. It is spoken in what is now British Columbia, ranging from southeastern Vancouver Island from the west shore of Saanich Inlet northward beyond Gabriola Island and Nanaimo to Nanoose Bay and including the Lower Mainland from the Fraser River Delta upriver to Harrison Lake and the lower boundary of the Fraser Canyon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SKQ Dam</span> Dam in Montana, U.S.

The Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam, also known as SKQ Dam, is a concrete gravity-arch dam located at river mile 72 of the Flathead River. Built in 1938, it raises the level and increases the size of Flathead Lake near Polson, Montana. The dam was designed to generate hydroelectricity but also serves recreational and irrigation uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Coast art</span>

Northwest Coast art is the term commonly applied to a style of art created primarily by artists from Tlingit, Haida, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and other First Nations and Native American tribes of the Northwest Coast of North America, from pre-European-contact times up to the present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast Salish</span> Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America

The Coast Salish are a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coast Salish languages. The Nuxalk nation are usually included in the group, although their language is more closely related to Interior Salish languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast</span>

The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are composed of many nations and tribal affiliations, each with distinctive cultural and political identities. They share certain beliefs, traditions and practices, such as the centrality of salmon as a resource and spiritual symbol, and many cultivation and subsistence practices. The term Northwest Coast or North West Coast is used in anthropology to refer to the groups of Indigenous people residing along the coast of what is now called British Columbia, Washington State, parts of Alaska, Oregon, and Northern California. The term Pacific Northwest is largely used in the American context.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast Salish art</span>

Coast Salish art is an art unique to the Pacific Northwest Coast among the Coast Salish peoples. Coast Salish are peoples from the Pacific Northwest Coast made up of many different languages and cultural characteristics. Coast Salish territory covers the coast of British Columbia and Washington state. Within traditional Coast Salish art there are two major forms; the flat design and carving, and basketry and weaving. In historical times these were delineated among male and female roles in the community with men made "figurative pieces, such as sculptures and paintings that depicts crest, shamanic beings, and spirits, whereas women produced baskets and textiles, most often decorated with abstract designs."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salish–Spokane–Kalispel language</span> Indigenous language of the United States

The Salish or Séliš language, also known as Kalispel–Pend d'oreille, Kalispel–Spokane–Flathead, or Montana Salish to distinguish it from other Salishan languages, is a Salishan language spoken by about 64 elders of the Flathead Nation in north central Montana and of the Kalispel Indian Reservation in northeastern Washington state, and by another 50 elders of the Spokane Indian Reservation of Washington. As of 2012, Salish is "critically endangered" in Montana and Idaho according to UNESCO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salish weaving</span>

Salish are skilled weavers and knitters of the Pacific Northwest. They are most noted for their beautiful twill blankets many of which are very old. The adoption of new fabrics, dyes, and weaving techniques allow us to study a wide variety of Salish weavings today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuxalk</span> Salishan ethnic group of British Columbia, Canada

The Nuxalk people, also referred to as the Bella Coola, Bellacoola or Bilchula, are an Indigenous First Nation of the Pacific Northwest Coast, centred in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Columbia. Their language is also called Nuxalk. Their on-reserve tribal government is the Nuxalk Nation.

Debra Sparrow, or θəliχʷəlʷət (Thelliawhatlwit), is a Musqueam weaver, artist and knowledge keeper. She is self-taught in Salish design, weaving, and jewellery making.

Simon Charlie or Hwunumetse' (1919–2005) was a Canadian totem sculptor of the Cowichan Tribes (Quw'utsun) of the Coast Salish nation, known for his wood carvings. He was born in Koksilah, on Vancouver Island, close to Duncan, British Columbia.

References

  1. ↑ "Salish Languages - Linguistics - Oxford Bibliographies - obo". www.oxfordbibliographies.com. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  2. ↑ Tongues, Our Mother. "Our Mother Tongues | Salish". ourmothertongues.org. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Coast Salish | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Government -- About". www.cskt.org. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  5. ↑ "History and Culture -- Selis Qlispe Culture Committee". www.cskt.org. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  6. ↑ Ritchie, Morgan; Lepofsky, Dana; Formosa, Sue; Porcic, Marko; Edinborough, Kevan (September 2016). "Beyond culture history: Coast Salish settlement patterning and demography in the Fraser Valley, BC". Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 43: 140–154. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2016.06.002. ISSN   0278-4165.
  7. 1 2 "Museum". The People's Center. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Home". www.arleepowwow.com. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  9. 1 2 "Powwow | Native American celebration". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  10. ↑ Hammond-Kaarremaa, Liz (Spring 2016). "A CURIOUS CLAY: The Use of a Powdered White Substance in Coast Salish Spinning and Woven Blankets". BC Studies. 189: 129–149, 197–198 – via Gale.
  11. ↑ Wells, Oliver (1969). Salish weaving, primitive and modern, as practised by the Salish Indians of South West British Columbia. Internet Archive. [Sardis, B.C.: Author, 6937 Vedder Road].
  12. ↑ Solazzo, Caroline (December 2011). "Proteomics and Coast Salish blankets: a tale of shaggy dogs?". Antiquity. 85 (330): 1418–1432. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00062141. S2CID   163398119 – via Gale.
  13. ↑ Barsh, Russel. "Coast Salish Woolly Dogs". www.historylink.org. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  14. ↑ Tepper, Leslie (2017). Salish Blankets : Robes of Protection and Transformation, Symbols of Wealth. Lincoln : UNP - Nebraska. pp. xix. ISBN   9781496201492.
  15. ↑ Smith, Harlan (March 1911). "Totem Poles of the North Pacific Coast". The American Museum Journal. XI: 77–82.
  16. ↑ Hillaire, Pauline (December 1, 2013). A Totem Pole History. UNP - Nebraska. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1ddr8f7. ISBN   9780803249509.
  17. ↑ Barnett, H. G. (1942). "The Southern Extent of Totem Pole Carving". Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 33: 379.
  18. ↑ "Totem Poles". indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Totem Pole | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Matika Wilbur". North Sound Life. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  21. ↑ Correia, Cory (November 17, 2017). "'We're not just making a blanket, we're making history': Salish weavings on display". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
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