ABSTRACT
The southwestern part of the province of British Columbia and the western part of the state of Washington are home to the Coast Salish Indian nation. The Coast Salish have important elements of traditional culture and art in common with other North American Indian nations of the Northwest Pacific coast. However, in mythology and ritual they are close to the Salish-speaking populations of the Plateau Culture Area that extends over wide regions of interior British Columbia, eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana. In accordance with their intermediate position, both geographically and culturally, the Coast Salish combined the Plateau tribes’ quest for vision and the power of a guardian spirit that was part of the ancient North American Indian guardian spirit complex (Benedict, 1923) with the secret society feature of initiation to the winter spirit ceremonial that was typical of traditional North Pacific Indian cultures, especially of the Kwakiutl.
