Chinook Indian Talk

Re: Religion

From: tenas kumtux
Date: 1/6/2003
Time: 1:36:51 PM
Remote Name: 64.12.96.233

Comments

Yes, by 1850 the number of Chinooks had dwindled considerably. In the Clatsop, Chinook, Cathlamet and Wahkiakum/Cathlamet villages there existed only about 600 to 1000 individuals.

I have observed that hard times have a way of bringing about religious fervor rather than shaking one’s beliefs.

The Dreamer cults were a reaction both overt and covert to the white man and his government.

Shamans [Etaminuas] had maintained the Chinook religion for centuries. These Etaminuas were also the medicine men for the people. They were the first to be called to the bedside of the sick when wave after wave of smallpox, measles, typhoid, cholera, malaria, etc. swept through the villages. The result, as one might expect, was the near extinction of the Etaminuas and with that the abandonment of the rituals and ceremonies that were the trappings of the faith.

This occurred throughout the Northwest.

What happened, in consequence, was that individuals like Smohalla took the personal portion of the religion [the spirit quest, and individual prayers and meditations] and removed it from its orthodox framework.

Smohalla taught a return to native ways. He taught passive resistance. He saw that the people would be scattered and that their numbers would be few. He taught that if they remained true to the ways of their elders all would be made right in time.

His words, along with the words of others like him, resonated throughout the northwest, down to the smallest village, even down to the handful of Chinooks attempting to remain in the lands of their ancestors.

The people could not overpower the white man, and they could not change his way of thinking. The hope and the belief was that they could outlast it.

We are living now in the seventh generation. Were Smohalla’s dreams true?

Last changed: January 06, 2003