Indigenous Peoples and Ceremony

Ceremonies of the Pacific Northwest Coastal Indigenous Peoples

People have been living along the Pacific Northwest Coast for more than 11,000 years, and while the tribes and nations that developed differed in their customs and cultures, they shared some common ceremonial practices including most especially those involving their most important beliefs and natural resources such as salmon and the white deer. This paper provides a description of the different types of ceremonies used by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coastal regions, including the Potlatch, Salmon Ceremony, the White Deerskin Dance and the Jumping Dance, followed by an analysis concerning how the scholarly or ethnographic records can be engaged in ways that contribute to building solidarities with and among indigenous people and what the ethnography of North American indigenous people can contribute to a critique of non-indigenous culture. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning the ceremonies used by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coastal region are provided in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

Overview of the Northwest Coastal Indigenous Peoples

The cultural region of the Northwest Coast is comprised of a narrow band of land about 50 miles wide (at some places about one mile) and 1,500 miles long that includes the coastal regions of British Columbia, Southeast Alaska, Washington State and Oregon.[footnoteRef:2] The geographic region of the Northwest Coast is situated between the Cascade Mountains of the U.S. on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Coast Mountains of Canada (see Figure 1 below). In addition, the geographic region of the Pacific Northwest Coast also encompasses a number of islands of varying sizes, including the most important, Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands.[footnoteRef:3] [2: Chuck Smith (2016), "Native Peoples of North America: History and Culture." Cabrillo College. [online] available: https://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/noamer.html.] [3: Chuck Smith, "Native Peoples of North America: History and Culture." Cabrillo College. [online] available: https://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/noamer.html]

Figure 1. Geographic boundaries of the Pacific Northwest Coast

Source: https://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/nwcoast.gif

There were a wide range of indigenous language families in the Pacific Northwest Coastal Region, including (in alphabetical order), Athabascan, Chemakuan, Chinook, Haida, Salish, Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Wakashan.[footnoteRef:4] The indigenous groups that have occupied the Northwest Coast can be categorized into four basic divisions or "provinces": (1) speakers of Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and the Tsimshian-influenced Haisla (northernmost Heiltsuq or Kwakiutl) in the northern province; (2) the Wakashan province included the Bella Coola, the Nuu-chah-nulth and all other Kwakiutl; (3) the Coast Salish -- Chinook (this province extended south to the central coast of Oregon) which included the Chinook, Tillamook, Makah, Siuslaw as well as others; and, (4) the northwestern California province which included the Athabaskan-speaking Tututni-Tolowa Yurok, Wiyot, and Hupa as well as the Karok.[footnoteRef:5] It should be noted, though, that the only "genuine political unit for this culture area was the local band."[footnoteRef:6] [4: Chuck Smith (2016), "Native Peoples of North America: History and Culture." Cabrillo College. [nnline] available: https://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/noamer.html, p. 1.] [5: "Northwest Coast Indian" (2016). Britannica. [online] available: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Northwest-Coast-Indian] [6: Kenneth D. Tollefson (1995, Winter), "Potlatching and Political Organization among the Northwest Coast Indians," Ethnology, Vol. 34, No. 1, p. 53.]

Taken together, it is clear that the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coastal region were a diverse group that at first glance shared little in common besides geographic proximity. On closer inspection, however, it becomes apparent that these peoples shared a number of ceremonial practices in common, including those described below.

Ceremonies of the Northwest Coastal Indigenous Peoples

Potlatch. Perhaps the best known of the ceremonies of the Northwest Coastal indigenous peoples, the potlatch was used to formalize advancements in social rank within clans. While a loose hierarchy was in place, the potlatch was the ceremony whereby "changes could be processed, validated, and recorded for posterity. Potlatches functioned as the political conversion mechanism to facilitate such changes."[footnoteRef:7] The political conversions that were typically involved in potlatch ceremonies were promotions in rank, but also included various rites of passage (girls and boys coming of age), the demarcation of special events (pursuit of new careers, victories, deaths and birthdays) or repayment for assistance rendered in a large project (such as building a house or canoe) or even as a face-saving event that required a public forum.[footnoteRef:8] While all Pacific Northwest groups used this ceremony, the Tlingits were especially known for the participation in potlatching.[footnoteRef:9] [7: Tollefson, "Potlatching and Political Organization among the Northwest Coast Indians," p. 53.] [8: Smith, "Native Peoples of North America," p. 2.] [9: Tollefson, "Potlatching and Political Organization among the Northwest Coast Indians," p. 54.]

Although this ceremony assumed different from among the various indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, the majority of these ceremonies included games, dancing, dramatic reenactments and, of course, eating. The potlatch was not a spontaneous affair by any means, and families might spend several years accumulating sufficient quantities of goods to ensure that the fete was memorable and all attendees would receive sufficient gifts.[footnoteRef:10] These ceremonies, though, were not entirely altruistic and hosts typically had an ulterior motive in mind, including the social assurance that the ceremony would be returned in kind by others in the future. [10: Smith, "Native Peoples of North America," p. 3.]

In addition, potlatches provided a useful mechanism whereby familial solidarity and prestige were enhanced through the collective efforts required to host such a massive ceremony. In sum, potlatches represented far more than just a party to the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, As one authority concludes, "Through potlatches the Northwest people confirmed their social positions, distributed wealth to the community, integrated their social groups (by making kin more dependent on each other), invested (often with interest) in their future, and perhaps channeled aggression into a harmless kind of rivalry, thus avoiding more physically and socially destructive conflict."[footnoteRef:11] [11: Smith, "Native Peoples of North America," p. 3.]

