CELEBRATING THE SALMON

MANY NORTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INDIANS USED TO CATCH VARIOUS TYPES OF SALMON. THEY CAUGHT FIVE SPECIES OF SALMON INCLUDING A LARGE KING OR CHINOOK SALMON, COHO OR SILVER, RED OR SOCKEYE, HUMPBACK OR PINK, AND CHUM OR DOG. BY EATING THE SALMON THEY BELIEVED IT JOINED THEM FLESH TO FLESH WITH THIS LIFE GIVING FOOD THEY HAD CEREMONIES BEFORE FISHING, ROASTING, AND DISPOSING OF THE UNUSED FLESH AND BONES.

LATE IN THE WINTER THE SALMON RUN BEGAN - FIVE SPECIES LIVE THE NOTHERN PART OF CALIFORNIA. HERE IN SONOMA COUNTY WE ONLY HAVE CHINOOK AND COHO SALMON. THEY ARE BORN IN THE RIVERS AND SWIN DOWN TO THE OCEAN WHERE THEY SPEND THREE YEARS, THEN THEY SWIM TO THE VERY PLACE WHERE THEY WERE BORN. THEY WILL FIND THE VERY PATCH OF GRAVEL WHERE THEY WERE BORN AND LAY IT'S EGGS. THEY WILL DIE AND THE YOUNG WILL HATCH AND SWIM TO THE OCEAN.

EACH YEAR THE FISH SACRIFICED THEMSELVES TO BE CAUGHT AND EATEN. AFTER THEY HAD DIED, THEIR SPIRITS RETURNED TO THE OCEAN AND BECAME HUMAN-LIKE AGAIN.

WITH THE FIRST CATCH OF THE SALMON THEY HELD A CEREMONY TO CELEBRATE THE RUN AND GIVE THANKS. THEY CALLED IT FIRST SALMON AND IT ENCOMPASSED A FEAST, SINGING, AND DANCING THAT LASTED SEVERAL DAYS.