Stó:lō
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The Stó:lō (also sometimes written Stó:lô or Stó:lõ) (IPA pronunciation: ['stɔlo]) are a First Nations people inhabiting the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Nineteen Stó:lō First Nations are mutually affiliated as the Stó:lô Nation. They traditionally speak the Upriver dialect of Halkomelem, one of the Salishan family of languages of the Coast Salish peoples. Stó:lō is the Halkomelem word for river. The Stó:lō are thus the river people.
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[edit] Origins of a people in this region
The first traces of a people living in the Fraser Valley date from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. S'ólh Téméxw, is the Halkomelem word the people use to refer to their traditional territory. These early inhabitants of the area were highly mobile hunter-gatherers. There is archeological evidence of a settlement in the lower Fraser Canyon (called "the Milliken site") and a seasonal encampment ("the Glenrose Cannery site") near the mouth of the Fraser River. Remains of this latter campsite show that in spring and early summer they came here to hunt land and sea mammals, such as deer, elk, and seals and, to a lesser extent, fish for salmon, stickleback, eulachon, and sturgeon and gather shellfish. Their social structure was egalitarian and family-based. Their livelihood depended on their success at harvesting the resources of the land and the rivers through fishing, foraging and hunting (Carlson, 2001, 16).
Stó:lō elders describe their connection to the land in the statement "we have always been here." They tell of their arrival in S'ólh Téméxw as Tel Swayel ("sky-borne" people) and through the transformations of ancestral animals and fish such as the beaver, mountain goat, and sturgeon. Xexá:ls (transformers) fixed the world and the people and animals in it, creating the present landscape. As Carlson notes:
- The Stó:lō walk simultaneously through both spiritual and physical realms of this landscape, connected to the Creator through the land itself as transformed by Xexá:ls (Carlson, 2001, 6).
[edit] History
[edit] Prehistory and archeology
[edit] Early period
There is a continuous record of occupation of S'ólh Téméxw by Aboriginal people dating from the early Holocene period, 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. Two archeological sites referred to in the Origins section are well documented. Additional archeological evidence from the early period has been found throughout the region, including sites at Stave Lake, Coquitlam Lake and Fort Langley.
[edit] Middle period
Many more sites exist that date from the middle Holocene period (c. 5,500-3,000 years ago). Tools found indicate considerable continuity with the early period. One striking feature of this period is the introduction of permanent house sites, showing evidence of cultural transmission from a nomadic to a more sedentary lifestyle between 5,000 to 4,000 years ago. Characteristic of this period were decorative and sculpted stone items, an increasingly complex relationship with the environment and a more stable and increasingly complex culture. The now extinct Coast Salish wooley dog appeared for the first time during this period.
[edit] Late period
This period extends from 3,000 years ago to first contact with European people. New forms of groundstone technology, including knives, points, hand mauls, chisels and adze blades, are evidence of an increasingly specialized society evolving during this period. Social class distinctions were accompanied by changing house forms that indicated expanding households. Warfare became increasingly widespread (Carlson, 2001, 18).
[edit] Contact with Europeans
Captains Jose Maria Narvaez of Spain and George Vancouver of England explored the Georgia Strait in 1791 and 1792, respectively. The first European to explore the region from overland was Simon Fraser who travelled down the Fraser River in 1808. However, the Stó:lō had already experienced some devastating effects of contact with Europeans in the form of the smallpox epidemic of 1782, which spread north from Mexico through intercommunity exchange networks. It is estimated that the epidemic killed two thirds of the Stó:lō people within six weeks (Carlson, 2001, 30).
Hudson's Bay Company posts Fort Langley (established in 1827) and Fort Yale (1848) brought tremendous change to the relationships of the Stó:lō with each other and with the land.
[edit] Culture
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Watersheds were the basis for the relationship between Coast Salish towns and villages (commonly called "tribes"). Thus, a central theme in the culture of the Stó:lō is salmon fishing. The various tribes fished on the Fraser River and its tributaries, including the Chilliwack and the Harrison. The life of the people was profoundly influenced by the life cycle of the salmon. Ceremonies such as the First Salmon ceremony, performed when the first fish was caught each year, reflected its importance in Stó:lō culture.
Sto:lo society was organized into classes: sí:yá:m, ordinary people, and slaves. The Grand Chief is known as the Yewal Siyam.
[edit] The people today
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[edit] References
- Carlson, Keith Thor (ed.) (2001). A Stó:lō-Coast Salish Historical Atlas. Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 1-5505-4812-3.
- Carlson, Keith Thor (ed.) (1997). You Are Asked to Witness: The Stó:lō in Canada's Pacific Coast History.. Chilliwack, BC: Stó:lō Heritage Trust. ISBN 0-9681577-0-X.
- Wells, Oliver N. 1987. The Chilliwacks and Their Neighbors. Edited by Ralph Maud, Brent Galloway and Marie Wheeden. Vancouver: Talonbooks.
