Sophie's Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuxalk_Nation

http://www.thewildwest.org/nativeamericans/nativeamericansociety/39-bellacoola.html

The social studies textbook in Ms. Johnson's classroom

     The Bella Coola tribe was on the Pacific Northwest coast of Canada. They eat salmon, cama plant roots, berries, shellfish, bear, and seal. They make wooden fences that they put across the river. A few hours later, they come back, and capture all of the fish that they caught.

     Their religion is American Indian panentheism and Christian. Their religion includes a belief in a Father God, His Son, and a Spirit.

     The warm winds coming off of the Pacific Ocean makes the climate rainy and mild in the summer. In the fall, it is mostly cool, and cloudy. In the winter, it is usually snowy and cold. uIn the spring, it is mild and sunny.

     People from the Bella Coola tribe make houses out of wood. Wood is one of their most important resources. The women make skirts out of tree bark. People also make canoes, and houses. The houses could hold 30-40 people. 

     Bella Coola, Bellacoola, Nuxalk, Belhoola, and Bilqula are all names of the Bella Coola tribe.

     For entertainment, the Bella Coola people dance, do council fires, and council gatherings.

Interesting Facts

The Bella Coola tribe, which is also known as the Belhoola, or Bilqula tribe, is a small Indian tribe. The tribe used to have 17,000 people in it, but now it consists of about 600 people. They used to live on the Pacific Northwest coast of Canada, but most of them live in southeastern Canada now.

Entry #1

Dear Journal,



     Hello. I just got you today from my grandmother. My name is Acotas. Me and my family are part of the Bella Coola tribe on the Pacific Northwest coast of Canada. My great Uncle Mauki is our chief of our tribe. He gives the best hunters in our tribe tips on how you know you have good meat that is healthy, and where to find lots of fish. We eat salmon, bear, berries, and cama plant roots. In my tribe, we make wooden fences that we put across a stream. After a few hours, we come back to the stream and we capture the fish. We store it through the year. My house is pretty big. It is made of wood. My house is called a Long House. It can hold 30-40 people. Very many people live in my house with me.
     Today, I helped Grandmother and Mother prepare breakfast. We had bear and berries. After breakfast, me and my father went and put the fence into the stream. When I went back to find the fish, I noticed that I had caught a lot. We would be having a little more than usual that night for dinner. When I came back home with a basket of fish, Me and my Grandmother went to the creek to wash our clothes. By the time we came back, it was about time to start preparing for dinner. We made salmom, berries, and cama roots. After dinner, we made a fire. Our house gets very cold at night, so we have a fire pit in the center. It heats up the house very quickly. I love how it feels when the warm air touches your face. Well, it's about time for bed. Bye!

Yours truly,
Acotas

 

 

Entry #2

    

Dear Journal,

     Today, my father taught me how to hunt. He taught me that if we want tasty, healthy meat, you have to follow the way the water flows in the creek. That is where lots of bears go to eat fish. He also taught me how to track animals when you are hunting. He taught me what all of the animal tracks are from the animals that we like to eat. One of the things that he said was that you have to follow the way the toes face. Once we finally got a squirrel, we brought it back home and had it for lunch. With our squirrel for lunch, we had berries.

     After lunch, me and Grandmother weaved with alpaca wool. I am making a scarf for the winter. Grandmother is making a blanket. I like making my things very colorful, with happy colors. We worked on our weaving for a few hours. For dinner we ate salmon, cama roots, and berries. After we finished dinner, Mauki (chief) came over to our house with a few people from our tribe that I had recognized. They had come for a council meeting. It lasted about an hour. By the time they left, it was time for me to go to bed. Goodnight!

Yours truly,

Acotas

    

Sophie’s Native American Legend

     Once there was a bear. When he woke up from hibernation in the spring, he was very hungry, so he went out to find some food. As he was out finding his breakfast, he saw 2 Native Americans. He knew they were from the Bella Coola tribe by the kind of animal skins they were wearing. One had a spear to kill the bear with, and the other had a spoon to make soup from the bear. The bear started to run away from them. The Bella Coola People started to chase after him. The man with a spoon tripped over a stick. The other man threw his spear at the bear and did not miss. The bear lied down on the ground dead. When he died, his spirit rose to the heavens and formed a constellation. The stars that formed the bear surrounded the “Big Dipper.” Every year the bear in the sky disappears at hibernation time, and then reappears back in spring.