Social organization External Neighboring peoples, whether villages or adjacent tribes, were related by marriage, feasting, ceremonies, and common or shared territory. Ties were especially strong within the same waterway or watershed. There existed no breaks throughout the south Coast Salish culture area and beyond. There were no formal political institutions. External relations were extensive throughout most of the
Puget Sound-
Georgia Basin and east to the
Sahaptin-speaking lands of Chelan,
Kittitas and
Yakama in what is now Eastern Washington. Similarly in Canada there were ties between the
Squamish people and
Sto:lo with
Interior Salish neighbors, i.e. the
Lil'wat/
St'at'imc,
Nlaka'pamux and
Syilx. No formal political office existed. Warfare for the southern Coast Salish was primarily defensive, with occasional raiding into territory where there were no relatives. No institutions existed for mobilizing or maintaining a standing force. The common enemies of all the Coast Salish for most of the first half of the 19th century were the
Lekwiltok aka Southern Kwakiutl, commonly known in historical writings as the Euclataws or Yucultas. Regular raids by northern tribes, particularly warriors of an alliance among the
Haida,
Tongass, and one group of
Tsimshian, are also notable. Having gained superiority by earlier access to European guns through the fur trade, these warriors raided the southern Salish tribes for slaves and loot. Their victims organized retaliatory raids several times, attacking the Lekwiltok.
Internal The highest-ranking male assumed the role of ceremonial leader but rank could vary and was determined by different standards. Villages were linked through intermarriage among members; the wife usually went to live at the husband's village, in a
patrilocal pattern. Society was divided into upper class, lower class and slaves, all largely hereditary. Unlike hunter-gatherer societies widespread in North America, but similar to other Pacific Northwest coastal cultures, Coast Salish society was complex, hierarchical and oriented toward property and status. Slavery was practiced, although its extent is a matter of debate. The Coast Salish held slaves as simple property; they were not members of the tribe. The children of slaves were born into slavery. The staple of their diet was typically
salmon, supplemented with a rich variety of other seafoods and forage. This was particularly the case for the southern Coast Salish, where the climate of their territories was even more temperate. Bilateral kinship within the Skagit people is the most important system being defined as a carefully knit, and sacred bond within the society. When both adult siblings die, their children would be brought under the protection of surviving brothers and sisters, out of fear of mistreatment by stepparents. The
Salish Sea region of the Northwest coast has produced ancient pieces of art appearing by 4500 BP that feature various Salish styles recognizable in more recent historical works. A seated human feature bowl was used in a female puberty ritual in
Secwépemc territory; it was believed to aid women in giving birth. Salish-made bowls in the Northwest have different artistic designs and features. Numerous bowls have basic designs with animal features on the surface. Similar bowls will have more decorations including a head, body, wings, and limbs. A seated figure bowl is more complex in design, depicting humans being intertwined with animals. An individual could not buy status or power, but wealth could be used to enhance them. Wealth was not meant to be hidden. It has been publicly displayed through ceremony.
Recreation Games often involved gambling on a sleight-of-hand game known as
slahal, as well as athletic contests. Games that are similar to modern day
lacrosse,
rugby and forms of
martial arts also existed.
Beliefs Belief in guardian spirits and
shapeshifting or transformation between human and animal spirits were widely shared in many forms. The relations of soul or souls, and conceptions of the lands of the living and the dead were complex and mutable.
Vision quest journeys involving other states of consciousness were varied and widely practised. The
Duwamish had a soul recovery and journey ceremony. The
Quileute Salish people near
Port Townsend had their own beliefs about where souls of all living things go. The shamans of these people believed everything had five components to its spirit; the body, an inner and outer soul, its life force, and its ghost. They believed that an individual becomes ill when their soul is removed from their body and this is followed by death when the soul reaches the underworld. It is the job of the shaman to travel to the underworld to save the individual by recovering the soul while it is travelling between the two worlds. The powers they acquired were sought after individually after going through trials of isolation where their powers related to spirit animals such as a raven, woodpecker, bear, or seal. Oftentimes members of the community get together to show their powers on the longhouse floor, where the spiritual powers are for the individual alone for each member to share and display various songs. One was excavated by Kisha Supernant in 2008 at
Yale, British Columbia. The functions of these features may have included defense, fishing platforms, and creation of house terraces. House pits and stone tools have been found in association with certain sites. Methods used include use of a
total station for mapping the sites as well as the creation of simple
test pits to probe for
stratigraphy and artifacts. Native groups along the Northwest coast have been using plants for making wood and fiber artifacts for over 10,500 years. Anthropologists are searching for aquifer wet sites that would contain ancient Salish villages. These sites are created by a series of waters running through the archaeological deposits creating an environment with no oxygen that preserves wood and fiber The wet sites would typically contain perishable artifacts that were used as wedges, fishhooks, basketry, cordage, and nets.
Ethnobotany The Coast Salish use over 100 species of plants. Salal is the source of multiple tinctures and teas, and its berries are often eaten during feasts. They use the leaves of
Carex to make baskets and twine.
Diet Coast Salish peoples' had complex land management practices linked to ecosystem health and resilience. Forest gardens on Canada's northwest coast included crabapple, hazelnut, cranberry, wild plum, and wild cherry species. There is also documentation of the cultivation of great camas, Indian carrot, and Columbia lily. Anthropogenic
grasslands were maintained. The south Coast Salish may have had more vegetables and land game than people farther north or among other peoples on the outer coast. Salmon and other fish were staples; see
Coast Salish people and salmon. There was
kakanee, a freshwater fish in the Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish watersheds.
Shellfish were abundant. Butter clams,
horse clams, and
cockles were dried for trade. Hunting was specialized; professions were probably sea hunters, land hunters, fowlers. Water fowl were captured on moonless nights using strategic flares. The managed
grasslands not only provided game habitat, but vegetable sprouts, roots, bulbs, berries, and nuts were foraged from them as well as found wild. The most important were probably
bracken and
camas;
wapato especially for the
Duwamish. Many, many varieties of berries were foraged; some were harvested with comblike devices not reportedly used elsewhere. Acorns were relished but were not widely available. Regional tribes went in autumn to the
Nisqually Flats (Nisqually plains) to harvest them. Salish groups such as Muckleshoot were heavily reliant on seasonal foods that included animals and plants. In January, they would gather along the river banks to catch salmon. By May, Salmonberry sprouts would be eaten with salmon eggs. Men would hunt deer and elk, while women gathered camas and clams from the prairies and beaches. By the summer, steelhead and king salmon appeared in masses along the rivers, and berries were abundant in the forests. This harvesting cycle is referred to as the Seasonal Rounds. == In literature and TV ==