Quileute Legends | Twilight | New Moon

In Native Americans Indian culure is typically thought amongst numerous tribes of native people that you could not possess real property and that possessions are shared out. In the Northwest Coast area, and within the Quileute culture, there was a vast emphasis based on ownerships. In the Quileute culture it was conceivable for families to own dances, songs, and a array of additional nonphysical items .

It was as well conceivable to own the rights to the better fishing spots and the rights to order people they could not fish in that location. Likewise to having land, rights, songs, and dances, the Quileute culture recognised the use of having slaves. This was common in the area, there was even a slave trade in the Pacific Northwest, but the Quileute tribe were not immediately associated.

STORM AT LA PUSH

The Quileutes, and several of their neighboring tribes comprised a part of the Potlatch culture. Potlatches were common amongst the tribes of the Northwest area. Potlatches were a ceremonial occasion for tribal leadership to basically “one-up” each other and a means of redistributing riches. The word “Potlatch” is a deviation of the Chinook word patshatl which signifies “giving. ” During the ceremonial occasion the potlatch giver will throw away worldly possessions onto a bon fire to demonstrate how much he possesses. His willingness to burn up the of value objects demonstrated how little he needs them. A common object to burn off was a piece of copper (a valuable family heirloom). Another common happening at a potlatch was to kill or free slaves . As seen with the Quileute culture; after the burning of wealthiness, the potlatch giver would give gifts to the attendants who he would insult while awarding them with endowments. They would be required to pay him back double at their future Potlatch. The potlatch culture peaked in the 1700s, since of that’s when the Europeans arrived, and the old ways began to change, making much of this fascinating Quileute culture to be forgotten.

Each day their culture included time for rest, in which they played games. Occasionally they had spectacular recitations of  legends and occasionally they gambled. They played games of strength and endurance in addition to games of skill. One game that they played was known as fsa’fsá’wafs which stands for “rolling.” In this game they’d wheel a ring with grass twined in it down a hill and hit it with arrows. They objective of the game was to strike the grass with an arrow but to have it keep going. Every hit was a full point.

They lived in an extended family unit. Family groups would dwell collectively during the wintertime in permanent winter villages, which differed of many former nomadic tribes throughout the area. In the summertime, a few families would split up to hunt and fish. The hut were constructed in a particular manner. This is the account of the Quileute house given in Edward S. Curtis’ The North American Indian:

“The Quileute House was built over a rectangular excavation about two feet deep. The wall-boards were horizontal, and the overlapping roof-boards extended across the slope of the single-slant roof. A structure of the largest size had a frontage of fourteen fathoms (eighty four feet) and a depth of eight fathoms, and sheltered about twenty people…”

Their culture and customs of the tribe were typical to the area and time. The Quileute people applied the artistry of head flattening, a custom widely used by the natives in the region. Another body modification that was widely used in the region was tattooing and they might have participated in this too. One such report is described in their folklore about Duskeah who tattooed and cooked children. Not exactly the monster you’d expect to find in the Twilight Saga but the thought of such an individual gives one the heebe jeebes.

One facet of their culture that isn’t surprising is their opinion on sexual activity. Premarital sex was frowned on and once a daughter became pregnant she and the father had to alter their diet and course of life. Their burial ritual was basically as is found with the Salish ritual. They’d place the dead body in a canoe and send it away to sea. In the original ceremonial occasion they’d bury the dead above ground in logs or canoes and they’d demolish all memory of the deceased person.

Quileute Legend

Native American Quileute legend suggests that they are descended of wolves.  According to legend, a being known alternately as Dokibatt, K’wa’iti, the Trickster, the Transformer and The Changer (with the latter three titles at times embodying the previous two names) created the first Quileute from a wolf that he stumbled upon during his journeys. Dokibatt the Changer, or Transformer, who looms heavy in Pacific Northwest coastal mythology. Originally there were six native societies: for the fisherman, the elk hunter, the whale hunter, the weather predictor, the medicine man, and the warrior (the latter society performed the wolf dance).

Writer Stephenie Meyer would later make minor utilization of the de facto Quileute legends while making her Twilight Saga

In the second book, New Moon, Jacob finds that he, himself, is a werewolf. He, along with many of his Quileute ‘brothers’ are pledged to protect La Push from their sworn enemies,  The Cold Ones. Many years ago, they forged a pact with the vampires, which forbidden the Cullens from trespassing on their lands, and granted the two groups to live in the same vicinity in relative peace.  This treaty hinged upon the necessity that the Cullens never feed upon human blood.

“What are the cold ones?”
He smiled darkly.
“Blood drinkers,” he replied in a chilling voice. “Your people call them
vampires.”

A journeying shape shifter happened upon a wolf and transformed him into a human, producing the first Quileute. These Quileutes may undergo what is called the “Wolf Imprint”.

Quiluete Tribe Legend

This imprinting is love at first sight, only much stronger as it creates a persistent and constant bonding between two people that can not be broken.

When their eyes meet, the will of the wolf awakens as it immediately realizes that they’ve found their partner. Though the wolf’s will has awakened it may take the human side some winning over.

He will wait for the woman he loves by not aging, for he knows that she is the “One”.

This is a legend presented in the “Twilight Series”.   Although there maybe no factual basis for this Tribal Legend,  speaking from my own experiences  I believe this to be true to some extent.   At least for the animal side of humans as I can often identify with it, as  “I still hunger”.  But it is another thing when it is lost and can never be…

This legend has been recounted from generation to generation to remember the history of the Yakama.  In the beginning,  our Creator spoke the word and this world was created.  He spoke the word once more and all living things were put in the world.   Then he said the word and we, the [American Indian] people, were created and planted here on this World.

We are similar to the plants of this earth.  Our food was put here as plants to feed us;  just like when we establish a garden. That’s the way our earth was in the beginning.  There are salmon, deer, elk, and all kinds of birds.  It’s as though our bodies are the very end of this earth, continues to develop while our ancestors are all laid to rest in the ground.

He named everything He created.  He placed water on this earth and made it feed into the rivers and lakes to water this great garden and to quench the starve of the people, the beasts, plants, birds and fish.  He took the feet of the people and made them walk on this earth. He made the horse, which is like a human being.  He set the horse and the people together to assist each other.

Altogether the land where we live and where our ancestors lived was created for
the [American Indian] people.