MAKAH TRIBE

MAKAH HISTORY TELLS THE STORY OF OF THEIR ANCIENTS. THEY LIVED IN THE WORLD THAT REVOLVED AROUND THE SEA AND LAND. YET IT NEVER LETS ONE FORGET THE CULTURAL CHANGES THAT BROUGHT THE TRIBE TO WHAT IT IS TODAY. THESE MEMBERS LIVE BOTH ON AND OFF THE RESERVATION. THEY SKILLFULLY USED THE BOUNTY OF THE SEA. THEY HAVE FIVE PERMANENT VILLAGES THAT WERE LOCATED ALONG THE SHORE OF THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA. THESE VILLAGES WERE HOME TO 2 - 4000 MAKAH. EACH VILLAGE HAD SEVERAL LONGHOUSES OF CEDAR PLANKS MEASURING 30 TO 70 FEET. THEY HAD SEVERAL GENERATIONS IN ON STRUCTURE AND THEY WERE MASSIVE. DURING THE SUMMER THEY TRAVELED TO SUMMER RESIDENTS.


EARLY MAKAH HAD BEEN UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND GREAT RESPECT FOR THE PLANTS AND ANIMALS THAT SUSTAINED THEM. THEY WERE IN BALANCE WITH THEIR LIFE CYCLES. THEY WERE SKILLED MARINERS, USING SOPHISTICATED NAVIGATIONAL SKILLS TO TRAVEL ON THE SEAS IN THEIR RED CEDAR CARVED CANOES. THEY MADE SMALL CANOES SO CHILDREN COULD PRACTICE. PORPOISES AND SEAL WERE SMOKED OR EATEN FRESH. THEY CAUGHT THE SEA OTTER AND THEIR SKINS WERE SOLD TO ANGLOS. THE TRADITION OF WHALING IS A SOURCE OF GREAT PRIDE. THEY WERE HUNTED FOR THEIR MEAT AND FAT. ALL KINDS OF WHALES WERE HUNTED FOR THEIR MEAT AND OIL.

ALL KINDS OF WHALES WERE HUNTED FOR THEIR MEAT AND OIL. THE BONES WERE MADE INTO COMBS, CLUBS, SPINDLE WHIRLS, SHREDDERS AND JEWELRY. BY 1700 THE EUROPEANS SPREAD DEVASTATING EPIDEMICS OF SMALLPOX, INFLUENZA, AND WHOOPING COUGH . THIS LEFT LARGE GAPS IN THEIR FAMILIES WITH THOUSANDS OF DEATHS. THEY HAD UNFATHOMABLE GRIEF. THE TRANSFER OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE WAS DISRUPTIVE AND THE OLD WAYS WERE LOST. THERE WERE SEVERAL OUTBREAKS OF SMALLPOX.

WHALE HUNTING WAS CENTRAL TO THEIR TRADITION AND IT REQUIRED SPIRITUAL RITUALS AND CEREMONIES. WHALES INSPIRE SONGS, DANCES, DESIGNS, AND BASKETRY. IN 1855 WHEN THEY CEDED 1000'S OF ACRES TO THE GOVERNMENT THEY RESERVED THE RIGHT TO WHALE WITHIN THEIR TREATY. TO GET READY FOR THE HUNT THE MEN WENT OFF BY THEMSELVES TO PRAY, FAST, BATH CEREMONIOUSLY. EACH MAN FOLLOWED A RITUAL AND SOUGHT HIS POWER. WEEKS OR MONTHS WENT INTO THIS PREPARATION AND THEN THEY WERE SPIRITUALLY READY. THEY HAD TO TOW THE WHALE BACK TO THE BEACH A DISTANCE OF 2 TO 10 MILES. A DIVER LACED THE MOUTH SHUT SO IT WOULD FLOAT. ARCHAEOLOGIST'S DATE WHALING TO AT LEAST 2000 YEARS AGO. IN 1999 THE TRIBE HARVESTED THEIR FIRST WHALE IN SEVENTY YEARS! THEY THANK THE WHALE FOR GIVING THEM SUSTENANCE.

THE TRIBE HAS A PERMANENT EXHIBITS WITH 500 YEAR OLD ARTIFACTS. THEIR EXHIBITS INTERPRET THE ARTIFACTS AND SHOW A FULL SIZE CANOE AND REPLICA OF A LONGHOUSE, CLOTHING, ANS BASKETRY. THEY HAVE AN ETHNOBOTANICAL GARDEN THERE.

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