Plateau Native American Religions – Deasy Corporation

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027 Celilo Falls east side Columbia River Gorge 1900's

Petroglyphs in the Columbia River Gorge

Salmon fishing with large loop nets by Native Americans

Fish Wheel and Indian Snagging Salmon at Celilo Falls on Columbia River, Oregon. I

Native American fisherman detail in September 1941, from- Celilo Falls Lee

1. Identity & Scope

Names: Plateau religion, Columbia Plateau spirituality.
Scope: Peoples of inland Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia).
Nature: Animistic, centered on guardian spirit quests, salmon ceremonies, seasonal dances, and medicine societies.

2. Historical Context

Rooted in fishing, hunting, and gathering cultures along the Columbia and Snake Rivers.
Salmon runs central to economy and religion.
Contact with fur trade and missionaries in 18th–19th c. disrupted ceremonies.
20th c. revitalization: First Salmon rites, powwow culture, Native American Church syncretism.

3. Sources of Evidence

Oral traditions: Myth cycles of Coyote and animal-people.
Archaeology: Rock art, fishing weirs, burial mounds.
Ethnography: Teit, Spinden, later anthropologists.
Living practice: Spirit quest traditions, salmon feasts, drum dances.

4. Pantheon & Supernatural Beings

High creator: Often unnamed or remote; world made by culture heroes.
Coyote: Trickster-transformer, shaped rivers, mountains, salmon.
Animal-people: Bear, Eagle, Beaver, Salmon as sacred beings.
Spirit-beings: Guardian spirits that empower shamans and individuals.
Thunderbird: Sky power controlling storms.

5. Cosmology & Myth

World once populated by animal-people; Coyote transformed them, making present order.
Balance required between humans and salmon/animal spirits.
Rivers and mountains formed by mythic struggles.
Cyclical time: Renewal through salmon runs, seasonal ceremonies.

6. Ritual & Practice

Vision quest: Young people fast and pray to obtain guardian spirit.
First Salmon Ceremony: Returning salmon ritually honored to ensure future abundance.
Winter spirit dances: Renewal ceremonies involving trance, spirit possession, drumming.
Shaman curing rituals: Spirits used to heal illness.
Feasts and giveaways: Redistribute wealth and honor spirits.

7. Sacred Space & Material Culture

Sacred sites: Fishing grounds (Celilo Falls), mountains, springs, caves.
Ceremonial lodges: Sweat lodges, longhouses for winter dances.
Objects: Spirit masks, rattles, drums, medicine bundles.
Rock art: Petroglyphs and pictographs linked to spirit quests.

8. Religious Specialists & Institutions

Shamans: Healers, diviners, spirit intermediaries.
Dance leaders: Direct communal spirit dances.
Elders/storytellers: Keepers of myth cycles and tribal law.
Hereditary leaders: Sometimes held ritual duties at salmon feasts.

9. Social Function & Law

Salmon ceremonies organized fishing rights and obligations.
Spirit quests structured personal identity and status.
Giveaway feasts reinforced social equity.
Stories and taboos taught moral and ecological law.

10. Death & Afterlife

Afterlife: Souls journey westward or upward to spirit world.
Funerary rites: Burial with goods; mourning feasts.
Spirits of dead: Could return in dreams or visions.
Reincarnation: Ancestors sometimes believed to be reborn in descendants.

11. Symbolism & Cultural Expression

Animals: Salmon = life, renewal; Coyote = trickster, change; Bear = strength, healing.
Directions: Rivers flow as cosmic pathways.
Arts: Basketry, beadwork, petroglyphs, ceremonial masks.
Performance: Spirit dances, trance songs, storytelling as sacred expression.

12. Contact & Transformation

Missionary suppression: Bans on winter dances, shamanism in 19th–20th c.
Allotment/reservation policies: Broke access to sacred salmon grounds.
Syncretism: Many joined Native American Church, blending peyotism with Plateau traditions.
Modern revival: First Salmon rites and winter dances continue; Columbia River tribes reclaim fishing rights and sacred practices.