1. Plateau Beliefs
Drumming and singing
Drumming and singing is an important part of the
Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla Indian culture.
Drumming and singing is more than just
entertainment. Many songs are religious, and all
important occasions, celebrations and religious
ceremonies have drumming and singing. Each song
has a special purpose. Some songs are like prayers.
Some tell stories about important things that
happened to someone. Songs honor births, deaths and the changing of the seasons. Some songs
honor the salmon, roots and other traditional foods that come in the spring.
The drum is the most common instrument that is played along with singing and dancing. There
are two basic kinds of drums in our culture: the "big drum" and the "hand drum" (pictured with
the children above).
Indian singers spend years learning to sing. Songs are difficult and require much practice. Even
learning to strike the drum correctly requires much training. Today, there is a growing number of
traditional singers on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. They play at dances and celebrations that
are held throughout the year.
Source: http://www.umatilla.nsn.us/hist3.html
2.
Legends and oral histories
Stories and legends from the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla Indians were
usually told in the winter months when cold weather confined families to close
quarters. The elder people of the family and band were the story tellers. The elderly
were valued and respected for their age and wisdom. The purpose of the stories was
not simply for entertainment. Each legend taught lessons on how one should act or
how the Indians and the creatures of the world came to be. Religious beliefs, the
meaning of birth, death, and habits of animals were also explained in stories.
A main character in many stories of the Columbia Plateau tribes is Coyote or
"Ispilyay". Coyote had great powers. Sometimes he was the fool, sometimes the
wise man. In many stories Coyote rid the world of dangerous monsters and
creatures to make it safe for the coming of the Indian to the world. In the times of
Coyote, animals talked with each other and had magical powers.
The woman who tells the following stories grew up in a time when many of the old
ways were still practiced. It was a time when life was not rushed as it is today, but
when people kept time by the sun and would sit for hours picking berries, digging
roots, hunting and fishing or performing some other chore.
3. A Plateau Tribal Story
THE MONSTER WHO CAME UP THE RIVER
This huge monster came up from the ocean. He came as far as he could and could go no further
than where Cascade Locks now is. He would open his huge mouth and inhale anything that was
in his path. He soon had all the salmon and other fish like sturgeon and eels, all eaten and
because he was so huge he began taking in the deer and all food animals of the forest. He began
on the fruits and bushes and trees like huckleberries, chokecherries and wild plums. He began on
the roots, things in the ground and on the ground. Soon there was nothing left for the people and
they were getting hungry, and babies and old people began to die. Finally someone went to
Coyote and told him he would have to kill the monster.
He got a length of a vine that is called coyote's rope. He tied one end around his waist and coiled
the other around his arm. He got some pitchy kindling and flints for starting a fire. He stood on a
far hill and called the monster a shameful name, he teased him until the monster began trying to
eat him. The coyote wanted the monster to eat him so he could set loose all who had been eaten
before. Finally he was swallowed. He had to work fast. First he built a fire with his pitch sticks.
The monster didn't like the smell and heat of the fire. His own fat began dripping to into the fire
and he was burning up on the inside. He would open his mouth and try to blow out the fire. Every
time the mouth opened, coyote would throw out some useful thing. He sent the river food back, he
sent the deer, elk and mountain sheep back to the mountains. The heat inside was getting very
bad, but he got out all the foods and threw them where they would do most good for the people.
The monster was near collapsing. About the last gasp, coyote cut the rope and got away. The fire
got so hot that the monster died and went back into the sea. Some parts of him clung to the sides
of the river bank so it was rough like it was before Bonneville Dam was built.
Told by Esther Lewis
Source: http://www.umatilla.nsn.us/hist3.html
4.
Source : http://www.k12.wa.us/IndianEd/Curriculum/IndiansofWashingtonState.pdf
5.
Source : http://www.k12.wa.us/IndianEd/Curriculum/IndiansofWashingtonState.pdf