Indian beliefs were regarded. Those were the legend-making
ages when great things occurred to make the traditions we repeat to our
children today. Perhaps the greatest of these traditions is the story
of 'The Two Sisters,' for they are known to us as 'The Chief's
Daughters,' and to them we owe the Great Peace in which we live, and
have lived for many countless moons. There is an ancient custom
amongst the Coast tribes that when our daughters step from childhood
into the great world of womanhood the occasion must be made one of
extreme rejoicing. The being who possesses the possibility of someday
mothering a man child, a warrior, a brave, receives much consideration
in most nations, but to us, the Sunset Tribes, she is honored above all
people. The parents usually give a great potlatch, and a feast that
lasts many days. The entire tribe and the surrounding tribes are
bidden to this festival. More than that, sometimes when a great Tyee
celebrates for his daughter, the tribes from far up the coast, from the
distant north, from inland, from the island, from the Cariboo country,
are gathered as guests to the feast. During these days of rejoicing,
the girl is placed in a high seat, an exalted position, for is she not
marriageable? And does not marriage mean motherhood? And does not
motherhood mean a vaster nation of brave sons and of gentle daughters,
who, in their turn, will give us sons and daughters of their own?
"But it was many thousands of years ago that a great Tyee had two
daughters that grew to womanhood at the same springtime, when the first
great run of salmon thronged the rivers, and the ollallie bushes were
heavy with blossoms. These two daughters were young, lovable, and oh!
very beautiful. Their father, the great Tyee, prepared to make a feast
such as the Coast had never seen. There were to be days and days of
rejoicing, the people were to come for many leagues, were to bring
gifts to the girls and to receive gifts of great value from the Chief,
and hospitality was to reign as long as pleasuring feet could dance,
and enjoying lips could laugh, and mouths partake of the excellence of
the Chief's fish, game and ollallies.
[Illustration: THE LIONS (THE TWO SISTERS)
Bishop & Christie, Photo.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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