WORKING WITH ELDERS

We are extremely fortunate to have the guidance and direction of our respected Elders. Their presence within the band assists us in continuing to work together in the spirit of respect, integrity, humility, and trust.

Cooking traditional foods

Traditional foods in this area included many types of salmon: sockeye, spring, coho, chum and pink.

Other common foods were clams, crab, oysters, eel, seal, octopus, heron eggs, seaweed, whale, duck, elk, deer, pheasant, berries, crabapples, cherries, camas roots and many kinds of herbs.

The herbs were a source of nutrients and were also used for medicinal purposes.

 Legends

THE LEGEND OF CAMOSUN

After the flood, the Transformer Haylas was travelling with Raven and Mink teaching the people how things were to be done.

They found a young girl and her grandfather. She was crying, so Haylas asked her why. She answered, "My Father is angry with me, and will not give me anything to eat."

Haylas asked her if she like sturgeon, and when she answered, "No," he threw the sturgeon into the Fraser River. That is why there are sturgeon there and not here. He asked her if she like cranberries and when she answered, "No," he threw them into the Shawnigan Lake. That is why there are cranberries there now.

She refused many things, but duck, herring, coho and oyster she accepted and that is why these were plentiful on the Gorge waterway. Because she was greedy, Haylas told her she would look after the food resources for her people and turned her into stone. He also turned her grandfather into stone.

SONGHEES PLACE NAMES

These were used to identify their favorite hunting and gathering areas, to record events, or to relate myths. If a place was rich in game, seafood or plants, that abundance was reflected in their choice of words used to describe it. For example, Kohweechella (Mary Tod Island) means the place where there are many fish.

THE LEGEND OF HARLING POINT

Haylas and his companions Raven and Mink came across two men harpooning seals off of Harling Point. One harpooner got upset because they were scaring aways a seal he was hunting. Haylas turned him into stone just as he was to throw his harpoon, and made him boss over the seals.

You can still see the harpooner in the form of a large boulder on the beach at Harling Point.