A representative potlatch ceremony in which gifts are being distributed is depicted in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2. Representative potlatch ceremony

Source: https://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/images/potlatch-ceremony.jpg

Salmon Ceremony. Like the important of the bison to the indigenous peoples of the American Plains, salmon were a fundamental part of the life of the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast and formed the focus of the salmon ceremony. For instance, according to O'Brien, "Religious life in the region has also been transformed by a return of first salmon ceremonies and the revival of traditional winter spirit dances (also known as the longhouse or smokehouse tradition)."[footnoteRef:12] The salmon ceremony typically first celebrates the annual return of the salmon, thereby reestablishing the longstanding connection between the tribal community and salmon, as well as their respect for these valuable animals and their commitment to harvesting this bounty in a sustainable fashion in order to ensure its availability to generations in the future.[footnoteRef:13] [12: Coming Full Circle: Spirituality and Wellness among Native Communities in the Pacific Northwest. Contributors: Suzanne Crawford O'Brien - Author. Publisher: University of Nebraska Press. Place of publication: Lincoln, NE. Publication year: 2013. Page number: xxxiv] [13: Suzanne C. O'Brien, Coming Full Circle: Spirituality and Wellness among Native Communities in the Pacific Northwest (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2013), p. 34.]

After the first salmon is caught during this ceremony, it is brought back to shore to the accompaniment of drums and singing. The salmon is the cleaned and everyone attending the ceremony is entitled to a single bite of the first fish. All leftover parts of the fish are carefully gathered up and ceremonially replaced in the water to ensure future salmon runs. Although the salmon ceremony had diminished in importance until the 1970s, it has since become an increasingly popular ceremony each year.[footnoteRef:14] [14: O'Brien, Coming Full Circle, p. 34.]

White Deerskin Dance. Like the salmon ceremony, the White Deerskin Dance is also an important ceremony that reflects longstanding cultural and religious practices of the Hoopa Valley Tribe.[footnoteRef:15] The White Deerskin Dance is performed every 2 years by the Hoopa for between 5 and 16 days in order to attain "world renewal" for the Hoopa as well as "for all people."[footnoteRef:16] The ceremony is comprised of five dances that are performed in order to ensure the restoration of balance in the world and to attain its annual renewal.[footnoteRef:17] The ceremony integrates components from the natural world to celebrate the origin of the tribe which is regarded as "the center of the [Hoopa] world."[footnoteRef:18] The Hoopa perform the ceremonial dance on Bald Hill which is regarded as a sacred and historic site on the tribe's reservation, and archaeological evidence indicates that the ceremonial site could date back as many as 50,000 years. In addition, the White Deerskin Dance is also performed in specially designated longhouses that are built for the purpose. Besides assuring the renewal of the world, this ceremony also serves the purpose of passing the tribe's cultural and religious practices on to future generations and promoting social order.[footnoteRef:19] Participants in a White Deerskin Dance are depicted in Figure 3 below. [15: Jennifer Gingrich (2003, Winter), "The Power Source of a Tribe Seeking to Achieve World Renewal and the Protection of Its Natural and Cultural Resources," Environmental Law, Vol. 33, No. 1, p. 215.] [16: Gingrich, "The Power Source of a Tribe," p. 216.] [17: Gingrich, "The Power Source of a Tribe," p. 216.] [18: Gingrich, "The Power Source of a Tribe," p. 216.] [19: Gringrich, "The Power Source of a Tribe," p. 216.]

Figure 3. Participants in the White Deerskin Dance

Source: http://media1.fdncms.com/northcoast/imager/white-deerskin-dancers-hoopa/u/zoom/2176125/hoopa-white_deer_skin_dance.jpg

The White Deerskin Dance is especially distinctive because the participants wear and display albino deer skins which are difficult to obtain together with adornments of chert bifaces and obsidian pieces.[footnoteRef:20] [20: Kent G. Lightfoot and Otis Parrish, California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2009), p. 191.]

Jump or Jumping Dance. Like the salmon ceremony, this was a ceremony of renewal that included the use of highly decorated headdresses that may contain as many as 70 scalps of the redheaded woodpecker together with dance baskets.[footnoteRef:21] In 1700, the Yuroks staged a jumping dance in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent earthquakes from destroying their homeland in northern California.[footnoteRef:22] According to one ethnographer, "The jump dance was held in the spring, when the salmon had started to run. This dance, accompanied by singing, was characterized by the wearing of red woodpecker feather headdresses and by the carrying of special jump dance baskets."[footnoteRef:23] [21: Lightfoot and Parrish, California Indians and Their Environment, p. 191.] [22: Ann Finkbeiner (2015, September 14), "The Great Quake and the Great Drowning,' Hakai Magazine. [online] available: https://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-long/great-quake-and-great-drowning, p. 1.] [23: Frank W. Porter, The Art of Native American Basketry: A Living Legacy (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990), p. 259.]

Engagement with Scholarly or Ethnographic Records in Ways that Contribute to Building Solidarities with and among Indigenous People

It is reasonable to posit that most modern Americans (the majority of whom are monotheists), accustomed to shopping at grocery stores (or even online) that are fully packed with food stuffs from around the world to imagine the importance of natural resources such as fish and wildlife to the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coastal region. Moreover, it is also reasonable to suggest that most Americans are unable to fully comprehend the religions, cultures and ceremonies of these indigenous peoples without engaging in scholarly or ethnographic records that provide the details, background and rationale in support of their use by these societies.