Czombel M2 Academic Journal Blog Assignment

It being Father’s Day today, I began to think about all the things my father taught my siblings and I, and the stories of my ancestors before he passed away in 2006. He was a great father, very structured and disciplined, an avid reader, and although his highest education was a vocational school for tool and dye making, he never stopped learning. After reviewing the M2 Online Resources, I was drawn to the website related to the Tulalip, their Legends, in particular, Value #4: We work hard and always try to do our best located at http://www.hibulbculturalcenter.org/Legends/Value-4/.  Pictures shared are courtesy of stated website above. 

This online resource allows the Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve to revive, restore, protect, interpret, collect and enhance the history, traditional cultural values and spiritual beliefs of the Tulalip, who are successors to the Snohomish, Snoqualmie and Skykomish tribes, and other tribes and bands signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott. Per Anton Treuer, this treaty ceded most of the Tulalip land, and consolidated them on their current reservation. Today the tribal population is approximately 4,000, with 2,500 members residing on the 22,000 acre reservation located north of Everett and the Snohomish River and west of Marysville, in the state of Washington. As their title page states “So we can remember”:

             I believe this particular web resource was included because it gives an excellent glimpse of why it is so important to remember and reflect. It started when a group of concerned individuals from the Tulalip community sought advice from their elders on what they felt were the most important teachings The elders decided on seven teachings, and adopted them as their core values for the tribe, noting it is not just in the telling, but the practice of reflecting on and figuring out every part of the teachings, that provide the full measure of what stories continue to bring. Why does it matter? These stories provide “opportunities to consider what works and does not work in community life, and provide wisdom beyond the power of books or the classroom on honorable dealings with each other, on devotion to what is right and good, on hard work, and on happiness” and that the stories provide the pathway to reclaiming heritage.

Value #4 is titled We work hard and always try to do our best. The Story of the Salmon Ceremony, adapted from a story told by Bernie Gobin Kia-Kia, is about a time when the world was not as it is today, where animals could become people, and people could become animals. The legend states that salmon would come to the rivers each year, and offer themselves as food to the people. In return, the people would keep the rivers clean, great the salmon with ceremony, and would put the bones of the eaten salmon back into the water. In time, people became careless, throwing trash into the river, and stopped throwing all the bones back in. The salmon population started to deplete. The people thought, we will starve! Finally, one day, a young man was walking by the shore, asking himself "Why is it that just a few salmon are coming anymore?" Suddenly the water rolled back, and a guide appeared, taking the young man back to the salmon village to have all his questions answered. In essence, the problem was that people were no longer keeping their side of the bargain! They were being lazy with the offerings provided by the salmon people. The young man was returned to his own people after learning the true way, and instructed them about the teachings entrusted to him. Although everything was better for a time, people started to complain. "It is too much trouble to gather up all these bones. Salmon have too many bones. Even if it is only once a year, it is too much trouble." In order to again show his people the way, the young man proceeded to take them back to the river where the salmon were spawning, some completely out of the water, others bruised, cut, gasping for breath, and said “look how hard they are working to keep their side of the agreement”. So, to this day, every year a salmon scout arrives to see if the people have lived up to their side of the agreement.

            How do I see the morale of the story? Honor your agreements, and work together for the best outcome.