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,...
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