holyoutlaw

Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians
Hilary Stewart
University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1995

The Western Red Cedar (Thuja Plicata) was so useful to Coastal Salish people that they said it was the reincarnation of a man who was helpful to everyone. When someone needed, he gave; when someone hungered, he fed. His reward was to be made the Western Red Cedar, which was used for clothing, shelter, transportation, storage, and ceremony.

The bark was used for clothing; the wood for storage, planks for longhouses, and canoes for transportation; the withes were used for rope; the roots for baskets. A coastal Salish person would use some aspect of the cedar literally from cradle to grave.

Stewart’s book looks at each part of the tree and its uses in depth. The words are accompanied by detailed line drawings of tools that worked the wood and the uses it was put to. You might not be able to go and build a cedar plank house, but you could probably describe the process well enough for a novel. And you certainly have a greater idea of how important the tree was, and how many people making a canoe or a house required. Or how the baskets were woven.

I found the amount of detail intimidating, in fact, which isn’t Stewart’s fault at all. This would probably be a better book for reading the specific section that interested you, or as a reference in a paper. The material is presented at a writing level that would make it appropriate for high school or undergraduate research.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.