About

The information provided on this page highlights the practices, traditions, and way of life of the Coast Salish tribes of Whidbey and Camano Island.

Food

The Salish peoples of Island County relied heavily on salmon - the chinook, the coho, pink, chum and sockeye. These fish were the most important and dependable food source of the region. In supporting the Salish food cycle of hunting, gathering, and fishing, the Salish peoples moved through their territories to harvest wild foods as they become available.

In January, fishermen left their winter villages when steelhead salmon and oceangoing rainbow trout migrate up the mainland rivers, but most of the population remained in the cedar houses until April and May, when they could gather cattail and salmonberry sprouts. Late May and Early June salmonberries and strawberries would be ripe and camas, a small bulb eaten much like the potato would be ready for digging. From June through August the Salish collected berries: salal berry, blackberry, blackcaps, serviceberry, cranberry, and huckleberry. Leaving the spring as the season when the people dug for shellfish, which are very common in this area.

Burial traditions

Canoe burial was widespread and appeared to have been standard practice for tribal members of high standing. Canoe burial areas were typically situated a short distance from certain villages, within view of the water.

For slaves and those of low status; simple burials in middens and on the foreshore were common. The remains of defeated enemies, especially northern raiders, were often scattered or staked out on the waterfront to discourage further attacks.

Marriage and Tribal Identity

Most Native tribes practiced exogamy which is a cultural practice of marrying individuals from outside one's home village. Families seem to promote marriages that would enhance their shared social standing, as with elites from villages with access to resources or trade networks not found within their home villages. The elite social classes of Puget Sound villages sought to promote exogamous marriages with members of tribes providing strategic advantages. Pre-contact, social systems were oriented around villages and kinship relations.

Language

Coastal Salish peoples speak a number of dialects of Lushootseed, and other Salishian languages. Northern Lushootseed was most commonly spoken here, pre-colonization. The names for Lushootseed varies between the tribes. They include:

dxʷləšucid for the Tulalip/Snohomish and all other Lushootseed tribes to the north

xʷəlšucid for Muckleshoot and Snoqualmie

txʷəlšucid for all other tribes

​Shelter

Most Native families lived in vast, multi-chambered longhouses constructed to accommodate growing housing needs in the community. The wood plank structures often extended for more than 200 feet and contained an average of 12,000 square feet on the interior. These structures were more than just shelter for daily life; they were the center for preparation and storage of food; a workshop; a meeting place for multi-generational family affairs, sharing of rituals, education of the young; and a place where winter ceremonies occurred each year.

Many believe that the wealthiest and most powerful family owned the entire central house, which became the core of the settlement whereas Natives with a lower-status lived in structures outside of the main longhouses.