MO2 A2 Academic Journal Blog

The resource I chose was about the Tulalip tribes near Seattle, and because I had never heard of them, I was very interested in reading about their efforts to revitalize their culture. Tulalip is a large reservation established in 1855 in Washington state and it is home to the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Suiattle, Samish, Stillaguamish and the Skykomish. Because of the US government's policy of removing Native American children from their families and sending them to boarding schools to purge them of their Indian ways, their language, Lushootseed, and many of their traditions and crafts were on the verge of being lost forever.

In the past, these tribes had lived according to the change of seasons and the availability of game and fish: in the warm months, they moved around to where hunting and fishing were most plentiful, and built moveable houses out of cattails and tulle. I was curious to find out what tulle was, because the only tulle I knew about was the kind used in tutus or prom dresses, not practical for building material, but I couldn't find much information about it, other than it is some kind of grass that was made into mats.In the cold months, people lived together in long houses made out of cedar. The Tulalip tribes considered cedar trees sacred and used their logs to built houses and beautiful canoes. Clothes and baskets were waterproof and made out of cedar bark, and blankets were woven out of " goat wool, dog hair and firewood fluff". Now I became curious about the "dog fluff " part of the blankets ( I have two Huskies that shed a lot) and looked into another website, where I read an interesting article from The Historical Washington Quarterly of April 1918, titled;" The Dog's Hair Blankets of the Coast Salish. In it, the author states that the blankets were "typically made with the hair of their dogs, which are almost white and of the domestic kind."
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In order to reclaim their heritage, efforts have been made by tribe members to reintroduce ancient crafts and customs, and to teach the language in schools, from elementary through college levels. In 2007, Washington state changed its teacher certifications requirements, to allow tribes to certify language teachers. I was surprised to learn that there was a Federal Native American Language Act in effect, that addresses issues of language. I watched the videos about learning the language and saw the children in a Montessori school singing songs in Lushootseed with the guidance of an elder. I was interested to see that the teachers were not all native people, but the website states that there is a master language teacher that goes to the schools and that he is helped by several other teachers.

I followed the prompts to access the Lushootseed alphabet and spent quite a while learning about the sounds and repeating them as directed. This part of the website was very well done in my opinion ,because I could go back to a sound or a word several times before moving on. Some of the symbols looked complicated at first sight, a little like hieroglyphs, but they made more sense as they were described one by one. Some of the sounds are not found in the English language, and are made in the back of the throat, whispered, slurred, or clipped midway, so I found that very challenging, as I imagine the children being taught must also feel. But with mastery of the language they must feed pride in their heritage, and that is pretty cool, for lack of a better word.  I then followed an introduction language lesson, and had a great time watching the teacher's careful enunciation, and trying to follow her lead. I recommend it. I wrote down a quote that I can no longer trace to its origins, but it seems appropriate: " Traditional languages of Native Americans are an integral part of their cultures and identities." What a crime to deprive generations of Native Americans of their age-old ways of communication; the boarding school system altered countless more lives than those of the children it tried to reform....

Efforts are also made to find and restore archives, to have museums  and to keep up communal longhouses. Ceremonies help keep traditions aline and cement the bond between tribal members, and happen throughout the year: the Salmon Ceremony in Summer, for example, to bless fishermen before the salmon fishing season begins; Winter Dancing; Veterans" Pow Wow; and funeral ceremonies, to support the dead and those who helped them during their lifetime.

In all, I though the information was very interesting and well presented, although not extensive, but it prompted me to check out other websites and learn more about the people from Tulalip who have been here since the end of the Ice Age.

Sources:

http://ttculturalresources.org

If you are interested in more information, these websites were useful:

http://www.tulaliptribes-nsn.gov/Portals/0/pdf/departments/community_development/Comprehensive-Land-Use-Plan/Housing.pdf

http://content.lib.washington.edu/Cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/lctext&CISOPTR=1477&CISOSHOW=6318

http://crosscut.com/2010/05/06/tribes/19787/Preserving-Lushootseed-language-for-next-generation/