Stó:lō

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The Stó:lō (also sometimes written Stó:lô or Stó:lõ) (IPA pronunciation: ['stɔlo]) are a group First Nations peoples 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.

Contents

[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

Although Captains Jose Maria Narvaez of Spain and George Vancouver of England explored the Georgia Strait in 1791 and 1792, respectively, they did not reach the Fraser River or Stó:lō territory. The first point of contact between the Stó:lō and Europeans came indirectly, through disease.

[edit] Smallpox

A smallpox epidemic struck the Stó:lō in late 1782, arriving through inter-community exchange networks, likely spreading north from Mexico. It is estimated that the epidemic killed two thirds of the Stó:lō people within six weeks.[1] Those that survived were likely to have been struck with blindness just as hunting season was to begin, only compounding the devastation. Later, however, their close contact with Europeans would lessen the destructive power of the disease on the Stó:lō. In 1862, the effects of a smallpox outbreak on the Stó:lō were limited in comparison with northern indigenous people, because of their access to the vaccine.[1] Although deadly Smallpox epidemics would return at least once more (in 1862 and possibly in 1824), it was, however, only one of a number of serious diseases that would strike the region. [1]Measels, mumps, tuberculosis, influenza and venereal diseases would all devastate the Stó:lō population.

[edit] Simon Fraser and Fort Langley

The 1782 epidemic was soon followed by direct, face-to-face contact with Europeans. The first European to explore the region from overland was Simon Fraser who travelled down the Fraser River in 1808. 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. Although these HBC posts were built with the fur trade in mind, trade in salmon soon took over as primary item of exchange. Between 1830 and 1849, Fort Langley's purchases of salmon increased from 200 barrels to 2610 barrels.[1]

[edit] Culture

[edit] Salmon

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.

[edit] Societal Structure

Stó:lō society was organized into classes: the sí:yá:m (or upper classes), the ordinary people, and the slaves.[1] A person's family status was quite important in determining their role within Stó:lō society, and within longhouse ceremonies, though this has faded over time. Slaves may have been treated relatively well, but were not permitted to eat with others at the Longhouse fire. [1] They were primarily responsible for menial tasks such as gathering food or firewood. The actual use of slaves died out long ago, though the memory of which families descend from slaves may continue.[1]

The Síyá:m (or leader) was the most powerful member of each family, while the best hunter was named the Tewit to lead during the hunting season. The Grand Chief, a title which originated much later, is known as the Yewal Síyá:m.

[edit] Housing and shelter

The primary shelter for the Stó:lō people was in the form of a longhouse. Although some modern longhouses were built with gabled roofs, most Stó:lō longhouses were built with a single flat but slanted roof, similar to the Xa:ytem Longhouse in Mission, British Columbia.[1] Entire extended families would live in a longhouse, and the structure could be extended as the family expanded. Pit houses (or Quiggly hole houses) were also used, though generations earlier.[1]

[edit] Transportation

Although river and lake canoes were built within Stó:lō, larger ocean-going canoes primarily acquired through trade with indigenous people of the coast and Vancouver island.[1] In the late 1800s, when waterways were increasingly damned or blocked, the emphasis on water transport was replaced first by horse and buggy, then by train and automobile.

[edit] Adolescence and adulthood

Traditionally, Stó:lō girls went through puberty rites at the time of their first menstruation. A pubescent girl would be brought to a pit lined with cedar boughs and told to wait there during daylight hours, only leaving to eat and sleep.[1] Others would bring her fir boughs and instruct her to pick out the needles one at a time, but this was the only work she would be allowed to do; other women would feed, and wash her until her first menstrual period was over. This was practiced widely at least until youth were sent to residential schools[1]

[edit] The people today

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. 
  • Carlson, Keith Thor (ed.) (2001). A Stó:lō-Coast Salish Historical Atlas. Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 1-5505-4812-3. 
  • Wells, Oliver N. 1987. The Chilliwacks and Their Neighbors. Edited by Ralph Maud, Brent Galloway and Marie Wheeden. Vancouver: Talonbooks.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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