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Stories—Quileute Oral Traditions

All Native people have stories that explain their histories and their relationships with the natural world. These stories, often wrongly called "myths" or "legends," are an important part of Native life—and should never be trivialized as fantasy. Such stories have historically served to teach youngsters about the proper way to conduct oneself and remind community members of their responsibilities to each other and to the spirit world. An origin story, because it chronicles the beginning of the people, is arguably the most important of all stories.

Ceremonial Societies

For the Quileute, the origin story (which was erroneously told in the Twilight saga as a fight between good and evil), tells of how Qwati, the Transformer, finding no people at the mouth of the Quileute River, decided to turn two wolves into humans. Because of the importance of this story, as well as a ceremonial society called Tlokwali or wolf ritual, a great deal of Quileute imagery reflects wolf relationships. This was a lucky coincidence for author Stephenie Meyer.

However, the Quileute have numerous other stories and an additional four ceremonial societies. All of these rituals and ceremonial relationships to wolves, fish, the whale, and even the weather have sustained them for millennia. While anthropologists, movie makers, and others may claim to understand it, the spiritual world of the Quileute is a diverse and complex system that only Quileute people are privileged to know deeply about.

Black face society mask. (Image: Powell and Jensen)

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