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The Nez Percé
| Article
# : |
22434 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 2002 |
524 Words |
| Author
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William S. Connery
William S. Connery is Current Issues editor at The World & I. |
The Nez Percé trace their people back to a sacred hill near Kamiah, Idaho. There they believe that Coyote created them out of the blood of the Kamiah Monster, a creature that Coyote had slain. According to tribal elder Frank Andrews, archaeologists have found the fossilized remains of prehistoric beasts in the area.
In the eighteenth century the horse became an integral part of Nez Percé life, giving the tribe greater mobility. In a time when horses equaled wealth, they were known as affluent. The Nez Percé also had a strong spiritual foundation. Parents and grandparents would prepare children to seek their wyakin (guardian spirit power). At the age of ten or eleven, a young person would be left alone at a sacred spot. He was instructed to drink all the water he wanted but not to eat anything. During this vigil, the spirit power would come and reveal truths about his life. The children received their true names at this time. For example, Chief Yellow Wolf was instructed by a wolf with yellow hair.
Except for the occasional trapper or trader, the Nez Percé had no contact with whites until the early 1800s. A tired and starving Lewis and Clark Expedition entered their territory in 1805. The Nez Percé offered food, helped them build canoes, and guided them on their journey west. Part of their good luck or fortune can be traced to an old woman, Watkuweis (Returned From a Far Country). Many years before she had been captured by Blackfeet Indians and traded to Canadian trappers, who had treated her properly and returned her to her own people. She asked that the whites be treated well. The Nez Percé also kept the expedition's horses until they returned from the Pacific Ocean the following May. Lewis and Clark remembered them
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