Cattail

swiči (cattail) is the mother plant. She stands tall for her people and protects her community - tending and providing to all those around her. swiči can be found on any Rez, rural countryside, in urban areas or city landscapes. When you see her, be reminded that you are on Native Land.

The cattail represents kinship, reciprocity, and the values we hold as Tribal people. Her core is intricate, transparent and strong; she filters toxins and pollutants from the waters and lands where she lives, defending her community from harm. swiči brings balance and health, sustaining an environment to support and nurture her community to thrive.

Definitions

Culture

Indigenous culture encompasses all aspects of traditional lifeways, ways of knowing, being and understanding, and our relationship with our surroundings including humans and other relatives, including humans, animals, plants, and the environment. It can often be understood as the beliefs and understandings of how we go through life as Native peoples. Although there may be commonalities of Native peoples from different lands, each Tribe’s culture is distinct and unique unto its People.

Community

A feeling of relationship with others, as a result of sharing common beliefs, interests, and goals. Often community refers to both the group of people living in the same place and peoples having a particular characteristic in common (i.e., Skokomish Community includes both Tribal members as well as non-Tribal members who live/work/impact Tribe and lands).

Family

Can be literal, in the sense of all the descendants of a common ancestor or a group of related things. In Native communities this can also refer to the general extended family structure of many Native communities, which adopts a local family structure as opposed to biological.

Interdependence

The state of being dependent upon one another or having mutual dependence. Interdependence for Native communities can be between the Tribe and: federal, state or other Tribal governments, the environment, land, waters and animals, as well as with other communities.

Kinship

Native kinship exceeds the western understanding of kinship as a sharing of characteristics, origins, or blood relationships. Instead, Native kinship refers to the relationship between humans and other relatives including humans, animals, plants, and the environment.

Language

Tribal language refers to a language that is native to a region and spoken by its Indigenous peoples, these languages are embedded with cultural ways of knowing and living and many were greatly impacted by western colonization.

Place

Indigenous peoples’ culture, language, and history has a strong tie to the land as their existence was interdependent with it as well as its changes through the seasons. Place in this context refers to both the specific location as well as the relationship with that area throughout time.

Protocol

Following protocol in Tribal communities refers to the official and often unofficial procedure in which to engage the community, ask questions, enter community, and partner. This most often is not a written procedure but follows traditional practice of receiving approval from various leaders within the community.

Migration

Seasonal movement of people and animals from one region to another in order to find improved conditions in regard to food, shelter, and transportation. Many Indigenous groups lived migratory lifeways in tandem with the seasonal changes.

Sovereignty

Tribal sovereignty is the inherent authority of Tribes to govern themselves. Sovereignty allows Tribes to honor and preserve their cultures and traditional ways of life.

Traditional Knowledge

Knowledge passed down through traditional means of learning and living regarding ecological, socio-economic, and cultural environments. Traditional knowledge has been gathered from both people and the environment and is passed down through intergenerational learning and sharing.

Seasons (winter, fall, spring, summer)

A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. Native peoples have for thousands of years used the Earth's natural cycles to guide their cultural, spiritual, and agricultural practices. They have a deep understanding of the seasons, which are based on the weather and the availability of resources in their environment.

Self-determination

The ability or power to make decisions for oneself, without external influence. Self-determination is the inherent right of each Tribe to determine and make decisions about matters that impact the well-being of its Peoples, Lands, and Waters. This includes the ability to fully live the lifeways of the People that have been learned and shared since time immemorial and that are preserved and shared now and for generations yet to come. The transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next, including how knowledge is shared, is sacred work of self-determination.

Water

Water, while a necessity for all peoples is often regarded as sacred to many Indigenous groups, in Washington specifically water was not only used for consumption but also provided a means of transportation and food source for many Tribes across the region. Water is life.