Salmon Mask
They say that as a young girl Uma-kwee grew up in two villages that are now no more. Her favorite village was called Kah-sidaatsoos – or Resting-Place-of-the-Sea-Ghost – and was built on a mainland hill above a bowl-shaped bay near a broad river -- which men still fish to this day. After her chores she loved to walk on the beaches to watch clouds drift above the waters and islands and sing her young girl songs. Often it seemed that the sea birds and kingfishers joined in her music making.
The inland coast was calm and the weather mild, protected from storms as it was by Big Island to the west. Daughter of a Heron clan leader and a cousin of the chief’s second wife, her family lived honorably, remembering their history and serving the Great Spirit with feasts and dances.
The salmon run was plentiful that rainy spring and her father Se'akwal and five brothers had speared many large king and silver salmon that swam up the Duwam'ha river by the thousands – enough to make the water glow silver in the sunlight as the crowd of struggling fish-people pushed against the current to rejoin their long ago ancestors at the headwaters.
The women had prepared many fillets for storage by hanging them on willow poles for drying in the sun, or smoking the strips of flesh over a slow burning fire of alder wood in the smoke hut. Bunches of bright red caviar -- a special delicacy – were also stung upon dark green cedar branches to be smoked or dried. As always the women carefully saved any bones in baskets for returning to the river to honor the salmon and ensure their return next year. Some of the red fillets were crushed in a large wooden bowl with the family pestle -- made of smooth black stone in the shape of a bear -- along with a mixture of fresh red huckleberries and nettle roots bound together with candlefish fat to make many cakes that were carefully steamed and wrapped for winter storage.
Uma-kwee was proud of the cakes, made the way that her great grandmother taught her daughters with a recipe inspired by a dream about the Salmon Princess. The cakes were a favorite of all the neighbors and relatives who came for dinner on special occasions. Steamed in cooking boxes lined with sea asparagus and heated by hot rocks from the home fire, each cake held together in one piece when picked up for a taste. The cakes were richly flavored with the best salmon and melted like snow in your mouth. She carefully wrapped each morsel in skunk cabbage leaves and packed them into the storage boxes that were carved and painted with figures of sea creatures such as octopus, starfish, loon and killer whale.
Growing up in peaceful Kah-sidaatsoos was full of happy memories of her people, enjoying holidays and ceremonies that marked the seasons and life passages such as births, winter songs, pre-marital parties, weddings, thanksgiving celebrations and memorial services. She learned all of the songs for each event and could repeat the words of the storytellers during the winter ceremonies before they were spoken.
Winter winds would come soon, bringing the rain and snow of her favorite season. Winter was the time to enjoy all of the foods prepared in the summer and fall. The hard work of hunting and gathering was over. It was a time for the family to rest peacefully in the warm long house, carving artwork, chipping arrowheads, weaving baskets and blankets, playing games, telling stories and singing songs.
Continued
The inland coast was calm and the weather mild, protected from storms as it was by Big Island to the west. Daughter of a Heron clan leader and a cousin of the chief’s second wife, her family lived honorably, remembering their history and serving the Great Spirit with feasts and dances.
The salmon run was plentiful that rainy spring and her father Se'akwal and five brothers had speared many large king and silver salmon that swam up the Duwam'ha river by the thousands – enough to make the water glow silver in the sunlight as the crowd of struggling fish-people pushed against the current to rejoin their long ago ancestors at the headwaters.
The women had prepared many fillets for storage by hanging them on willow poles for drying in the sun, or smoking the strips of flesh over a slow burning fire of alder wood in the smoke hut. Bunches of bright red caviar -- a special delicacy – were also stung upon dark green cedar branches to be smoked or dried. As always the women carefully saved any bones in baskets for returning to the river to honor the salmon and ensure their return next year. Some of the red fillets were crushed in a large wooden bowl with the family pestle -- made of smooth black stone in the shape of a bear -- along with a mixture of fresh red huckleberries and nettle roots bound together with candlefish fat to make many cakes that were carefully steamed and wrapped for winter storage.
Uma-kwee was proud of the cakes, made the way that her great grandmother taught her daughters with a recipe inspired by a dream about the Salmon Princess. The cakes were a favorite of all the neighbors and relatives who came for dinner on special occasions. Steamed in cooking boxes lined with sea asparagus and heated by hot rocks from the home fire, each cake held together in one piece when picked up for a taste. The cakes were richly flavored with the best salmon and melted like snow in your mouth. She carefully wrapped each morsel in skunk cabbage leaves and packed them into the storage boxes that were carved and painted with figures of sea creatures such as octopus, starfish, loon and killer whale.
Growing up in peaceful Kah-sidaatsoos was full of happy memories of her people, enjoying holidays and ceremonies that marked the seasons and life passages such as births, winter songs, pre-marital parties, weddings, thanksgiving celebrations and memorial services. She learned all of the songs for each event and could repeat the words of the storytellers during the winter ceremonies before they were spoken.
Winter winds would come soon, bringing the rain and snow of her favorite season. Winter was the time to enjoy all of the foods prepared in the summer and fall. The hard work of hunting and gathering was over. It was a time for the family to rest peacefully in the warm long house, carving artwork, chipping arrowheads, weaving baskets and blankets, playing games, telling stories and singing songs.
Continued
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