08 Additional Aspects of Interest

In addition to these two areas of interest, we have an audio file of one of our group members talking about how the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw peoples named different things, including their children. This informational tool can be used for slow readers or ELL students who want to learn interesting facts about these tribes.

Family Life:

Villages of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower
Umpqua, and Siuslaw tended to be all inter-related and focused on wealth for political and social influence. Each village had its own headman, who was usually the wealthiest individual in the village. Wealth was measured in canoes, dentalium shells, woodpecker scals, large obsidian blades, quantities of baskets, abalone shelles, gray pine nuts and clamshell beads. The headman was supposed to use his walth to better the whole community and in turn villagers brought him food and gifts. The wealthiest families generally made the rules and decided the outcomes of disputes. Wealthy men typically had more than one wife, canoes, plank houses, and one or more slaves. Those that weren't as wealthy in the community didn't have much influence amont the tribe and limited authority.

Games:


Games have always been an important part of tribal social life. Ancestors played many stick games including lamtalam which included four sticks, two marked with female designs and two with male designs. Players held the sticks in one hand and threw them like dice. They based scoring on the combinations thrown. Another important game was shinny which is very similar to field hockey and played on a large beach or field with sticks and a ball made of huckleberry root. The goal was an upright stake with the bottom half buried in the ground.



The picture above is of a group of women playing the traditional stick game of shinny.


(All information provided by http://www.ctclusi.org/)


Below is the audio file on different ways of naming for the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw: