By Mike Sarich Tulalip News
TULALIP, Wash- On Thursday evening, as part of the Hibulb Cultural Center & Natural History Preserve’s Lecture Series, staff from the Tulalip Lushootseed Language Department provided a presentation on the “Lushootseed Calendar”. Natosha Gobin and Michelle Myles, Lushootseed language teachers, explained how Coast Salish people kept track of time by observing weather and nature.
Today our lives are dictated by the calendar. Our agendas are arranged by what day, week, or month it is. Not too long ago, native people of this area did not think of days as Tuesday or Wednesday, or if it was February 3rd or the 4th, rather they witnessed the conditions in their surroundings, or environment, which would indicate what tasks need to be done, or what events need to be prepared for.
“We don’t have an exact translation for each of the months,” Natosha Gobin explains. “But what we have is each particular thing that happens around that time.“ For example, for what we know as April, one thing that happens is slihibus, or the time when the swans/cranes migrate, referring to the time you would see large white birds migrating back to the area. This was a reminder that the weather is starting to get warmer; the “season” is changing.
For more information on the Lushootseed Calendar, or the Lushootseed Language department, log on to www.tulaliplushootseed.com call (360) 716-4495.